
Originally Posted by
saddeeq
2012 BUDGET: N' ASSEMBLY QUERIES DPR
The National Assembly on Thursday queried the N30 billion set aside by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in the 2012 budget as its recurrent expenditure.
The Committees on Petroleum Upstream and Downstream and the Committee on Gas Development in the two chambers of the National Assembly handed down the query to DPR when the management of the agency and other heads of parastatals in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources appeared before the joint committee for 2012 budget defence.
The lawmakers were furious that DPR planned to devote over 80 per cent of its budget fund to recurrent expenditure at the expense of capital budget.
Specifically, the lawmakers noted that DPR earmarked N30.399 billion out of its N35.89 billion budget for recurrent expenditure.
Chairman of Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, raised issues concerning the huge overhead costs in the petroleum sector.
He described the trend as “worrisome.”
Paulker insisted that ministries and parastatals should strive to raise capital votes above recurrent expenditure.
He said that the ministry failed to present its expenditure for 2011 and directed the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke to furnish the committee with the details latest Monday.
The implication of the N30 billion personnel cost is that on the average, a staff of the DPR receives about N2 million every month, irrespective of cadre.
Senator Gbenga Ashafa blew the whistle on the over bloated recurrent expenditure when he said that N35.89 billion was allocated to the DPR with over N30 billion personnel cost.
He lamented that “this year another over bloated personnel cost has been allocated to DPR.”
According to him, N21.945 was allocated as personnel cost to DPR in 2010; N24 billion for the same purpose in 2011 while N30.399 billion was allocated to the agency in 2012 budget proposal.
The Lagos State born lawmaker said that his worry was that DPR has a workforce of less than 1500.
To make matters worse, he noted that the staff strength of the DPR has remained constant since 2010.
The lawmakers also wanted to know why the Petroleum Industry Bill budget of N17.3 billion in 2011 was depleted by about N9 billion when the Bill was not passed.