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The Senate Committee will not hesitate to give zero budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Environment – Saraki

By David Abellegah on November 10, 2012

The Ministry of Environment has been cautioned and threatened by the Senate Committee on Environment, following lack of proper records on the expenditure of previous allocations.

The Senate Committee on Environment said it would invoke its parliamentary powers and hold the ministry’s financial allocations in the 2013 budget, should the ministry fail to account for the previous allocations.

According to a statement by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, Mr. Lawrence Ojabo, the threat by the Senate was due to lack of proper records on the ministry’s expenditure.

Ojabo said the Committee Chairman, Senator Bukola Saraki had directed the Ministry of Environment to go and put their expenditure for the 2012 budget straight and come back.

Due to poor budgetary implementations the Presidency and the National Assembly has over the years had series of conflicts, which led to the National Assembly threatening to invoke impeachment clause, if the situation does not change.

According Saraki, “the Senate Committee will not hesitate to give zero budgetary allocation to the Ministry or any of its agencies on any on-going or new project if they were not convinced of their capacity to utilize the funds allocated to them in previous years”

In her presentation, the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia assured the Committee that the Ministry’s capital projects will be duly executed and completed.

She said the heavy rainfall, and the resulting shattering floods this year has posed some challenges to most of the contractors, particularly those who were previously on site, assuring the committee that the value of the money will be duly accounted for.

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