Senate panel wants review of stand on unspent fund
From Leo Sobechi, Abakaliki
WORRIED by the lacklustre performance of annual budgets especially in the area of road construction, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Mr. Julius Ali Ucha, has decried the current policy that requires ministries to return all unspent funds to the treasury at the end of every year, remarking that the practice militated against the execution of physical projects in the country.
Ucha, whose observation is contained in a statement by the media consultant to the committee, Mr. Bernard Akoma, noted that after the committee paid a scheduled visit to the Ministry of Works as part of their oversight function recently, "one cardinal information we got that is very critical to the execution of projects in the country is the time frame for the award and completion of such projects.
"A situation where funds are returned after the 31st of every December looks strange because what is not utilised is returned to the treasury and this is not helpful." he added.
He also said that members of the committee had a fruitful discussion with the Minister, Hassan Mohammed Adamu in a close-door meeting where he said that the minister briefed the committee on the activities of the ministry.
The Committee chairman faulted the limitation of the budgetary provision which pegged the timing for the end of every fiscal year at December 31, saying it is inimical to the execution of projects especially roads because of the rains.
"What we are advocating," the statement noted, "is a change in the time frame so that the end of every financial year should be sometimes in March instead of December, particularly as it concerns Ministry of Works because such change becomes necessary since companies do not perform optimally during rainy seasons."
In his remarks, the Minister for Works, Lawal supported the observations of the senate committee agreeing that rains constituted one of the major challenges facing his ministry in the execution of its road projects pointing out as an instance South-South zone, where he said, no state in that zone can boast of five months of sun light.
The minister discovered that the mostly clay content of the soil in that area was very high, thereby making it more difficult to carry out any meaningful work in the zone during rainy seasons.
"With what the senate committee has said, I believe there should be a change in the December 31 financial arrangement; the financial layout does not favour Ministry of Works because December 31 marks the beginning of dry season in Nigeria both North and South," the minister added.
However, after a meeting with the Director General, Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Mr. Abdullahim Kabir in his office at Abuja, Ucha who declined to comment on the performances of FERMA thus far, stated that the committee would be heading to the field to match the information given to them by FERMA with actual facts on the ground.
The statement added that the Director General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, (ICRC) Ahmed Mansur, told the senate committee in his office that the commission was collaborating with states and ministries to promote an orderly and harmonised framework for the development of the country infrastructure in order to accelerate the development of market for public private partnership project.
