The National Assembly yesterday raised concern about the implementation of the N500 billion special intervention fund, a cardinal programme of the Buhari administration, according to the Nation.
The lawmakers were categorical that though the plan by the Federal Government to spend N500 billion on vulnerable Nigerians is laudable, its implementation will pose problems.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, who raised the issue suggested the suspension the plan in this year’s budget.
Goje spoke at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation meeting with Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and top officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Goje noted that the meeting became necessary because members of the National Assembly had given March 17th deadline to pass the budget. He said Udo-Udoma, Adeosun and others were invited to get their final input before the budget is passed. He also the lawmakers want to pass an implementable budget.
He said the N500 billion special intervention fund’s implementation is not clearly stated in the budget. Goje, an APC senator from Gombe and a former governor of the state on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, said how would the beneficiaries of the programme be selected.
He added that there was no doubt that it would turn into a political jamboree for political office holders. Goje who noted that market women were listed as part of those who would benefit from the fund wondered how market women would be selected. He said that in his home state of Gombe, there are no market women but market men.
The lawmaker also declared the school feeding initiative planned by the government as un-implementable.
Insisting that school feeding programme is largely unsustainable, he wondered how billions of naira would be spent on feeding pupils when most of them study under trees due to lack of class rooms.
The lawmakers were categorical that though the plan by the Federal Government to spend N500 billion on vulnerable Nigerians is laudable, its implementation will pose problems.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, who raised the issue suggested the suspension the plan in this year’s budget.
Goje spoke at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation meeting with Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and top officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Goje noted that the meeting became necessary because members of the National Assembly had given March 17th deadline to pass the budget. He said Udo-Udoma, Adeosun and others were invited to get their final input before the budget is passed. He also the lawmakers want to pass an implementable budget.
He said the N500 billion special intervention fund’s implementation is not clearly stated in the budget. Goje, an APC senator from Gombe and a former governor of the state on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, said how would the beneficiaries of the programme be selected.
He added that there was no doubt that it would turn into a political jamboree for political office holders. Goje who noted that market women were listed as part of those who would benefit from the fund wondered how market women would be selected. He said that in his home state of Gombe, there are no market women but market men.
The lawmaker also declared the school feeding initiative planned by the government as un-implementable.
Insisting that school feeding programme is largely unsustainable, he wondered how billions of naira would be spent on feeding pupils when most of them study under trees due to lack of class rooms.
The government, he said, should take a second look at the programmes, fine tune them and leave the implementation for the 2017 fiscal year.
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