Accompanied by the the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, members of the Appropriation committee also sought to know from Edun, the state of implementation of the 2024 budget, particularly the capital component.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Senate Committee on Appropriations on Thursday questioned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, over the status of the savings made on fuel subsidy removal in 2024.
This is just as the Director General of National Orientation Agency ( NOA) Mallam Lanre Issa – Onilu and his counterpart in the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN), Ali Mohammed Ali , were separately directed to represent their 2025 budget estimates at a later date.
Accompanied by the the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, members of the Appropriation committee also sought to know from Edun, the state of implementation of the 2024 budget, particularly the capital component.
Raising the question, Senator Abdul Ningi asked for an explanation on how proceeds from fuel subsidy removal were expended in the 2024 fiscal year.
He 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 has 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 2004? 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?”
Responding, the Minister requested that journalists should be excused so that he can give the explanation in a closed door session. The Committee Chairman, Sen. Solomon Olamilekan, thereafter ordered journalists to excuse them for the closed door session.
In a separate meeting, the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation met with the Director General of National Orientation Agency ( NOA), Mallam Issa – Onilu and that of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ali Mohammed Ali.
They were both ordered to repeat their budgetary proposals presentation for 2025 fiscal year.