The 2014 budget proposal that was submitted by the Federal Government to the two chambers of the National Assembly last month reveals that government has proposed the sum of N337, 755,120 to be used for utilities and materials in only five commissions.
Of this sum, N230,053,912 has been proposed for materials & supplies – general, while the balance sum of N107,701,208 has been proposed for utilities – general.
The five commissions include the National Population Commission (NPC), National Planning Commission (NPC), Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Federal Character Commission (FCC) and National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.
It would be recalled that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, on Thursday, December 19, 2013 laid before the House of Representatives and Senate the sum of N4.6 trillion as the 2014 budget estimate, which is only N1 billion less than the 2013 figure.
The proposed budget, which is still awaiting appropriation by the National Assembly, indicates that the five commissions have the total allocations of N6,294,793,885; N8,187,200,691; N1,493,224,223; N2,234,573,181 and N890,247,818, respectively.
In the budget proposal under utilities, electricity charges got the lion shares of N17,570,589 for the National Population Commission, N14,000,000 for the National Planning Commission and N10,546,699 for FCC, while telephone charges got the sum of N6,896,033 for the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, and internet access charges got the sum of N5,452,494 for FCSC.
Under materials and supplies, office stationeries and computer consumables got the largest allocations in the proposed budget.
TEDDY NWANUNOBI, Abuja
