*Lagos-Calabar N60 billion coastal railway removed
*Idu-Kaduna rail line cut by N8.7 billion
*Major federal roads slashed
*Polio
eradication, essential drugs for HIV/AIDS expunged
*Agric/water resources
re-allocated to constituency projects
President Muhammadu Buhari
appears set to return the 2016 Budget to the National Assembly to rework
because what the lawmakers sent to him on Thursday for assent, according to
Presidency sources, fell below his expectations.
By implication, Buhari will
not sign the Appropriation Bill into law, as earlier planned, before jetting
out of the country this weekend to China for economic and business deals for
Nigeria.
The sources confirmed to Sunday Vanguard that the President felt
disappointed that provisions for major national projects and programmes that
could turn around the economy were either outrightly removed or funds for them
ridiculously slashed by the lawmakers.
It will be recalled that, in a bid to
urgently assent to the bill, which was transmitted to him on Thursday, the
Presidency had convened an emergency Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on
Friday where the document was distributed to Ministers to review as it affected
their respective ministries, departments and agencies.
At the review meeting
presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is the Head of the Economic
Team, it was discovered that many strategic projects were either removed or
provisions made for them significantly slashed to the point that made a mockery
of the projects.
 |
| Chief of Staff to President Buhari Abba Kyari receives budget from Senior Special Assistant to President on National Assembly matters Senator Eta Enang and Hon. Kawu Ismaila in Statehouse on 7th April 2016 |
Among the key projects removed
from the budget by the lawmakers are the all-important Calabar-Lagos coastal
rail line for which Buhari had made a provision of N60 billion in the 2016
estimates.
Incidentally, the railway project is one of the key issues taking
Buhari to China.
While that was removed, the lawmakers left the Kano/Lagos
railway project untouched but also went ahead to reduce the amount set aside
for the completion of the Idu/Kaduna railway project, which has reached an
advanced stage of completion, by N8.7 billion.
A top government official, who
was privy to the fiscal document, summed the discoveries in the budget that
shocked Buhari this way: “At the meeting, it was noticed that some very key
aspects of the budget, which have to do with government’s core infrastructural
focus, were removed. One of the projects is the subject of the President’s trip
to China – the Lagos/ Calabar coastal railway project – for which a counterpart
funding of N60bn was provided, but which was completely removed by the National
Assembly.
“The executive is working on two major rail arteries, among other
rail projects, to service the northern and eastern parts of the country – the
Lagos/Kano line and the Calabar/Lagos line. While the Lagos-Kano provision was left
untouched, the Calabar/ Lagos line was removed. The projects are to be funded
jointly by governments of China and Nigeria. It is one of the main reasons for
the President’s scheduled trip to China.
“Also, the amount proposed for the
completion of the Idu/Kaduna rail project which has reached an advanced stage,
was reduced by N8.7bn, a development which will make it difficult for the
project to be completed”.
The source added that another fundamental area
noticed in the document was the completion of on-going road projects.
It was
learnt that while the executive had provided for the completion of all major
road projects across the country, the National Assembly reduced the amounts
provided and instead included new roads which studies have not even been conducted.
The source lamented: “The amounts provided by the National Assembly for the
projects can neither complete the on-going road projects nor the new ones
proposed. At the end of the year, no progress would have been made”.
According
to the source, a top Presidency official, allocations for the purchase of
essential drugs for major health campaigns like polio and AIDS for which the
store is fast depleting, were removed and the amounts allocated to provision of
ambulance, which the health ministry did not ask for.
“It was also observed
that certain provisions made in the areas of agriculture and water resources to
further the Federal Government’s diversification project were either removed or
reduced while the funds were moved to provisions of rural health facilities and
boreholes, for which provisions have been made elsewhere,” the official said.
“The President is desirous of signing the Bill into law so that implementation
of the provisions could begin in earnest for the benefit of the people. That is
why the moment he received the document on Thursday, a meeting was convened for
Friday to immediately start work on it”, the source concluded.
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