The House of Representatives heard on Thursday that it would cost N17bn for the National Population Commission to successfully conduct the 2016 population census. The Chairman, NPC, Mr. Eze Duru-Iheoma, disclosed the figure when he appeared before the House Committee on Population to defend the commission’s 2014 budget proposals. Out of the sum, he said N10.7bn would be spent on Information Communication Technology centres in the 36 states of the federation and the opening of additional registration centres across the country. The development came as the House Committee on Special Duties held a secret meeting with Presidency officials on the 2014 budget of the offices of the President and the vice-president at a separate session. The special duties committee is chaired by Mr. Nadu Karibo, who represents the Ogbia Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State. Defending the census budget, Duru-Iheoma said, “Our state offices are on rent. We need to develop them and have them fully equipped with ICT. “We suggested N5.7bn for this. We have the mandate to conduct the census in 2016, and we don’t intend to postpone it even by one day.” However, the chairman complained that the Budget Office of the Federation approved only N203m from the N5.7bn sub-head. Although, the NPC’s total budget for the year was N34.5bn, including the N17bn for the proposed census, Duru-Iheoma told the committee that the budget office slashed it to N6.2bn. The acting Chairman of the committee, Mr. Abdulrazaq Nuhu-Zaki, promised that the lawmakers would find a way to assist the commission. However, the committee demanded a detailed report on how the commission spent the N1.5bn approved for its capital projects in 2013. At the special duties committee, Karibo asked journalists to leave the venue upon the arrival of the State House personnel. He stated that the committee would first hold an “executive session” with the officials. The closed session lasted for about 35 minutes after which journalists were readmitted into the venue. But, Karibo merely announced that the budget of the State House had dropped by N2bn and called off the session. No further comments were made and members of the committee did not ask questions on the content of the budget. Karibo said, “We may invite you to come back soon. What we did with you today is just part of what is required of us. We too will have to take this to the Appropriations Committee. “We will allow you to go for now. But, if need be, we will invite you to come again. Only that this time, you will not get a long notice as you did for this appearance. So, prepare for a short notice.” The State House had proposed a budget of about N8.7bn to run the offices of the President and his deputy this year. Out of the amount, N5bn was earmarked for recurrent expenditure, while capital projects took the balance of N3.7bn. A breakdown of the recurrent expenditure showed that overhead cost would claim N3.5bn, while N1.5bn was voted for salaries/allowances of the workers. Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: editor@punchng posted on March 07, 2014 at 12:41AM Send an email to Joseph T. Obagbemisoye jtob91@yahoo Like JTNNG on facebook facebook/jtnng91 View Joseph T. Obagbemisoyes profile on facebook facebook/jtob91 Follow @jtob91 and get followed also jtnng.blogspot/
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 23:59:07 +0000