The National Assembly on Thursday faulted the 2018 budget proposal of Council for Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN) and National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

The Senate Committee on Marine Transport complained at the 2018 Budget Defence before the committee in Abuja.

Sen. Clifford Odia, Representing Edo Central, said the committee needs an explanation on the N800 million listed in the 2017 and 2018 budget of CRFFN for the purchase of security equipment at the borders.

He said the billions of naira released to the agency in 2017 was not properly utilised, stating that the same capital projects was duplicated in 2018 budget proposal.

Similarly, Odia lamented over the N2.7 billion estimated for the purchase of dredgers and accessories by NIWA, stating that the amount was outrageous.

“Using N2.7 billion to purchase dredgers and accessories, is too high, the cost of one dredger can never be N2.7 billion, no matter the quality of the dredger and which country you want to buy it from, that amount is too high for one dredger,” he said.

Also, Sen. Mohammed Hassan, Representing Yobe South said budget preparation was a professional job, stating that CRFFN just repeated the 2017 budget in 2018 proposal.

He said the amount spend in 2017 was not indicated, the ongoing projects were not listed, adding that the same N800 million that was quoted in 2017 for security was also repeated in 2018.

Ahmed Sani, the Chairman of the Committee, however, gave the CRFFN one week to do the needful and submit a well detailed budget performance for 2017 and a professional budget proposal for 2018.

He said the agency should make a new submission with specific projects carried out in 2017 with the amount released.

The Registrar of CRFFN, Mr Mike Jukwe, said it would appear before the committee in one week with more detailed documents of the ongoing projects and what will be purchased with the N800 million in 2018.

However, the Acting Managing Director of NIWA, Danladi Ibrahim, told the Committee that the security equipment was not meant for one place alone.

He said that the 2017 approval was the first time the Authority was receiving fund for capital projects. (NAN)

Update news