House of Reps Queries Low Budgetary Allocation for Departments, Agencies in Foreign Affairs Ministry - Says It Might Limit Performance

Daily Rendezvous

- Says Budget Proposals Paltry, Lacks Ambition for Development

- Calls for Improvement from Federal Government and the Budget Office 

Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, have said that the various sums allocated to capital costs in the 2022 budget proposals for Agencies and Departments under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are meagre and therefore appear insensitive to the challenges being faced by those institutions.

The Committee made the observation, Wednesday, at the House of Representatives during the defence of the 2022 budget proposals of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and the Foreign Service Academy ( FSA) ,two major parastatals under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs located in Lagos, Nigeria. 

Speaking at the end of the budget defence exercise, the heads of these instutions, and the Chairman of the Committee, Rt. Hon.( Dr.) Yusuf Buba Yakub, called on the Federal Government, the Budget Office as well as, other Agencies of Government that are in-charge of budgeting and fund allocation to MDAs to demonstrate a true intention for the development of the instutions under review by allocating to them reasonable sums that would make for concrete development in the instutions.

 He decried the sums of less than Thirty-seven Million Naira and Twenty Million Naira allocated to Institute of International Affairs and the Foreign Service Academy, Lagos, respectively, in respect of their capital budgets for the fiscal year 2022. 

He questioned the value of the Naira today in respect to the amount budgeted and how much could be achieved in an elitist internationally reknowned  research institute, like the NIIA,and the Foreign Service Academy, which are training grounds for our nation's diplomats- in-training. 

"As a Committee and, indeed, as a Parliament, we call on those in-charge of these budgets and funds allocation processes to improve the lot of these two institutions, if we are seriously putting any expectations before them. 

These sums in the budget proposals for capital expenditure in the coming year,to us,are simply insensitive to the challenges on ground and cannot guarantee any of the tall ambitions and dreams of the instutions. 

"Again,the issue of such ceilings placed on budget proposals by the Ministries cannot guarantee anything near what these institutions have the capacity to achieve; except,of course,we choose that these instutions exist the way they are and continue to pay just salaries,"the Adamawa-born lawmaker admonished.

Earlier speaking,the Director General of the NIIA,Prof. Eghosa Osaghae,who went down memory lane to re- capture the noble ideals for the establishment of the Institute in 1961,lamented the fate that has befallen the once-glorious Institute,while pointing out that the noble ambitions for it in the years ahead by the present Management  were being sabotaged by paucity of funds. He said the sum of over Seven Hundred Million Naira that Management had sent in for consideration in respect of capital expenditure for 2022 had come back to them as about Thirty-seven Million Naira! He solicited the support of the Committee to change the narrative at the Institute.

Also speaking, Director of the Foreign Service Academy,Ogunyemi Franklin Abiola, highlighted the numerous dreams his team has for the training institution. He noted that there was so much structural dilapidation in the Academy and called for support to make the Academy a conducive place to learning and habitation. He also regretted that,in spite of being barely five months in his new office,he has only got a budget allocation of Twenty Million Naira for capital expenditure in the 2022 budge proposal. He, equally,called for the support of the Committee to facilitate improvement on the current budget proposal. 

Over twenty members of the Committee attended the budget proposals' defence session; while heads of the institutions were accompanied to the session by selected members of their Management staff.