Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport and Senator representing
Lagos East Senatorial District, Gbenga Ashafa, has explained how the sum
of N54billion was smuggled into the 2016 Budget.
Ashafa in a press statement said while the Lagos-Calabar Rail
modernization project was not included in the original budget from the
Executive, Transport Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, had sent a
supplementary copy of the Transport Ministry’s budget during the budget
defense at the Senate.
He said the Minister explained to the Senators that the Executive had
omitted the Lagos-Calabar Rail Project leaving only the Lagos-Kano in the
2016 Budget.
Senator Ashafa statement reads:
PRESS RELEASE FROM SENATOR GBENGA ASHAFA ON THE CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING
THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTS’S BUDGET
I have carefully followed the news items making the rounds in relation to
the budget presented to the National Assembly and what was defended by the
Ministry of Transport before the Senate Committee on Land Transport which
I have the privilege of chairing.
The focal points of controversy seem to be the Lagos to Calabar railway
modernisation projects and the completion of the Idu – Kaduna rail line.
I confirm that the Lagos to Calabar rail line was not in the original
document that was presented to the National Assembly by the Executive.
However subsequently at the budget defense session before the Senate
Committee on Land Transport, the Hon. Minister for Transport, Rotimi
Amaechi, did inform the committee of the omission of the Lagos to Calabar
rail modernisation project and indeed sent a supplementary copy of the
ministry’s budget to the committee which contained the said project.
The minister noted that the amount needed for the counterpart funding for
both the Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation projects
was in the sum of 120 Billion Naira, being 60 Billion Naira per project.
While the committee did not completely agree with all the changes made in
the subsequent document, being fully aware of the critical importance of
the rail sector to the development of our dear country, distinguished
members of the Senate Committee on Land transport keyed into the laudable
(Lagos to Calabar, rail modernisation) project and found ways of
appropriating funds for the project without exceeding the envelope
provided for the ministry.
In so doing, the committee observed that the Lagos to Kano rail
rehabilitation project had been allocated the sum of N52 Billion Naira as
against the sum of 60 billion which the Hon. Minister requested as
counterpart funding while no allocation whatsoever was made for the Lagos
to Calabar rail line.
Hence, the sum of 54 billion Naira that was discovered by the Senate
Committee on Land Transport to be floating in the budget of the Ministry
of Transportation as presented by the Executive was injected into
augmenting the funds needed for counterpart funding of both projects
(Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar Rail modernisation), as at the time
the committee defended its report before the senate committee on
Appropriation. The Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project was
therefore included in the Senate Committee on Land Transports
recommendation to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
With regard to the Idu to Kaduna rail completion, the Senate Committee on
Land Transport did not interfere with what was provided for in the budget
as sent by the executive, being approximately 18 Billion Naira hence I am
equally surprised to read on the pages of the newspapers that the amount
allocated to the said project was reduced by 8 Billion Naira.
While I would have preferred to wait till Tuesday 12th April, 2016 when
the National Assembly reconvenes in order to have the benefit of viewing
the details of the budget that was conveyed to the executive as passed, I
am compelled to place the facts in proper perspective as it relates to the
activities of the Senate Committee on Land Transport.
Without prejudice to the considerations and powers of the Senate Committee
on Appropriations with regard to the appropriations process, the foregoing
is the true reflection of what transpired at the committee level with
respect to the Land Transport sector of the Ministry of Transport.
Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East)
Chairman Senate Committee on Land Transport