Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh
70 percent of all projects reportedly sited in Edo State
The National Assembly Joint Committee on Regional Development has queried the Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh over alleged lopsidedness in the ministry’s projects.
The lawmakers, who expressed dismay that the projects in the defunct Ministry of Niger Delta allegedly violated the Federal Character principle, noted that majority of the projects are sited in Edo State, where Momoh hails from.
The lawmakers issued the query when Momoh appeared before the panel for an appraisal of the 2024 budget of the ministry and defence of its 2025 budget proposal.
A member of the House of Representatives, Matthew Nwogu, while speaking at the session, had demanded an explanation from the Minister as to why about 70 percent of the projects of the Defunct Niger Delta Ministry are sited in Edo State.
Nwogu, who spoke after Momoh’s presentation, said: “For me, I am not actually satisfied; because this is regional development and before it became regional development, it was Niger Delta Affairs. It is not a state affair. It is not your community affair.
“From what I see in your budget, whether they are funded or not, it means that you presented everything in Edo State. Are you from Edo and if you are from Edo, what does the federal character say about these budgets especially as it relates to all the regions that make up the Niger Delta Affairs. Mr minister, tell us why most of these 2024 budgets (projects) are situated in Edo State.”
Similarly, Chinedu Ogah, also a member of the House, added: “Honorable Minister, I am happy that you are a product of the National Assembly. My constituents are not happy with this budget because it negates the constitutional principle of federal character. About 70 percent of your projects are located in Edo state. Why?”
Nevertheless, the chairman, House Committee on Regional Development, Eugene Okechukwu, in his intervention, quickly called for an executive session, to enable the Minister to respond to the queries.
“We have to be mindful at this point that we have the press men here among us. What we should do now is to go into an executive session, then we ask the press men to leave,” Okechukwu stated.
Thereafter, the panel went into an executive session.
Momoh, who appeared before the lawmakers, alongside his Minister of State, Uba Maigari, had told the lawmakers that the defunct Niger Delta Ministry was allocated N20bn as capital expenditure in the 2024 budget.
He explained that out of the N20bn, N2bn was the Zonal Intervention Project of the House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, which was domiciled in the ministry.
“The 2024 budget of the Ministry was a budget for the Ministry for Niger Delta Development. Accordingly, the sum of N20.16bn was allocated for capital expenditure, N1.127bn was for overhead and N2.01bn for personnel,” Momoh said.
“It is important to note that out of the N20 billion allocated for capital expenditure, the Ministry’s envelope was about N18 billion while about N2 billion was provision to the Leader of the House for his zonal intervention projects.
“For the releases so far, only N1.8bn has been released for capital, while overhead is N1.1bn, while in respect to personnel, all the staff have been paid. The performance in relation to the releases is N100 percent.”
Furthermore, he stated that the Ministry was allocated a total budget of N28.9 billion, made up of N24 billion for capital expenditure, overhead of N1.6 billion and personnel of N2.7 billion, in the 2025 Appropriation Bill.
“The Ministry has been faced with challenges in recent times because of the expansion of scope and mandate, inadequate allocation and increasing level of outstanding liability which has affected ongoing projects of the region.
“The budget made provision for about N2 billion for women empowerment and capacity building across the nation, about N1 billion livelihood support initiative across the nation and about N600 million for medical outreach for rural communities and a few other specific initiatives across the regions.
“The meagre capital ceiling of N24 billion demanded that the ministry is constrained not only to apply judicious use of funds, but must introduce certain parameters in the selection of projects which led to stepping down projects with low level of completion, completion of ongoing projects
“The Ministry would want to emphasise that all its projects are vital and very critical to the realisation of its mandate. Arising from dwindling resources and increasing level of liabilities, we are not resting on our oars as we are pushing for adequate funding to enable the Ministry to take off as the Ministry in charge of regional development. So we are soliciting your support for additional funding in order to deliver on Mr. President’s mandate,” he said.
