Jonathan seeks NASS approval of NDDC N299bn budget

President Goodluck Jonathan, on Tuesday wrote the Senate, seeking its approval for

the 2015 budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission estimated at N299.5bn.

The amount is N23.1bn lesser than that of 2014 which was N322.6bn.

Jonathan in the letter read on the floor by Senate President, David Mark, said he was acting, pursuant to Section 18 (1) of the NDDC Establishment Act,  for the kind consideration and approval of the National Assembly.

He said, “The Commission has submitted a budget proposal of N299,526,463,156.12 for 2015 as against N322,600,000,000.00 only in 2014, representing a decline of 7.1 per cent over last year’s budget.”

The proposed budget  according to the president,  is made up of Personnel Expenditure of N16,133,370.00, Recurrent Expenditure of N10,423,031,000, Internal Capital Expenditure of N1,879,076,000.00 and Capital Projects Development Expenditure of N271,089,900,000.00 only.

The sources of revenue for the proposed budget, he added, are revenue brought forward of N10bn;  Federal Government contribution of N70bn; unpaid arrears by FG of N20bn; and oil companies contribution and others of N160bn.

Jonathan also explained that the budget would be funded with Ecological Fund of N40bn and other internally realised income estimated at N100m, amounting to the total sum of N300.1bn.

Meanwhile, the absence of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Ahmed Maccido, stalled the formal presentation of its report on the 2015 National Budget on the floor of the upper chamber on Tuesday.

Maccido was not available to present the document when he was invited to do so by the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, which necessitated the postponement to the next legislative day since he did not delegate any member of the committee to present it on his behalf.

The Petroleum Industry Bill also suffered similar fate as the chairman of the Joint committee on Petroleum (Upstream & Downstream)  and Gas Resources,  Senator Emmanuel Paulker,  was not also available to present the report before the lawmakers.

File photo