… Lawmakers Seek Additional Funding
The newly created Ministry of Livestock Development is to run with a budget of N11.8bn in the 2025 fiscal year.
It’s the ministry’s first-ever budget, as it was created by President Bola Tinubu some three months ago.
The Minister, Mr Idi Maiha, on Tuesday, led his team to defend the budget before a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives.
Maiha disclosed to the lawmakers that of the N11.8bn budget proposal, N10 was meant for capital while N1.8 will go for recurrent expenditure.
It’s a clear departure from the practice where recurrent expenditures of federal agencies usually take about 80 per cent with just about 20 per cent for capital expenditure.
The National Assembly Joint Committee on Livestock Development, however, described the ministry’s proposed N11.8bn as grossly inadequate for its takeoff.
However the Minister pointed out that the ministry’s takeoff process was still ongoing with formative departments from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security from which the new ministry was carved out.
The minister further told the lawmakers that his ministry was yet to have office accommodation and lacked the necessary facilities and operational equipment to run as a full-fledged ministry.
According to him, the ministry is currently being accommodated by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
Maiha said the ministry has initiated discussions with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to secure adequate office accommodation.
The Minister said though the N11.8bn budget might be small, it will provide a roadmap to get the ministry to take off effectively.
However, the lawmakers asked the minister to harmonise adequate financial needs and represent additional requests for funding in the form of a supplementary budget.
Chairmen of the joint committee, Senator Musa Mustapha and Rep Wale Raji, insisted that the minister should present a supplementary budget, promising “prompt approval.”
Wale Raji queried the amount of input from the Presidential Implementation Committee for the take-off of the ministry.
“There will be a need for you to make a special presentation on this or come up with a supplementary budget that will reflect the hope of Nigerians.
“The budget is abysmally low to respond to the yearnings of Nigerians,” he said.
The Senate Chairman, Sen. Musa Mustapha, said the committee will try its best to “help the ministry achieve its mandate.”