Nigeria FG slashes Works Ministry’s budget from N100bn to N11bn

The Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said the ministry’s N100bn proposed budget for 2015 was slashed by the Ministry of Finance to N11bn, representing an 89 per cent slash.

Onolememen, who was in the Senate to defend his ministry’s estimates for the fiscal year, added that no sum was approved for   the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency’s capital projects   and the Office of the Surveyor -General of the Federation.

He said the Finance ministry predicated its action on the economic realities on the ground.

The minister expressed concern that only 33 out of the 210 ongoing road projects had been provided for in view of the “lean allocation” to the ministry.

He also said the provision was not sufficient to encourage contractors to sustain appreciable progress on their work sites.

He however said that due to the lean capital budget, a model of Public Private Partnership was being explored to ensure that more capital projects were carried out this year.

Most members of the Senate Committee on Works described the budget of the ministry as laughable .

The Chairman of the committee, Ayogu Eze, said the budget was very terrible for a sector that needs at least N500bn annually for road construction and maintenance.

...Punch