Budget defense: House Committee on NPC, NIMC faults budget proposal over disparity in figures

As the National Assembly intensifies its effort to scrutinize the 2023 budget proposal of the various Ministries, Department, and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, the House of Representatives Committee on National Population Commission, NPC, and the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, has rejected the 2023 budget proposal of both agencies over the disparity in the budget figures.

What are the disparities in the budget figures?

During the budget defense session held Yesterday, November 8, the Committee chaired by Hon. Mohammed Lawan, queried the management of the NPC led by its National Commissioner, Bala Banye for spending the sum of 1.2 billion naira for a one-day stakeholders summit on the 2023 Population and Housing Census, and also, for not providing enough details of the 2022 budget performance index.

The committee also demanded the Management of the NPC to provide details of the expenditure pattern of the sum of 5.2 billion naira spent on the mock census conducted by the commission, providing a state-by-state detail of the expenditure.  

One of the Committee members, Hon Chudy Momah who demanded that the NPC provide details of how it spent 1.2 billion naira just for a one-day event, noted that the money was not captured in the Commission’s expenditure document submitted to the committee.

Responding to Hon. Momah’s observation about the money spent on the summit, NPC’s Director of Census, Arinola Olanipekun revealed that the actual money spent was 1.9 billion naira, explaining that the money was not just for the Abuja summit held at the Presidential Villa in August, but included similar stakeholders meeting that was held across the 36 states and the FCT.

She said the sum of 129.5 million naira was spent for the summit at the presidential Villa while the rest was expended for the state stakeholders meeting.

What else?

Similarly, the House Committee rejected the 2023 budget Proposal of the National Identity Management Commission for excluding its 2022 personnel budget expenditure from the document it submitted.

In the document submitted, the Director-General of NIMC, Engineer Aliyu Aziz stated that the personnel budget of the Commission in the 2022 budget was 5.8 billion naira. But in the 2023 budget proposal, the Commission requests that the Committee approve the sum of 13 billion naira for the same personnel budget, which it rejected. 

The Committee, therefore, directed both commissions to come back next week with detailed documentation of their respective 2022 budget performance.