The upper chamber of the National Assembly has finally passed the Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) N876 billion 2023 budget.
It would be recalled that some groups in the Niger Delta had castigated the Senate for calling for a stand down of NDDC 2023 budget.
The groups said they support beaming the searchlight on the 2021 and 2022 budgets, calling out the managers of those years’ budget in view while the 2023 budget should be passed in order for this newly constituted board to implement provisions of the budget to meet the aspiration of the people of the region.
From the passed budget, the Senate approved N451 million as provisions for aides of 12 board members of the commission and N576 million for taking care of the Office of the Chairman of the Commission, Laurreta Onochie.
According to the breakdown for the office of the chairman, the personnel cost will gulp, N156 million; overhead, N312 million, and internal capital, N108 million.
For the Managing Director’s Office, N546.597 million was earmarked for personnel cost; N747.500 million for overhead cost; N163.504 million for internal capital.
Others are Executive Director, Finance & Administration Office personnel cost, N133.337 million; overhead cost, N457.465 million, and N163.504 million for internal capital
The Corporate Affairs Department of the commission got N1.061 billion from the votes, out of which N431.076 million is for personnel cost, N845.566 million for overhead and N63.081million for internal audit.
In the overall budget of the commission, personnel expenditure gulps N34.2 billion, overhead expenditure will gulp N17 billion, internal capital expenditure will gulp N3.7 billion, development projects will gulp N490 billion and Federal Government intervention in the Niger Delta, N330 billion.
The revenue sources to finance the budget are revenue brought forward, N5 billion; Federal Government contribution, N119 billion; the Federal Government contribution (unpaid arears), N430 billion; oil companies contributions, N297 billion; ecological funds, N20 billion, and other internally realised income, N500 million.
The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Bulus Amos, presented the report for consideration and approval for the budget.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who presided over the plenary, in his remarks after the passage said that the exercise was very expedient in order not to let the people of the region suffer from further delays.
Sixteen out of the thirty member committee signed the report, considered and approved by the Senate.