The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, has disowned a ‘suspicious’ insertion of N206 billion into the ministry’s 2023 budget by the Finance Ministry.
Umar-Farouq, who appeared before the Senate Panel on Special Duties to defend the 2023 budget, claimed that though the ministry requested for some projects for the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) and National Social Safety Net Project in the 2022 budget, the funds were, however, not released to it by the finance ministry.
She feigned surprise that the funds found their way into the 2023 budget, only this time they were increased 10 times than the original request made.
The minister in her response said, “Yes we made mention of the projects for 2022 which were not released and part of it was for the NEDC.
“The money was not released and now we have seen it recurring by almost 10 folds and we are also going to clarify from the Ministry of Finance to know why this increase despite the fact that the previous year, the money was not even released for the project.
“So we will get the details then send it to you on that.
“On upscaling of the National Social Safety Net Project. These projects under the National Social Safety Nets, the conditional cash transfer, the updating of the national social register and the rapid response register as well to cushion the effect of inflation.
“This is all I can say for this. I cannot really give full details of how this amount is going to be utilised because it is something that was negotiated between the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank.”
Her response followed a request by a member of the committee, Senator Elisha Abbo, for explanation about the N206 billion inserted in the budget.
The lawmaker, who was shocked by the minister’s response, said that the country can’t continue to borrow money and plunge itself into further debt, adding, “This is serious. We cannot continue to borrow money and plunge this country into debt for our children to come and pay without investing in what they will see.”
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Yusuf Yusuf, therefore moved a motion to summon Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, to come and give explanation about the N206 billion inserted in the ministry’s budget.
Senator Yusuf said, “I want to move a motion that the Minister of Finance should appear before this committee to furnish this committee with details of what they intend to do with N206 billion in 2023 budget.
“Now that the minister has said that she is not in charge of negotiation, of course she is not, the Minister of Finance is.”
