The Ministry of Solid Minerals’ budget estimates were rejected by the National Assembly’s joint committee on solid minerals on Friday.
According to the committee, the provided estimations were woefully insufficient.
This was said by Sen. Ekong Sampson, the joint committee’s chairman, following the presentation of the ministry’s 2025 budget projection by Minister Dele Alake.
Sen. Diket Plang (APC-Plateau) made the motion to reject the budget, and Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP-Kogi) seconded it.
Plang moved the motion and voiced his disappointment that the ministry only received N9 billion in an envelope out of the N539.7 billion it had suggested for capital expenditures in the budget for 2025.
The chairman also voiced his disapproval of the ministry’s budget, citing the solid mineral sector’s critical role in Nigeria’s economic diversification.
He said, “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.”
The motion to suspend the budget defense was also endorsed by Mr. Gaza Gbefwi, the co-chairman, who represented the Keffi/Karu/Kokona Federal Constituencies.
“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.
Alake had previously stated that the ministry has proposed N539.7 billion for capital expenditures and N2 billion for overhead costs in 2025, for a total ministry budget of N541.7 billion.
“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 added.
According to Alake, the ministry’s 2024 budget performance showed that, based on releases, the capital had a poor 18% performance while the overhead costs had a 100% performance.
“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.
According to Alake, the ministry made N37.8 billion in 2024, which was more than the N11 billion that was anticipated.