The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Science Engineering, Hon. Inuwa Garba has threatened to recommend the scrapping of departments and agencies that failed to live up to their mandates.
This followed the presentation of the Director-General of the Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHETSCO ), Mr Paul Onyenekwe and other officials of the agency over the award of contracts and non-completion of projects in Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe states.
Garba, who gave this warning at the budget defence threatened that the committee would recommend to the House the scrapping of some agencies in line with the Steve Oronsanye report if the agencies are not meeting up with their responsibilities.
According to him, a lot of discrepancies are been discovered in some agencies’ budget presentations.
He said ” Most of their budget is just reputation and to an extent, some don’t even want anybody to know what they are doing. The question you will ask is different from the answer that you are supposed to get from some of the agencies.
“Though some agencies are very relevant and are up and doing and very effective and supportive to the government policies and programs. When we finish, we are coming out to say our stand as a committee and present our report to the appropriation committee.
“Subsequently, we can make our position and proposal to the House very soon in order to help the government and to help the country.
Reacting to the agencies involved Inuwa said, “I will not say it now because we are yet to come to a final conclusion. But when we finish, we can call the agencies, call the head of the agencies and say why and how we are making that recommendation.
“If I now come out to call the agency, I’m not doing justice to myself, I’m not doing justice to the committee. I’m only the chairman of the committee. I have other members that are members of the committee.
“A lot of abnormalities are happening in most of the agencies. You can see one budget is repeated for 5, 6, and 7 years. The money is increasing, some will say it’s completed and before, in another way they say completion.
“Another year, completion. And they are putting in money. If you go in the same position, the same project, the same agency, only the amount that differs, the same contractor.
“So, honestly, I can’t say I’m comfortable for now. But what we have seen, a lot needs to be done in the budget and procurement process in our agencies, ministries and parastatals, so that we can be able to come up with something that will help the government and the people of this country.
Earlier, the Director-General of the Sheda Science and Technology Complex, Paul Onyenekwe blamed the envelope system of the budget by the federal government on the non-completion of ongoing projects in the northern states of the country by the agency.
The DG said that the envelope system of budgeting is to be blamed for the non-completion of key projects by the agency.
He informed that the 2024 budget of the agency was N1.2 billion adding that what he did the funds were operationalisation of these centres and payment of staff emoluments.
He also said that the agency embarked on the construction of staff quarters for its staff when it discovered that many of them were coming to work in the agency from very remote areas from the office.
On the 2024 budget review, he said that the agency got N69,569,607,924.00 as capital, N1,007,665,803.00 as personnel and N382,552.074.00 as overhead cost.
He also stated that they had embarked on construction of drainages and culverts in four northern states of the country namely Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe states.
