Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has explained
why his three-fold portfolio did not carry out any capital project in
2017.
He attributed the situation to the late passage of the 2017 budget.
Fashola made this known on Wednesday when he appeared before a senate committee to defend the ministry’s 2018 budget.
“The 2017 budget was passed in June. The procurement law requires a procurement plan which took till September,” he said.
“In following this law, the first release was in August. Most of the
projects were going through procurement formalities such as tax
identity, contract terms, even construction companies went on holidays.
So, there were so many things,” he added.
Kabiru Gaya, chairman of the committee, then asked for the number of
projects that were not procured in 2017 since there was a rollover of
projects from 2016.
The minister could not respond to the question, adding that even the
director of planning in the ministry could not give a definite answer.
He said: “It is a tough task. We may be allowed to submit those
details. The ending solution, which has not been found favourable, is
that once you appropriate for a project in a particular budget, it
should not be lined up in another year.”