ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has expressed concern regarding the allocation of N1.2 billion for the purchase of an office building for the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) operation in the proposed 2024 national agricultural budget.
The organisation also disapproved of the allocation of N70 million for the purchase of office furniture, partitioning, and fittings in the capital budget, particularly after a budget line provision of N27.5 million for office rent and office building maintenance.
Mr. Azubike Nwokoye, Programme Manager of Food and Agriculture at AAN, conveyed these sentiments while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja. Nwokoye expressed concern about the allocation of N10 million for residential quarters in the recurrent expenditure, considering it worrisome.
He remarked, “NADF is intended to be an additional fund for the agricultural sector to alleviate challenges related to low, lack of, or untimely releases of funds. This fund is supposed to provide additional funding for urgent needs and existing gaps within the agricultural sector.”
Nwokoye said that if a new building and furniture were provided in the first year, maintenance should not be necessary as these were fixed assets requiring no maintenance in one to three years.
The programme manager further questioned the allocation of N450 million for the purchase of operational vehicles, expressing doubts about the necessity and number of vehicles needed for the NADF.
He said, “This seems unnecessary. A brand new operational staff bus costs about N30 to N50 million, and the fund cannot require more than three of such buses, in addition to a few executive cars.”
While commending President Bola Tinubu for providing the take-off grant for the NADF, Nwokoye highlighted the budget allocation of N102.5 billion out of the total agriculture sector budget of N362 billion for the NADF. He mentioned the breakdown, indicating that N150 million (0.1%) is allocated for personnel salary, N350 million (0.1%) for overhead, and N102 billion (99.5%) for capital expenditure.
The manager recommended that the N100 billion allocated for capital expenditure for the NADF should target the commitments made by the president regarding the food security emergency in the country.
He suggested a focus on extension services, access to credit, women and youth in agriculture, appropriate labour-saving technologies and inputs, post-harvest loss reduction, processing and storage facilities, training, market access, irrigation, and Climate Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA).
(NAN)
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