President Goodluck Jonathan has said the reduction of
budgetary allocations by the National Assembly will undermine the
implementation of the 2013 budget.
Jonathan in a statement entitled:
“Re: 2013 amendment budget” asked the lawmakers to restore the deductions to
promote national development.
He warned that failure to restore
the deductions would exacerbate the unemployment situation as well as make it
difficult for government to meet its obligations to its workers.
Though Jonathan did not say where
the National Assembly put a total of N72.4 billion it reduced from the budget,
some observers noted that some of the cuts made by the lawmakers were uncalled
for.
The observers said the National
Assembly should not have tampered with allocations made for construction of
roads, amount voted for creation of jobs, health facilities and power projects.
The President recalled that he had
transmitted the 2013 amendment budget proposal to the National Assembly on
March 14.
He noted that following further
consultations, he had forwarded a new version of the categorized 2013 amendment
budget proposal indicating changes proposed across the expenditure categories.
He said, “The Capital Projects have
now been designated as follows: “critical” is designated as (i); “important” is
designated as (ii) and “others” designated as (iii).
”Some Capital Projects, the
allocations of which were reduced and which we seek your cooperation in
restoring so as to promote national development, include the following:
”Ministry of Works: Abuja- Lokoja
Road reduced by N4 billion; Kano-Maiduguri Road reduced by N3.5billion;
Dualization of Ibadan-Ilorin Section 2 reduced by N5.5billion; rehabilitation
of Jebba Bridge reduced by N1.25billion; rehabilitation of burnt Marine Bridge
and Iddo Bridge reduced by N1billion; Special Intervention Funds for Emergency
Roads and Bridges washed out across the country reduced by N6.28billion;
Dualization of Obajana Junction to Benin reduced by N4billion, etc.”
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