Senate uncovers N4.5b police barracks project padded in NDLEA budget

The Senate has rejected the report of its Committee on Drugs and Narcotics after it uncovered the document illegally contains N4.5 billion meant for the construction of police barracks in the 2022 budget for National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotic, Hezekiah Dimka, said his committee uncovered the anomaly in the course of scrutinising the budget document presented to it by the Ministry of Finance and quickly raised the alarm.

It was on the basis of this that the Committee on Appropriation, chaired by Senator Jubrin Barau, turned down the report on the budget for NDLEA and asked the committee to correct the padded N4.5 billion.

The discovery comes a day after the Senate Committee on Environment, chaired by Senator Ike Ekweremadu, uncovered N16 billion proposed in the 2022 Appropriation Bill for repayment of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).

Making his own presentation, the Chairman Senate Committee on Sports and Youth Development, Obinna Ogba, called for greater investments by government in sports infrastructure.

Also, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, gave the Barau-led committee a fresh deadline to complete its work on the 2022 budget, latest today.

The deadline, according to Lawan, is to enable the National Assembly meet with the December 14 timetable it set for passage of the 2022 budget.