Lawmakers To Monitor Donor Funds For Science, Tech Development

The House of Representatives said it will monitor and ensure a proper utilisation of funds from international partners and other donor agencies for the development of the science and technology in the country.

The chairman, House Committee on Science and Technology, Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos disclosed this at the inaugural meeting of the committee on Thursday.

He said the Committee will ensure improved utilisation of grants for  the transformation of the sector through thorough oversight.

Bagos said:”We will engage with relevant stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology, agencies under the ministry, and Nigerian experts in STI living in the diaspora. These sessions will help us identify areas of legislative intervention and enhance our oversight functions.

“Through oversight visits, we will ascertain compliance and implementation levels of the 2023 Appropriation Act, ensuring prudent utilization of resources allocated to the ministry and its agencies”

“We will engage MDAs under the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology in discussions about policies, programs, and budgets needed to boost the STI sector. Proper funding from budgetary allocations will be our focus.”

Similarly, the House Committee on Ecological Funds has vowed to properly sanitise the operational system of the funds to change the hitherto narrative.

The cairman of the committee, Hon. Aminu Jaji who stated this at the inaugural meeting of panel said it will go beyond the usual oversight to more monitoring the achieve the aim of the fund.

He said more than 50 request from members on how to address the ecological challenges in their States are before the 10th House.

“We have to carry out need assessment ourselves across the 36 States of the federation before funds can be disbursed for it. We’ll ensure that the narrative is changed”, Jaji said.