Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said he was saddened by national assembly’s reaction to his observations with regard to the 2017 Budget.
The minister had complained that the lawmakers reduced proposed funds for some key projects of his ministry and allocated the money to some ”frivolous” ones.
But the national assembly responded by accusing the minister of spreading ”half-truths” and making ”fallacious” statements.
In a statement Fashola issued on Monday, he said it was sad that the lawmakers could resort to name-calling even without understanding the facts of what they were getting into.
He insisted that there was no subsisting concession agreement on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway as alleged by the national assembly.
On the second Niger Bridge, whose 2016 allocation, the lawmakers claimed, was not spent and had to be returned, Fashola said, ”this displays very stark and worrisome gaps in knowledge of the spokesperson about the budget process he was addressing.”
He said the Ministry of Finance had yet to release any cash for the second Niger Bridge and that no money was returned.
He also dismissed the allegation that the ministry under him was holding on to projects that could be funded through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) as a tissue of lies.
On the budget for Mambila Power Project, which was slashed because it contained a whopping N17 billion for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the minister said there was indeed a ”mis-description” of the expenditure.
”In any event, allegations of half-truths are only a flawed response to the constitutional and developmental issues that have plagued Nigeria from 1999 about how to budget for the critical infrastructure in Nigeria.
”It shows the conflict between the Executive that wants to build big federal highways, bridges, power plants, rail and dams on one hand and a Parliament that wants to do small things,” he said.
