At least 80 road projects amounting to N40bn were inserted into the 2016 budget at the National Assembly, sources told our correspondent yesterday.
There have been controversies over the removal of the N60bn Lagos-Calabar rail project and others from the 2016 budget by the lawmakers.

Sources told Daily Trust that the lawmakers at both chambers removed some of the projects included in the budget submitted by the executive and replaced them with new ones.

It was gathered that the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on appropriation, Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin, allocated projects worth N4.169 billion to his constituency in the budget.

Details of the budget seen by Daily Trust yesterday indicated that Jibrin alone allocated 22 projects worth N4.169bn to Kiru/Bebeji, his federal constituency. It was gathered that the projects allocated to the lawmaker’s federal constituency are outside the usual constituency projects captured in the budget.

A senator told our correspondent on condition of anonymity, that the projects were included during budget defence and that they had since scaled through.
“In works alone, 80 road projects that were not in the budget submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari were included. These projects were injected into the budget by the works committee,” he said.
According to him, each of the projects cost about N500m and the senators included them in the budget to attract projects to their constituencies.

“The roads were distributed to the senators’ constituencies. It was while the committee was trying to address the lopsidedness in the distribution of road projects that the roads got into the budget.
“You know in the initial budget submitted by the president, there was gross imbalance in the distribution of road projects. It was while balancing this that they introduced new 80 road projects,” he said.

The senator said each of the committees introduced new projects into the budget and they had since scaled through. He listed the affected committees to include agriculture, water resources, health, education and rural development.

He said it would be unfair to single out the chairmen of the Appropriation Committees of both chambers.
“It is a common thing during budget processes at the National Assembly. All chairmen and vice chairmen of committees are involved, especially popular committees. This has been the practice as such there is nothing new about this thing,” he said.

Jirbin confirmed to Daily Trust yesterday that it was true that he allocated projects to his constituency just like some of his colleagues did.
“It is true that there are projects allocated to my constituency just like other members did. Just because I’m the chairman of the appropriation committee, my constituents should not get projects? Are my constituents not Nigerians?

“Every member has one project or the other in his constituency, so I don’t think I did anything wrong by having some projects in my constituency. I think people should be fair to me please,” he said.

A breakdown of the projects showed that there are 10 under the ministry of works, which are
construction and rehabilitation of the works centre, N100m;
construction of town hall, N100m;
block of classrooms, undisclosed;
rehabilitation of Sharada - Kwanar Dogara, N1.445bn;
solar street lights, N300m;
drainage, N20m;
rehabilitation of Gwarzo Kiru, Kwanar Maiyaki, N180m;
Kiru - Badaf road construction, N405m;
rehabilitation and construction of roads in Kiru/Bebeji, N150m, and
construction of pedestrian bridges, N200m.

In the ministry of water resources, there are eight projects, namely:
construction of earth dam, N1m;
construction of 10 hand-pump boreholes in Bagauda, N10m;
small irrigation schemes in Kiru, N100m;
construction of Bebeji earth dam, N270m;
construction of solar powered boreholes, N150m;
outstanding projects of 2014 in Kiru Bebeji, N100m and
provision of hand-pump boreholes and water scheme, N38.023m.

Under the ministries of women affairs and agriculture, the projects are empowerment programme:
supply of tricycles, grinding machines and set of women salon empowerment kits, N200m and
construction of rural roads in Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency, N150m.

As for the SGF’s office, there are two projects for the Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency, which are
provision of empowerment items, N100m and
provision of entrepreneurship development training and vocational centre, N100m.

It was observed that one item was repeated with different figures under the Ministry of Water Resources, which is construction of Bebeji earth dam with N270m and N50m respectively.

2n2k:


So it is now the responsibility of the federal government to build Town Hall in some people's village? Impunity in Nigeria has no limit.

seunmsg:
So far so good, Northern law makers have smuggled in so many project for their constituencies. Can we see the projects smuggled into the budget by southern law makers?

Revelations from this 2016 budget have really exposed the south to be a politically immature region. We all come online and engage in silly e-wars while northerners stay back and observe our silliness. Our elected law makers are even more sillier. Party sentiments and selfish political interest have so blinded their eyes that they couldn't see anything wrong in cancelling the Lagos-Calabar railway project and appropriating the funds meant for it to complete the Kano railway projects and build new roads and town halls in the north.

Lagos-Calabar rail line that was presented and defended by the transport minister was rejected because it wasn't part of the initial budget submitted by the president while new roads and town halls in the north that was never designed, presented or defended by any ministry was included and appropriated huge funds. Yet, southerners still come online to support the decision of the national assembly due to party sentiments. Seriously, it sucks to be a southerner.

seunmsg:
So far so good, Northern law makers have smuggled in so many project for their constituencies. Can we see the projects smuggled into the budget by southern law makers?

Revelations from this 2016 budget have really exposed the south to be a politically immature region. We all come online and engage in silly e-wars while northerners stay back and observe our silliness. Our elected law makers are even more sillier. Party sentiments and selfish political interest have so blinded their eyes that they couldn't see anything wrong in cancelling the Lagos-Calabar railway project and appropriating the funds meant for it to complete the Kano railway projects and build new roads and town halls in the north.

Lagos-Calabar rail line that was presented and defended by the transport minister was rejected because it wasn't part of the initial budget submitted by the president while new roads and town halls in the north that was never designed, presented or defended by any ministry was included and appropriated huge funds. Yet, southerners still come online to support the decision of the national assembly due to party sentiments. Seriously, it sucks to be a southerner.

seunmsg:
So far so good, Northern law makers have smuggled in so many project for their constituencies. Can we see the projects smuggled into the budget by southern law makers?

Revelations from this 2016 budget have really exposed the south to be a politically immature region. We all come online and engage in silly e-wars while northerners stay back and observe our silliness. Our elected law makers are even more sillier. Party sentiments and selfish political interest have so blinded their eyes that they couldn't see anything wrong in cancelling the Lagos-Calabar railway project and appropriating the funds meant for it to complete the Kano railway projects and build new roads and town halls in the north.

Lagos-Calabar rail line that was presented and defended by the transport minister was rejected because it wasn't part of the initial budget submitted by the president while new roads and town halls in the north that was never designed, presented or defended by any ministry was included and appropriated huge funds. Yet, southerners still come online to support the decision of the national assembly due to party sentiments. Seriously, it sucks to be a southerner.

tuale4u:
Sounthern Senators are Myopic, foolish and amateurs. They dont even know what thier Job is as Senators or house of rep members.

For all those shallow southern NASS members like Senator Ben Bruce who are so foolishly in a hurry to shout in his tweeter page that "Calabar lagos rail was not in d Budget Submitted", my question to those mumu southern senstors like Ben Bruce is simple: Is dis road 4.1billiion project in Jubrin village and orther nothern dominated 80 project inserted by NASS in d Budget Submitted by the president?

TheGoodJoe:


I can not blame Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin. If the Southern Senators do not want it, he has to share it for his people.

A lot of the Southern followers are eve supporting the Sen. Ben Bruce of the Twitter Constituency.

yang:
This is the job of the Northern Parasites

Steal Money from the Oil Producing Land and go to use it to build the North.

You people have finished building Abuja abi? Its now time to build Bebeji

When are we dividing this zoo . . .This Theft must stop

AdamsBashforth:



Seunmsg do not cry more than the bereaved.

yang:
This is the job of the Northern Parasites

Steal Money from the Oil Producing Land and go to use it to build the North.

You people have finished building Abuja abi? Its now time to build Bebeji

When are we dividing this zoo . . .This Theft must stop

AdamsBashforth:



Seunmsg do not cry more than the bereaved.

AdamsBashforth:



Seunmsg do not cry more than the bereaved.

aieromon:
Funds were discovered to be "floating" in the budget. Funds under the Ministry of Transportation were then moved to other ministries to construct roads without designs,salon kits,water pumps,grinding machines,tricycles and town halls.

Instead of the southern senators to come out with one voice and order their colleagues to review the budget, they came out to scream the rail project was not originally in the budget.

I hope their eyes open on time to see the foolishness in cutting their nose to spite their face.

I doff my hat for Goje and Jubrin.

modath:


They know that the "crazies" from the south put party politics before regional development so they did what they gat to do...... All man for hinsef.