• Housing minister says he isn’t familiar with 2024 budget performance
From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
There was commotion during the budget defence, yesterday, as members of the Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development openly disagreed and clashed over the conduct of a lawmaker.
This happened after the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development said it was owing 6,455 contractors N92 billion for work done in 2024.
It also disclosed that it recorded N6.232 billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) within the same period.
The Minister, Ahmed Dangiwa, who was said to be on an official trip with President Bola Tinubu, was represented by the Minister of State, Yusuf Attah, at the National Assembly.
On the outstanding liabilities, he said: “Many contractors have executed their jobs duly certified for payment but not paid, leaving the ministry with huge outstanding liabilities to the tune of N92,661,800,243.9. Many of these contractors are indebted to their banks, having borrowed funds to execute the jobs.”
He blamed the low IGR on insecurity across the country and high inflationary trend experienced throughout the year, among others.
On the N100 billion 2023 supplementary budget utilisation, he said the amount released so far was utilised to pay outstanding certificates of payments owed contractors for various projects such as the Renewed Hope Housing Cities and Estate, completion of the National Housing Programme, construction and rehabilitation of federal secretariats and general improvements of infrastructure across the country.
On the status of the Renewed Hope Housing Scheme and Cities Programme and National Housing Programme, he said 7,522 housing units spread across the 35 states and the FCT have been under construction, out of which 3,388 have been completed while 4,134 units were ongoing.
Responding to his presentation, the senators queried the visibility of the projects he mentioned in his performance report. But when asked to explain the difference between the Renewed Hope Housing Scheme and Cities Programme and National Housing Programme, he responded that he did not know.
Senator Abdul Ningi started the query, seeking to know where the projects were located because he has never seen any Renewed Hope Housing Unit in the whole of Bauchi State and his Constituency in particular.
“This is music to our ears,” he said, adding, “these are very strange to us. I am from Bauchi State. I represent Bauchi State, I don’t know where you are doing this project. I don’t know how. Here I am representing the very good people of Bauchi Central. I have been here for up to one and a half years as a senator, I’ve no knowledge at all of this Renewed Hope Housing. Is this Renewed Hope only to you or to Nigerians? Even as you’re not reporting details of what you’re doing, are you reporting details to Nigerians? Do Nigerians know of some of these things? I asked my colleagues, members of the Senate if they are aware of the establishment of this ongoing project, if they are aware of the size of this project.”
He also expressed concern over some exclusions in the budget, especially the recurrent component of the 2024 budget.
“How I wished it wasn’t the state minister that is in our midst today. How I wished it was the minister. The Ministry of Housing, even though the Permanent Secretary is new, the state minister is new, the only role in this National Assembly is this yearly ritual during the budget and then nothing happens until next year and this is exactly what the Ministry of Housing does under the present leadership.
“First, I don’t see the components. We have not seen the personnel, we have not heard about overhead. So, what you are bringing for defence is actually the capital component and therefore, the committee must arrange for you to also bring in the overhead and the personnel which we have found in the course of budget defence to be highly abused. I am not saying it is abused here.”
He also sought clarification on the whereabouts of N22.6 billion outstanding from the N100 billion since the minister said N77 billion or 77.3 percent had been expended from the 2023 supplementary budget
But immediately Ningi finished his observations, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim countered, saying it was erroneous to say the projects were not visible when the implementation timeline has not elapsed.
“Building houses, Mr. Chairman, you don’t acquire land in one day, do a survey in one day, do planning in one day, do approval in one day. More important is the 20,000 housing units and again, in 35 states of the federation. So, we know as senators, the fact that we had extension for the capital projects in 2024. So, it may not be out of place that the ministry is projecting and explaining how that intends to be done.”
His statement sparked commotion as other members of the committee raised their voices in disapproval, saying Jimoh should not be the one speaking for the minister.
Senator Osita Ngwu cautioned that as an oversight committee, it was only proper that the minister is allowed to respond to members’ questions.
On outstanding liabilities, he lamented that the ministry has sent hardworking Nigerians to their villages and rendered them useless because they have failed to pay outstanding debts. Another Senator urged the executive to provide a special intervention fund to offset the debts on behalf of the ministry.
Chairman of the committee, Aminu Tambuwal, said it was clear that the minister and his team were not prepared for the engagement and therefore asked them to leave and return on Monday.
“I have been doing some consultation here and the signal I am getting from my colleagues is that we allow you to go and be better prepared. Come back on Monday.”