The Senate has dismissed claims that its standing committees were being starved of funds to operate effectively arguing that the funding challenges being experienced by some of the committees was a reflection of broader financial difficulties in the economy.
The apex legislative assembly made the clarification sequel to concerns raised by some Senators over perceived inadequate funding of Senate Standing Committees, particularly those overseeing newly established zonal development commissions.
Making the clarification at the National Assembly, the Senate Spokesman and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, noted that reports suggesting that Senate Committees on Development Commissions facing cash crunch were premature and not supported by facts.
He said: “Well, you know these committees have just taken off. The commissions and the committees themselves have not briefed the Senate leadership. Now we are having our budget sessions. So, all it this period that we will know whether they have any problems or not. It is not going to be hearsay. “I hope you know they are just coming up and some of them are just getting their offices and staff in order. So, how can they suddenly embark on big programmes and projects?”
The lawmaker noted that most of the development commissions were created after the 2025 budget had already been passed, making it impossible to expect immediate large-scale funding. “I think it is only the NorthEast Development Commission that has existed earlier than now. Even the Commission cannot begin to complain about that now. “So any development commission or oversight committee that has just been put in place a few months ago cannot be complaining about funding because we have just done the 2025 budget before it came into existence,” Adaramodu said.
Senator Anthony Ani (Ebonyi South) had in one of the interactive sessions of the Committee Chairman with the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations raised the concern that the Senate Committee on South East Development Commission had not received any funds since its inauguration.
“Mr Chairman, you have read out the timetable to be followed by the various Committees for consideration of the 2026 budget. But the Senate Committee on South East Development Commission that I belong to does not have money to organise a meeting with any agency due to zero allocation since its formation and inauguration,” Ani noted.
He pointed out that other committees overseeing zonal development commissions were also yet to receive funding, wondering how they were expected to function effectively under such difficult circumstance. Supporting Ani’s observation, the Chairman, Senate Committee on North Central Development Commission, Titus Zam (Benue North West), warned that the initial excitement surrounding the creation of the commissions was fading.
“Lack of funding for the Committees on Zonal Development Commissions in the Senate is gradually turning the excitement that heralded them into disappointment and even into lamentation,” he said.
