By Mumini Abdulkareem
Members of the Kwara State House of Assembly have faulted the 2018 Appropriation bill presented by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed just as the bill passed its second reading on Thursday.
Besides, Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in Kwara State will begin their budget defence on Tuesday (tomorrow), National Pilot reliably gathered, last night.
The defence which will last two weeks, according to source, will begin with the Education Committee.
However, leading the debate during plenary on Thursday, Hon AbdulRasheed Taiwo (Afon Constituency) said he was baffled that only 320 boreholes have been earmarked to be sunk in all the 193 wards across the state adding that the implication is that 127 wards will get two boreholes each leaving 66 others with one each.
He added the House should do everything possible to ensure even distribution of the boreholes since members are representing the interests of their people.
Also, Hon. Kamal Oyekunle Fagbemi (Oke-Ogun) said it is worrying that the salaries of the General Manager of Water Corporation and Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency will be paid by the office of the Secretary to the State Government when we have the Ministries of Water Resources and Environment.
He said those that are supposed to oversee the affairs of those agencies are not given the opportunity to do so, a development that is responsible for some of the crisis witnessed.
Fagbemi stated that for the past five years, the state has been having budget to build stand alone office for the Ministry of Justice which is yet to be realised.
According to him, the money allocated for the courts will not be able to have the necessary impact adding that all the ministries no more function because they cannot spend money on their own.
We are going to step up our oversight function for the budget to be able to have the necessary impact on the people.
Hon AbdurRahman Abdulrafiu (Ilorin North West) observed that as commendable as the N5, 000 for students’ bursary was, there is need for the issue to be reviewed in line with the present realities.
He queried the justification of 15 per cent financial consulting in the current expenditure of the 2018 budget on page 165 and called on the government to shed more light on the actual amount of the fee.
He added that the 2016 budget captured only one project in his constituency, Alfa Yahaya/Idi-Igba road, which has been recaptured by the intervention of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki with no other project since then. Abdulrafiu added that the effect of the budget for government information organs like Radio Kwara and The Herald newspaper among others were yet to be felt despite appropriation.
In his submission, Hon Adebayo Babatunde Muhammed (Oloru/Ipaiye/Malete) said it is high time budget is taken beyond the presentation rituals and called on members to step up their oversight functions for proper implementation.
He said the last local government election was a test case for everybody and called on the government to sit tight in the implementation of the budget.
The Clerk of the House, Alhaji Muhammed Katsina later read the budget for the second time.
The Deputy Speaker, Hon Matthew Okedare (Jebba) who presided over Thursday’s plenary directed the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation to further work on the budget and report progress to the House on 19th December, 2017.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hon Isiaku Aliyu Adams (Edu), said the state government had been insensitive on the issue of project particularly in his local government, adding that the House will investigate farmers that benefitted from the Agric Loan distributed by the state government.
Hon Ahmed Muhammed (Kaiama) lamented the situation of the Kaiama-Kisi road since flag off adding that nothing has been done since 2016 to date.
On his part, Hon Mathew Olaitan Babaoye stated that there is the need for the provision of fire service in all the local government headquarters of the state as against some councils as highlighted in the budget.
He said some communities needed to be connected to the National grid while the project of Light Up Kwara (LUK) should be spread to other local government areas of the state.
Other members, Hon Moshood Bakare, Hon Mobolaji Amasa, Hon Gunu Muhammed and Hon Bunmi Afolayan among others were also in support of other members submissions on the budget.
They however commended the Governor on the timely presentation of the bill which will go a long way to regularise January/December financial calendar for the state and for thinking out of the box to reducing its over reliance on federal allocation.
