Politics Reps Begin Debate on 2014 Appropriation bill

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LequteMan

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The House of Representatives on Tuesday commenced debate on the general principles of the 2014 Appropriation Bill after adopting the report of its six-man committee on the matter.

The Majority Leader, Rep. Mulikat Akande-Adeola (PDP-Oyo), who led the debate, urged members to put away individual differences and consider the budget for passage.

The Deputy Minority Leader, Rep. Abdurrahman Kawu (APC-Kano), said that proposals in the 2014 appropriation bill were in sharp contrast with the provision of the law.

He said that in spite of promises to device ways of increasing capital expenditure, the government continues to increase recurrent expenditure which has little or no impact on the lives of his people in Kano.

According to him, the 2014 appropriation bill tends to cater more for the militants than the country's national security agencies.

He said that N63 billion was expected to cover stipends and allowances of 30,000 Niger Delta militants, reintegration of transformed ex-militants and amnesty programmes.

Contrastively, Kawu said the total capital budget allocated to the Nigeria Army, Ministry of Defence, Army, Navy, Air Force and Police Formations is pegged at N41.08 billion.

“We must ensure that 2015 politicking does not distract us from playing our oversight role on this budget,’’ he added.

Rep. Rafeeqat Onabamiro (APC-Lagos) said that the allocation to the military was inadequate considering the current security challenges facing the country.

Rep. Ganiyu Olukolu (APC-Lagos) said that the rate of increase in domestic debt was alarming, and suggested the education of MDAs on Internally Generated Revenue.

Rep. Karimi Sunday (PDP-Kogi) decried the paltry sum allocated to the education sector in spite of the demands by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for improved welfare.

The debate was adjourned to Wednesday when more members would make their contributions.


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