BUDGET DEFENSE:FAIL TO APPEAR BEFORE AKHA, GET ZERO ALLOCATION - AKPANUSOH WARNS MINIS TRIES, MDAs

DR. AKPANUSOH

BY EMMANUEL AKPAN



The Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations and Finance in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Usoro Akpanusoh has warned that any Ministry or Government Agency that would fail to defend the 2019 proposal before the Committee will get a zero allocation.


Usoro Akpanusoh gave the warning on Monday during the opening of the 2019 budget defense at the House of Assembly complex.

The Appropriations and Finance Committee Chairman while frowning at the attitude of some head of Ministries and Agencies to stay back from budget defense without any excuse, said his committee will ensure that any Ministry that dose not appear to explain in details their 2019 proposal, get nothing for next year and will be taken against them.

The Chairman of the Committee who represent Esit Eket/Ibeno State Constituency, also ordered the Clerk of the committee to provide details of each of the agency's estimated proposal to the committee for further action.

According to Akpanusoh, "We must know how much that is proposed for each of the agency. Moreover, we will give them another opportunity for them to appear before us. Failure to do so, we will take our decision." the lawmaker stated.

He however, promised that the House of Assembly will do everything possible to help all proposed budget of each agency to get the needed approval.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Lands and Town Planning, Arc. Ime Ekpo while defending his Ministry's proposal, said parts of the budget include: payment of compensation for lands acquired by the State government, development of master plan for urban centres, among others.

In her turn, the Executive Secretary, Life Enhancement Agency, Mrs. Maria Ekanem, noted that the agency deals with training and retraining of Akwa Ibom people in different skills acquisitions.

She lamented that her agency got zero release of the 2018 budget and disclosed that the agency has proposed a total amount of 270.491 million naira only for the 2019 fiscal year. Also appeared before the Committee on Appropriations and Finance was the Ministry of Culture and Tourism led by the Commissioner, Hon. Uno Etim Uno. The budget defense will continue on Tuesday (Today.)