The Chief of Defence Space Administration (DSA), Rear Adm. Williams Kayode has said that overhead releases to the administration had remained constant in spite of increases in personnel and infrastructure.
Kayode stated this on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Defence to defend its 2022 budget proposal.
He said that this had been the situation over the years, in spite of increases in vehicles, utilities as well as cost of petroleum, oils and lubricant and other sundries.
According to him, it was important to note that the Administration received an annual overhead budget of N180, 360,000.00, released at N15, 030,000.00 monthly.
“The monthly release is often delayed, irregular and most times an average of eight months is released per annum,” he said.
He added that owing to the delays and incomplete releases, it was often difficult for the Administration to cope with the prevailing situation.
“It is pertinent to note that the annual overhead requirements of the DSA are beyond its approved overhead threshold as the sum of N1, 200,000,000 would be required to enable the DSA function modestly,” he said.
He noted that the figure was derived through a detailed overhead budget analysis, which reviewed the current appropriation under each of the sub-heads.
This, according to him, ranged from local travels and transport, training, on the annual budget expenses and administration as reflected in the 2021 appropriation Bill.
Kayode stated that the sum of N1, 121,506,812.00 was appropriated to the DSA in 2021 as reflected in the 2021 Appropriation Bill, an amount that would not suffice currently as the workforce of the Administration had increased and was still increasing.
He said that the increase was due to developments in the DSA, including the establishment of new centres and structures as prescribed in the DSA Act 2016.
The DSA helmsman also stated that some of the civilian staff was recently promoted with attendant increase in salary scale, while additional workforce would be required to properly man the establishments and space school.
Rep. Babajimi Benson, the Chairman of the Committee noted that the DSA was one of the most critical sectors in the country’s defence and security, which are ultimately tied to our country’s prosperity as it was charged with providing space information to the armed forces.
“We looked at their capital budget; we looked at their overhead and personnel and as usual they want more, because they want to do more.
“But, the resources are scarce and limited, so we will try as much as possible to see how we can help assist them,” he stated. (NAN)
