The National Assembly has frowned at the inability of the Presidential Steering Committee on the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiatives to account for the money allocated to it from the N500 billion meant for palliatives.
Speaking on behalf of the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committees on Petroleum Resources, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe alleged that the presidential committee was carrying out its activities in secret.
He said they are aware that on October 1, 2023, the President made a promise to Nigerians to address the challenges of the common man by introducing palliatives to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians as a result of the removal of subsidy.
Also added that, Mr. President committed to building training workshops, providing CNG conversion kits to advance the natural gas revolution of the Federal Government.
He said,The joint committee observed with utter dismay the non-provision of those palliatives in the 2024 Appropriation Bill, which has been made available to the joint committee.
According to the lawmaker,The budget of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources is neither here nor there. It does not represent the policy direction of Mr. President on the decade of gas and usage of compressed natural gas as an alternative source of fuel.
Chairman House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Al Hassan Ado Doguwa warned ministry and agencies against supplementary budget,that supplementary budget only comes when there is emergency and government agencies should stop taking advantage of supplementary budget.
The committee jointly rejected the budget proposal by the ministry of petroleum, asking that the nation refineries must be fixed, while majority of it's members insist that there is no budgetary provision for the refineries in the 2024 budget proposal.
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