Philip Nyam 
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The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, yesterday disclosed that the proposed N6.2 trillion supplementary budget is to be used for the provision of counterpart funding for rail projects that have been on hold in the last year.
He said these include the longest among them – Port Harcourt-Maiduguri 1067 mm gauge line, which will traverse Rivers, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and other parts of the country. Bagudu, who made the disclosure while addressing the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation, chaired by Abubakar Bichi, said the second project is the Badagry -Tin Can Port, Lekki Port lines while the third one is Lagos – Ibadan Standard Gauge.
According to him, the road projects covered in the budget include: Lagos-Calabar, 1,000 kilometre road project for which the sum of N150 billion is required and Sokoto – Badagry Road projects, as well as the rail project for which the Chinese government has provided 85 per cent funding while Federal Government is yet to provide the 15 per cent counterpart funding. Bagudu also disclosed that the sum of N522 billion was also provided for water, irrigation and dam projects.
He explained that the proposed N3.2 trillion Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund was “Intended to provide equity contributions or counterpart contributions of the federal government projects designated as priority projects as well as critical projects which needed more appropriation so that they will not suffer neglect.”
He disclosed that the N3 trillion was intended to meet among other things the newly proposed national minimum wage, for which the President said he will soon send the bill to the National Assembly and subsequent adjustment.
He explained that: “These projects, Mr. Chairman, these projects include rail projects. And this is to provide counterpart funding for rail projects that have literally stopped in the last years.
The most, the longest among them is the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, which will traverse Rivers, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauch, Gombe, Yobe, and then terminating in Borno state.
“Equally, the second project is the Badagry-Tin Can Port, Lekki Port, Ijebu-Ode Kajula. The third one is Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge. Then the fourth one is KanoMaradi Standard Gauge as well as funding for rolling stock that is required.
“Equally, we have the National Highway Construction Projects, which include additional funding, because this is already in the 2024 budget, for additional appropriation for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, which is to traverse Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Port Harcourt, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River, as well as Sokoto-Badagry, which is in Greenfield.”
In his opening address, the committee chairman, Bichi asked the minister to give details on the Appropriation Bill including the N3.2 trillion capital expenditure increase and N3 trillion recurrent expenditure for the newly proposed national minimum wage transmitted by the President for accelerated consideration.
