FG owes contractors handling water projects N23bn – official
Abuja – The Federal Government is owing contractors who worked for the Ministry of Water Resources over the past six years N23 billion, according to a senior official of the ministry.
The official, who pleaded anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that the projects were executed in some River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) across the country.
NAN recalls that late last year, President Goodluck Jonathan had directed the restructuring of the RBDAs to serve as vehicles for rural transformation, enhancement of development as well as wealth creation.
NAN learnt that the newly appointed managing directors of the RBDAs were unable to restructure their organisations due to the debt overhang, underfunding and the dearth of professional staff.
The official told NAN that N58 billion had been earmarked in the 2011 budget proposal of the ministry for the RBDAs.
He said that the budget provision would hve enabled the ministry to offset the debt and financial commitments of the RBDAs had not the Budget Office slashed it to N24 billion from the proposed N201 billion.
“We need much money than we have in the budget to settle the debts that had accumulated since 2005; the River Basins may not be able to go into commercial activities to generate revenue.
“If they are to go into full commercial activities, their mandate has to be reviewed to accommodate such activities and it is not easy to start reviewing the policy now,” he said.
The official identified the lack of human resources and professional staff as the major challenges confronting the authorities.
He noted that some members of staff had retired while others had left voluntarily without replacement.
He urged the Federal Government to invest in upgrading dam and irrigation infrastructure to achieve food security.
He said the ministry was aware of the prediction of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in regard to flooding this year.
“We are aware that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has predicted that 2011 will record a lot of flooding, so we are coming up with some measures to mitigate the effect.
“It will also require adequate funding for us to carry out those measures on dams, irrigation canals and other infrastructure in the basins,” the source said.
(NAN)
