…. approves N451m for aides of 12 NDDC board members
By Haruna Salami
The Senate Tuesday passed the 2023 budget of N876 billion for Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) out of which N451million was approved as provisions for aides of 12 Board members of the commission.
In addition to the N451million provision for aides to 12 Board members of the commission, the approved budget also contain N576 million earmarked for running of Office of the Chairman of the Commission, Laurreta Onochie.
The breakdown for the office of the Chairman showed that the personnel cost will gulp – N156 million, overhead – N312 million and Internal capital – N108 million.
For the Managing Director’s Office , N546.597million was earmarked for personnel cost , N747.500 million for overhead cost, N163.504 million for Internal Capital.
Others are Executive Director Finance & Administration Office: Personnel cost N133.337bmillion , Overhead cost N457.465 million and N163.504million for Internal capital.
The Corporate Affairs Department of the Commission also got N1.061billion from the votes, out of which N431.076 million is for personnel cost, N845.566 million for overhead and N63.081 million for Internal Audit.
The entire budget of the Commission has personnel expenditure gulping N34.2 billion, overhead expenditure N17 billion, Internal Capital expenditure will gulp N3.7 billion, development projects will gulp N490 billion and Federal Government Intervention in the Niger Delta – N330 billion.
The revenue sources to finance the budget are Revenue brought forward – N5 billion, Federal government contribution – N119 billion, Federal government contribution (unpaid areas) – N430 Billion, Oil companies contributions – N297 billion, Ecological funds – N20 billion and other Internally realized income – N500 million.
Senator Bulus Amos in his capacity as Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs presented the report for consideration and approval of the NDDC budget by the upper chamber.
In his remarks after passage of the budget, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan said the exercise was very expedient in order not to let the people of the region suffer from further delays.
