By NAOMI SHARANG

The National Assembly joint committee on Solid Minerals, on Friday, rejected the budget estimates of the Ministry of Solid Minerals.

The committee said that the estimates presented were greatly inadequate.

The Chairman of the joint committee, Sen. Ekong Sampson, stated this after the Minister, Dele Alake, presented the ministry?s 2025 budget estimate before the committee.

The call for the rejection of the budget followed a motion moved by Sen. Diket Plang (APC-Plateau) and seconded by Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP-Kogi).

Moving the motion, Plang expressed displeasure that the ministry got just N9 billion as an envelope out of the N539.7 billion it proposed for capital expenditure in the 2025 budget.

The chairman also expressed great displeasure over the ministry?s budget because of the importance of solid mineral sector to the diversification of the Nigerian economy.

?This is because of the potential in not addressing the key concerns in this sector at a time that Nigeria is in a grand need to diversify the economy.

?The estimates presented before us are grossly inadequate and will not help our economy at this critical period, when we have to invest in the future, consistent with what obtains in other economies.

?We?ve taken this position in the interest of this country and as a support item to the vision of government as it were that this budget clearly needs a review.

?The need for this review clearly contemplates the peculiarities in the sector.

?Time has gone by and you have to take a very bold step in exploration, in data gathering, in tackling major drawbacks that have put us in dire situations as a nation richly endowed but faced, as it were with the contradictions in abundance.

?It is the view of the joint committee that the budget of this sector be reviewed upwards.

?I think that is the spirit of the meeting, in the meantime, we will suspend further decisions on this budget unless those steps are taken.

?The budget for this sector needs radical upward review. So the joint session rejects the estimate before us. We will step everything down,? he said.

The co-chairman, Mr Gaza Gbefwi, representing Keffi/Karu/Kokona Federal Constituencies, also supported the move for the suspension of the budget defence.

?I move that we suspend this budget screening for the Ministry of Solid Minerals for the fact that what is appropriated to them, if it is true, is beyond imagination.

?Also, we are here to pass a budget not for the ministry, not for us, but for Nigerians and the progress of this country.

?I, therefore, propose that we step down this screening of the budget presented to us and request that we invite the Minister of Planning and Budget to appear before this committee,? he said.

Earlier, the Minister, Dele Alake, said that the ministry in 2025, proposed N539.7 billion for capital expenditure and N2 billion for overhead cost, making it a total budget of N541.7 billion for the ministry.

?In contrite distinction to the avowed objective of the economic diversification of Nigeria away from oil into green energy, into harnessing the solid minerals sector, the envelope that the ministry received was a far cry from our proposal.

?We proposed N539.7 billion for capital in 2025, but the envelope that came is a paltry N9 billion,? he said

On the 2024 budget performance of the ministry, Alake said that the overhead cost was 100 per cent performance while the capital was a dismal 18 per cent performance which was based on releases.

?When I did a panoramic view of the entire budget from other ministries, it is a kind of a general problem.

?The budget releases were not as expected which really hampered the capital budget in 2024.

?We rely on your support and effort to correct this anomaly, because if we are going to achieve all our objectives, there is no way we can achieve them,? he said.

In terms of revenue generated, Alake said that the ministry generated N37.8 billion in 2024 as above the N11 billion projected. (NAN)

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