Godswill Akpabio, Niger Delta Affairs Minister has told the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Affairs that a whooping N359 billion has so far been on the yet to be completed 657km dual carriage East-West road stretching from Calabar in Cross River State to Effurun in Delta state since it was initiated in 2006, without commensurate result.
Akpabio disclosed that the Ministry was considering raising funds from other sources to ensure the completion of section I-IV of the road before the end of the present administration.
The Minister made the disclosure during the Ministry’s 2021 Budget Performance review and 2022 proposed budget consideration at the House of Representatives.
Speaking during the presentation, Akpabio, recalled that the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry was created among other things, to implement policies for the infrastructure, environmental, human development and security of the Niger Delta Region.’
He noted that the preparation of the Ministry’s budget was conceived in line with the Federal Government 2022 Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability premised on repositioning the economy on part of growth and resilience.
While presenting a total Budgetary proposal of N28,131,295,396 allocated to the Ministry comprising, personal N1,692,591,184, overhead N877,089,120 and capital N25,561,615,092, the Minister noted that, ‘the Ministry ensured that core projects were consistent with the Administrations Agenda Policies/strategies contained in the Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP), 2021-2025, according to priority to on-going projects.
According to him; “The 2022 Budgetary Allocation is meagre and significantly inadequate in the face of the mandate and goals of the Ministry to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people. The volume of the outstanding liabilities with underfunding has affected ongoing projects/programmes of the Ministry across the region and this is gradually contributing to the resurgence of problems in some areas of the region.”
