The Senate on Tuesday tackled the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed over a N250 million project in his ministry’s budget in the 2020 fiscal year.
This occurred as Mohammed led senior officials of his ministry to defend its 2021 budget estimate before the Senate.
The budget tagged ERPG 10145116 was listed as ‘completion of NTA Gashua sub-station ongoing’.
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However, the Senate queried why the N250 million earmarked for the project was fully released by the Ministry of Finance although work was yet to be completed on the project.
Speaking on the project, Chairman, Senate Committee on information, Abdullahi Sankara said Mohammed had lots of explanations to do on the project.
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Sankara queried the rationale behind the 100 percent release of the project’s funds without commensurate work done.
The minister had stirred the hornet’s nest when he explained that the project was a constituency project inserted in his ministry’s 2020 budget.
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The lawmakers described the explanation as inadequate and misleading, insisting that it was not a constituency project.
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