Top shots in the executive arm of government including Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, Director General National Orientation Agency (NOA) Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu and Managing Director News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ali Mohammed Ali, were separately tackled in the Senate during the 2025 budget defence sessions.
While Edun and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, were put on the hot seats by the Senate committee on appropriation, the NOA boss and that of NAN, had very tough encounters with the Senate committee on Information and national orientation.
Trouble came the way of the finance minister when a barrage of questions were fired at him by some members of the appropriation committee on the state of implementation of the 2024 budget, particularly the capital component.
Specifically, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi Central), in the barrage of questions fired at the minister, asked him to explain how proceeds from fuel subsidy removal were expended in the 2024 fiscal year.
Ningi queried: “What is the budget performance achieved so far for 2024 fiscal year, particularly in terms of the capital expenditure? We haven’t heard from the minister how much has been saved from the removal of fuel subsidy and how much had been expended.
“We also haven’t heard from the ministers about the debt servicing. How much have we actually used to service our debt in 2024?
How much are we expecting to service the debt in 2005? Finally, will the Minister of Finance guarantee that the extension of the capital component of the 2024 budget to June 30, 2025 will give the desired results in terms of implementation that has a very low percentage now?”
Apparently unsettled by the question, the minister hurriedly requested the committee to accord him a closed door session for detailed response to the question.
“Are we in a closed door session? If we are not in a closed door session, I will humbly seek for that for detailed explanations on the questions asked,” he pleaded.
At this point, the committee chairman, Senator Solomon Olamilekan (APC Ogun West), accordingly asked journalists to excuse them for the closed door session.
…NOA, NAN’s take turns
Earlier at the budget defence session the Senate committee on information and national orientation had with agencies under its purview, the NOA and NAN chiefs were ordered to re-draft and re- present their budgetary proposals for 2025 fiscal year.
The committee, chaired by Senator Kenneth Eze (APC Ebonyi Central), tackled the NOA DG on the National Identity Project being implemented by the agency, claiming the project was not known to Nigerians, particularly those residing at the grassroots.
But Issa-Onilu held his ground by telling the committee members that the project was very necessary in putting in place the right value system.
“The challenge we have about the value system is about National Identity which is very necessary at galvanising Nigerians for nation-building, national development and growth,” he said.
Notwithstanding his explanation, the committee insisted that he should go back for re-drafting programmes of the agency to be captured and appropriated for in the 2025 fiscal year.
Similar fate also befell Ali, the NAN boss, who was told to go and reconcile disjointed figures presented in the 2024 budget implementation before coming for appropriation of projected figures for 2025 fiscal years.
