Edun, Bagudu grilled as Senate opens 2025 budget defence
Some ministers and Directors-General of federal government agencies yesterday appeared before various standing committees of the Senate for their 2025 budget defence. At the commencement of defence yesterday, the Senate committee on appropriations grilled the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre […]
Some ministers and Directors-General of federal government agencies yesterday appeared before various standing committees of the Senate for their 2025 budget defence.
At the commencement of defence yesterday, the Senate committee on appropriations grilled the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa – Onilu, and his counterpart in the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ali Mohammed Ali.
While Edun and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, were put on hot seats by the Senate committee on appropriations, the DG of NOA and that of NAN , had very tough encounter with the Senate committee on Information and National Orientation.
Series of questions were fired at Edun, by members of the appropriations committee on the state of implementation of the 2024 budget, particularly its capital component.
Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), specifically asked the finance minister to explain how proceeds from fuel subsidy removal were expended in the 2024 fiscal year. He also asked the minister to explain how much was saved after the removal. Ningi also asked Edun to explain how much was debt servicing within the year.
The Bauchi Senator went further to ask the minister to explain whether the extension of the capital component of the 2024 budget to June 30, 2025, would give the desired results in terms of implementation that has a very low percentage.
Apparently worried by the questions, Edun hurriedly requested the committee to accord him a close-door session for detailed response to the questions.
He said, “Are we in a closed-door session? If we are not in a closed-door session, I will humbly seek for that for detailed explanations on the questions asked.”
Chairman of the appropriations committee, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West), then asked journalists to leave the hall to enable them have a closed-door session with the finance minister.
Similarly, the Senate committee on Information and National Orientation ordered the Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Issa – Onilu and his counterpart in the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ali Mohammed Ali, to re -draft and re – present their budgetary proposals for the 2025 fiscal year.
The committee chaired by Senator Kenneth Eze (APC, Ebonyi Central), tackled the NOA DG on the national Identity project being implemented by the agency, saying the project is not known to Nigerians particularly, those residing at the grassroots.
Similar, the Director General of NAN, was told to go and reconcile disjointed figures presented in the 2024 budget implementation before coming for appropriation of projected figures for the 2025 fiscal years.