From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Solid Minerals has summoned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, and his Budget and Economic Planning counterpart, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, over poor allocation to the Ministry of Solid Minerals.
They are to appear today alongside the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu.
Sequel to the summon, the lawmakers had lamented that allocation of N9 billion to the ministry, saying it reflects poor commitment to the Federal Government’s desire to diversify the country’s economy from overdependence on crude revenue.
Earlier, the Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr Dele Alake, had informed the Ekong Samson and Gaza Jonathan Gbefwi-led committee that all his efforts to increase the budget proposed for the ministry had been fruitless.
“In fact, to let you know, the envelope we first received was N5 billion. I don’t know if you are aware of that. It was N5 billion,” adding that it was when he mounted pressure on the ministers and the DG of the Budget Office after President Bola Tinubu presented the estimates to the National Assembly that he was reassured that the allocation would be increased substantially.
“The Permanent Secretary is here and the night before the president came here, when we were working on the rehearsal of the budget speech, the Director of Budget came in and the Minister of Budget and I took them up in the presence of the President. And what did they do? They promised that it would be done. So, again the following day, after the President’s presentation, we found N9 billion.
“There is no way that I can begin to tell you, except I have videos that I can show you of the several engagements that we had with the relevant budgetary authorities and individuals driving this process and at every turn we received very positive responses.
“Now, Distinguished Senators and Honourable members, when we had received very positive responses from those who are saddled with the responsibility of putting our budgets together, what else could we have done? There was no way we would rig their hands, and I don’t have the authority to compute the figures myself.”
When asked why his close relationship with President Tinubu did not translate to getting improved funding for his plans for the solid minerals sector, he defended the President, saying he was not responsible for the funding challenges the ministry is faced with.
“Many members here have rightly noted that yes, my relationship with the President should be counted upon, I agree in-toto but there are several things that cannot be said in the open. I cannot divulge the conversations I have had with the President on this issue in the open.
“I am a manager of information and I have done that for over 40 years and I know how delicate information is. So, I give information on the-need-to-know basis or in private. So in short, the President is not unaware of our strides in the solid minerals’ sector.
“Every minute I am with him, apart from other issues that we discuss, or the assignments that he gives to me, I draw tales of solid minerals and we discuss all ratifications.
“I want to also emphasise, or maybe remind, distinguished Senators and honourable members, that if the President were not in tune or in sync with our vision, the diversification of the economy away from oil would not be a critical part of his programme of Renewed Agenda. It wouldn’t be. He coined it, he carved it.
“So, I want us to understand the fact that it is not because the President has not been intimated of the need for upward review that we are having this situation, not at all and this is not to absolve the President of anything. I am just laying bare the facts,” he said.
Sen. Sampson, in his remarks, noted that in other climes, solid minerals development was the mainstay of their economies with huge annual funding provisions for the development of the sector.
“If we don’t invest in solid minerals, how do we diversify our economy? We have to diversify and we must do it masterfully. So, those concerned (Edun, Bagudu, Yakubu) have to appear before the joint committees to give us clear insights on what they intend to do.”