Lawmakers disagree over details as ministry defends Amaechi

A fresh crisis of confidence has erupted in the Senate and the House of Representatives, with some members alleging that details of the budget were not made available to them before the document was sent to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Besides, the acrimony over the omission of some projects approved by the various committees of the two chambers is growing. Some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) yesterday joined the fray. They submitted evidence that some projects, including the Calabar-Lagos rail line, were yanked off the document – the guide to the government’s actions for the year.

The Ministry of Transportation insisted that the rail line project was in the budget and defended Minister Rotimi Amaechi.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East), yesterday faulted House Committee on Appropriation Chairman Abdulmumin Jibrin’s claim on the Calabar-Lagos rail line. Some Senators and Representatives in the Appropriation Committees of the two chambers are unhappy about some items omitted in the budget details.

A senator and member of the committee, who pleaded not to be named “because of the tension generated by the matter”, said: “It is sad that most of us did not see the budget details before they were submitted to the Presidency. I am actually frustrated because I did not have the privilege of knowing what was submitted.

“On the Calabar-Lagos rail line, it was part of amended budget submitted to us by the Executive. I was surprised it was omitted.  “How the reduction of vote for Idu-Kaduna rail project from N18b to N8.7b was done came as a surprise.”

A second term Senator said: “None of us could get the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Sen. Danjuma Goje and his House counterpart on the phone or locate their whereabouts before they emerged to submit the details to the President.

“Many of us are angry with them. We were shocked to hear that some of the projects we approved had been dropped.” A ranking member of the House of Representatives said: “We will certainly meet on the floor. Some of the items submitted by committees were not included in the budget details.”

A principal officer in the Senate spoke of how the lawmakers were trying to manage the situation. He confirmed the disquiet among his colleagues.

Senator Ashafa said: “I have carefully followed the news making the rounds in relation to the budget presented to the National Assembly and what was defended by the Ministry of Transport before the Senate Committee on Land Transport, which I have the privilege of chairing.

“ The focal points of controversy seem to be the Lagos to Calabar railway modernisation project and the completion of the Idu – Kaduna rail line.

“ I confirm that the Lagos to Calabar rail line was not in the original document that was presented to the National Assembly by the Executive. However, subsequently at the budget defence session before the Senate Committee on Land Transport, the Hon. Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, did inform the committee of the omission of the Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project and indeed sent a supplementary copy of the ministry’s budget to the committee which contained the said project.

“The minister noted that the amount needed for the counterpart funding for both the Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar rail modernization projects was in the sum of N120 billion, being N60 billion per project.

“While the committee did not completely agree with all the changes made in the subsequent document, being fully aware of the critical importance of the rail sector to the development of our dear country, distinguished members of the Senate Committee on Land Transport keyed into the laudable (Lagos to Calabar, rail modernisation) project and found ways of appropriating funds for the project without exceeding the envelope provided for the ministry.

“In so doing, the committee observed that the Lagos to Kano rail rehabilitation project had been allocated the sum of N52billion as against the sum of N60 billion which the Hon. Minister requested as counterpart funding while no allocation whatsoever was made for the Lagos to Calabar rail line.

“ Hence, the sum of N54 billion that was discovered by the Senate Committee on Land Transport to be floating in the budget of the Ministry of Transportation as presented by the Executive was injected into augmenting the funds needed for counterpart funding of both projects (Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar Rail modernisation), as at the time the committee defended its report before the Senate Committee on Appropriation.

“The Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project was therefore included in the Senate Committee on Land Transport’s recommendation to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

“ With regard to the Idu to Kaduna rail completion, the Senate Committee on Land Transport did not interfere with what was provided for in the budget as sent by the executive, being approximately N18 billion, hence I am equally surprised to read on the pages of the newspapers that the amount allocated to the said project was reduced by N8 billion.

“While I would have preferred to wait till Tuesday 12th April, 2016 when the National Assembly reconvenes in order to have the benefit of viewing the details of the budget that was conveyed to the executive as passed, I am compelled to place the facts in proper perspective as it relates to the activities of the Senate Committee on Land Transport.

“Without prejudice to the considerations and powers of the Senate Committee on Appropriations with regard to the appropriations process, the foregoing is the true reflection of what transpired at the committee level with respect to the Land Transport sector of the Ministry of Transport.”

Chairman, Senate Committee on Health who is also a member of the Transport Committee, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso, said that the Transport Committee discussed the Lagos to Calabar railway proposal at the budget defence session.

Tejuoso said that the committee included the proposal in its submission to the Appropriation Committee. He noted that what he cannot say is what happened before the Appropriation Bill was submitted to the Presidency.

The Ministry of Budget and National Planning yesterday received evidence of the inclusion of the Calabar-Lagos rail line project and its defence. 

One of the documents made available  to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning reads in part:

• The costal Railway project-Lagos-Calabar of which a provisiona sum of N60, 000,000,000 (sixty billion naira only) was proposed, was completely omitted even though it was   defended before both Houses of the National Assembly. This item is on page 24 of the attached (Appendix 1) main ministry’s 2016 proposal with Sub Activity Code No. 3.3.4.2.
• The Hon. Minister of Transportation had extensive official and private discussions with both Chairman of Senate Committee on Land Transport and that of the House at various fora. He also had discussion with the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation on same. This is apart from the defence before the various committees during the budget discussion.
• In the passed 2016 budget, it is pertinent to note that the Lagos-Kano Rail line which was N60,000,000,000 in the proposal, was increased to N92,000,000,000. Where did the National Assembly get the sum of N32,000,000,000 which was added to this project, if it is a fact that the Ministry of Transportation never budgeted for the Lagos-CalabarCoastal Rail Line, where did the National Assembly get the sum of N12.5 billion  allocated to aviation projects which were never budgeted for?
• Observation of the detailed budget passed by the National assembly is that various new projects not solicited for by the ministry were inserted, relevant ones removed, reduce or increased. Foremost in the reduction is the Idu-Kaduna Rail Project scheduled for completion in June. It was reduced by N8.7 billion and an increase on Lagos-Kano Rail project by N32 billion.

A top government source said: “The Calabar-Lagos rail line was in the original budget sent to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning but there was an omission  in the collation process.

“Before the budget defence, the omission was corrected. And 50 copies of the amended budget were submitted to the Clerk to the Senate on February 2, 2016.

“The same 50 amended copies containing the Calabar-Lagos rail line were received, signed and acknowledged by the Clerk to the House of Representatives on February 11, 2016.

“After the submission, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had audience  with Ashafa, Goje and the House Committee members to explain everything.”

Last night, Mr. Akpandem James, the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, said: “The minister is not interested in any issue. His focus is to moderate between the National Assembly and ministries to harmonise the budget before the President returns from China.”

The Presidency raised eight sticking points in the budget.

The eight areas are:

• Removal of the Coastal Railway project after N60b counterpart funding has been provided
• Expunging of the Calabar – Lagos rail  line
• Reduction of votes for the completion of Idu-Kaduna rail project by N8.7b
• Drastic reduction of allocations for the completion of all major road projects across the country,
• NASS inclusion of new roads on which studies have not been conducted.
• Proposals made for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns, such as Polio and AIDs  removed,
• Allocations  for diversification projects under Agriculture and Water Resources were either removed or reduced
• Diversion of funds to rural health facilities and boreholes for which provisions have been made