Reps Reject N45.32bn Budget for Northeast

Reps Reject N45.32bn Budget for Northeast

Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday dismissed as the low, the N45.32billion allocated for infrastructure in the region.

They argued that the sum allocated to the North East Development Commission is insufficient to raise the standards of people in the conflict riddled region.

The legislators pushed back at the earmark, through a motion on the need to address the fiscal and infrastructural deficit in the North East zone presented on the floor of the House on Tuesday.

The lead sponsor of the motion, Rep. Zainab Gimba (Borno-APC), said the economy of the zone, was in a shambles and drastically brought down, by insurgency and associated acts of brigandage in the last ten years and require urgent intervention to save it from total collapse.

The House therefore resolved to that its Committees on Finance, Appropriation and North East Development Commission should interface with the Ministry of Finance to see how to enhance provision for capital projects for the NEDC under the Service Wide vote.

Rep. Gimba (APC-Borno) said the security challenges that have ravaged the North–East Zone in the last ten years, “weakened the economy and other sectors in the zone, while activities of Boko Haram insurgents, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other criminal elements have continued to pose serious threats to the socio-economic stability of the zone, precipitating poverty, high mortality and other humanitarian crises”.

©VANGUARD NEWSPAPER