By EricJames Ochigbo
Abuja – The House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction with the 2017 budget performance presented by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
During the 2018 budget defence in Abuja, members of the committee observed that some items presented by the commission on its 2017 budget breakdown were ambiguous.
Following a motion by Rep. Ezekiel Adaji (Benue-APC), the committee called off the exercise and mandated the commission to make necessary corrections and appear on a later date.
Adaji said the committee would not deliberate on 2018 budget until it could clearly ascertain the usage of 2017 budget, adding that the 2018 budget had to be built on the 2017 budget.
Earlier, the Director General of NBC, Mr Ishaq Kawu, disclosed that N88 million was appropriated for overhead, but only N49 million was released, representing 59 per cent of the amount budgeted.
Kawu explained that N622 million was earmarked for personnel cost and it was released 100 per cent.
According to him, the fund released for capital expenditure was N56.3 million, representing 50 per cent of the appropriated N112.6 million.
The director general, however, promised to make more documents on the 2017 budget breakdown available to the committee.
In another development, the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) said it had budgeted N390 million for its 2018 operations.
The Director-General of the council, Mr Nnamdi Njemanze, announced this while defending the 2018 Budget before the committee.
Njemanze said N176.6 million was earmarked for personnel cost while N23.9 million was for overhead.
He said N139 million was appropriated for capital expenditure and put the council’s projected internally generated revenue at N175,000 for the year.
On the 2017 Budget performance, Njemanze said N390 million was earmarked, but N282.4 million was released to the council.
He said the agency’s internally generated revenue for 2017 was N115,000.
The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Rep. Hassan Lawal (Zamfara-APC), said members would deliberate on the proposal and consult the council where necessary. (NAN)