NASS Picks Holes In Petroleum Resources Ministry Budget

By Oduyemi Odumade

Senators and members of the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources ( Upstream and Downstream and Gas Resources) have picked holes in the 2024 Budget of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

The lawmakers raised issues with the annual budget of the Federal Ministry when the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and Minsister of State Gas Resources Ekporikpo Ekpo presented the N9,641,154,830.00 budget at the National Assembly.

The Senate Committee Chairman on Gas Resources Sen.Jarigbe Agom and the House Committee Chairman on Petroleum Upstream, Mr. Alhassan Ado Doguwa in their remarks said that the budget is neither here nor there for the oil and gas sector.

Jarigbe who first hit the issue of underfunding after his opening remarks said from the documents available to him, the budget is not enough to provide the Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, buses Nationwide after the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

According to him, the N5.8 billion earmarked for the CNG bus project by the Federal Government is not enough to provide the masses the buses to ease thier movements.

Also in his speech, Doguwa lamented that a situation where other agencies are presenting trillions of naira as budget the petroleum ministry that drives the oil and gas sector in Nigeria is presenting only N9.6 billion which is worrisome.

He added that the Petroleum Resources Ministry must not tie itself to the envelope system of budgeting adopted by the Federal Government.

Some other committee members who spoke at the budget session, Senator Ifeanyi Uba and Donald Ojogo also said that the budget should be reworked to address the many issues in the oil and gas sector.

Ojogu said that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources is lethargic about the opportunities in the Petroleum Industry Act and advised the government officials to put in more investments in assets and portfolios.

Earlier, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Sen.Heneken Lokpobiri and his State conterpart for Gas Resources Mr Ekperikpo Ekpo presented the 2023 budget review and the 2024 budget estimates of the ministry before the lawmakers.

Lokpobiri said that a total of N9,641,154,830.00 is the total budget for the main ministry and its agencies for the 2024 fiscal year.

He added that personnel cost is put at N1,062,528,852.00, overhead N3,180,645,960.00 and capital is N5,397,980.18 for the same budget for consideration and approval.

Edited By Grace Namiji