House of Representatives adjourns to consider 2012 budget

The House is breaking up into committees to consider the 2012 budget.

House of Representatives adjourns to consider 2012 budget
Latifat Afegbua, Abuja

The House of Representatives has adjourned plenary for another two days to enable committees conclude budget defence of Ministries, Agencies and Parastatals.

Announcing the adjournment, Speaker of the House of Representives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, said that it would also enable committees collate their reports for onward submission to the Appropriation committee.

Alhaji Tambuwal however urged committee chairmen to ensure that their committees'  reports are submitted on time for the quick passage of the 2012 budget.

Meanwhile, the House has urged the federal government to consciously stop further concentration of parastatals and agencies in some already overcrowded capital cities.

The call followed a motion on the decentralization of federal government agencies and parastatals within the six geo-political zones brought by Mr Samuel Williams, a member of the House.

In the meantime, the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, has called for increased funding for the ministry to enable it carry out its mandate of publicising government policies and programmes.

Mr Maku made the call at the 2012 budget defence of the ministry and parastatals under it before the House of Representatives committee on Information and National Orientation.

He noted that the ministry would want to avoid a situation where there was no provision for publicity in the 2011 budget.

Difficulties

The minister said that this would cause difficulty in publicizing government activities if funds were not allocated to the ministry.

Mr Maku stressed that the ministry’s main expenditure bordered on publicity, adding that the ministry had decided to set aside one billion naira for publicity.

``From what we saw from the last protest, and what is going on in the country, we need to defend this democracy by projecting what it is doing to the people of Nigeria , he said.

He said that the present democratic governance had achieved far more than the several years of military rule in the country.

The minister restated the ministry’s readiness to collaborate with the National Assembly in order to project the dividends of democracy.

He urged the political class to educate their people on the benefits of our new democracy.

Mr Maku said that the ministry was working in collaboration with the office of the National Security Adviser, to increase the awareness campaign on the security situation in the country.
He noted that checking security challenges required the collaboration of all Nigerians and not for security agencies alone.

The Ministry proposed N2 billion for capital expenditure while N3billion was earmarked for recurrent expenditure.

The minister was however silent on the overall budget of the ministry.

Ministries, Departments and Agencies in attendance at the budget defence include, Voice of Nigeria, National Television Authority, News Agency of Nigeria National Broadcasting Commission among others.

Ugo