Reps panel faults N286m allocation to 109 foreign missions

• Budget Office recommends reduction in foreign missions
• JAMB defends N1.1b on meals 

The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs has faulted the allocation of only N286 million to administer Nigeria’s 109 missions abroad.

This was as the Budget Office recommended reduction in the number of foreign missions until the country achieves a better revenue generation.

However, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has defended the allocation of N1.1 billion for staff meals in its proposed 2025 budget, citing the need to provide for its employees’ welfare.

Chaired by Wole Oke, the committee kicked against the federal government’s envelop budgeting system, saying it was not in tandem with extant provisions of the law.

Documents submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the committee showed that the ministry had recommended about N1.5 trillion budget, based on its needs assessment of the missions.

Speaking during an interactive session with the ministry and the Budget Office of the Federation, yesterday, Oke said, “I have not seen anywhere in our laws where envelop budgeting is mentioned.” He described the budget as too poor for missions that were supposed to mirror the country’s image.

“We’re worried that what you submitted to the President was not based on needs assessment, and it is at variance with the law.”

In his presentation, Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, explained that budgetary allocation for the missions was increased by 25 per cent in the 2025 budget, urging the National Assembly to pass the tax reform bills in order to boost the nation’s revenue generation.

He added: “Why don’t we consider a significant reduction of our foreign missions until we’re able to improve our revenue. We have 109 diplomatic missions abroad, comprising 76 embassies, 22 high commissions and 11 consulates. The problem, as you rightly described, is as ubiquitous as Nigeria’s presence worldwide.

“The situation was certainly worse three years ago when Nigeria’s debt service was proclaimed almost 100 per cent of the country’s revenue. We started to see improvement under this administration, when through debt financial engineering in year one, debt service was brought from as high as 100 per cent to 55 per cent.”

JAMB’s defence of its budget followed a threat by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance to cut off the Federal Government’s grant to the examination body, accusing it of excessive spending.

Speaking when the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, appeared before the joint panel, federal lawmakers had criticised the board for spending N1.1 billion on meals and refreshments in 2024, stating that the funds were generated largely from indigent students.

But defending the proposal in a statement yesterday, JAMB spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, stated that the one-day-per-meal provision for its staff was in recognition of the sensitive responsibilities of JAMB staff.

Benjamin explained that the meals were provided to minimise the staff’s exposure to the public during working hours and avoid the danger that eating in the offices posed to ICT infrastructure.

“Among the items included in the 2025 budget proposal is the provision of one meal per day for the 2,300 staff members (cleaners/security inclusive) of the board nationwide, covering all working days throughout the year.

“Over the past two years, the cost of providing this meal for headquarters staff (on the two offices in the board) was N1,200 per day, per staff member. However, due to rising food prices, vendors have requested an increase to N2,200 (including 13.5 per cent taxes).

“Based on this new price, the total cost for providing meals for 2,300 staff members throughout the working days in 2025 is projected to be N1.27 billion. Nevertheless, JAMB has budgeted N1.1 billion for this purpose,” he said.

Benjamin clarified that the Board solely presented the 2025 budget proposal, adding that claims regarding humongous spending in 2024 on meals or fumigation, security and cleaning by the committee were totally unfounded.

“During this session there was no presentation of any 2024 expenditure of N1.1 billion for feeding or N850 million for fumigation,” he said.

While explaining the N850 million earmarked for the emolument of outsourced cleaners, security personnel, cleaning materials, fumigation services and tax, Benjamin stated that in compliance with government policy on outsourcing, JAMB engaged firms and agencies that provide 386 security personnel and 194 cleaners across its over 40 offices and PTC centres nationwide.

“As a Government Owned Enterprise (GOE), JAMB is compelled to comply with the Budget Information Management Monitoring System (BIMMS) for GOEs. That explains why the amount was lumped under the heading, but with asterisk, and details provided on the succeeding page of the submission, which the board was disallowed to explain,” he said.