The Nigerian Senate has now suspended Consideration of the Budget for the Ministry of Defence over the Minister’s Refusal to honour multiple invitations by its Adhoc Committee on the Resuscitation of the Nigerian Navy Ship , NNS ARADU.
The Senate through its Committee on Navy reached the decision, when the Minister appeared at the National Assembly to defend its Budget Estimates .
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In a related development, the Minister of Information and Culture , Lai Mohammed is asking the Senate for additional Funding to strengthen its fight against, fake news, hate speech and misinformation.
The Senate standing committees are still engaging with heads of Government Ministries Departments and Agencies for the Defence of their 2023 Budget Estimates.
While some have enjoyed a hitch free appearance before the relevant committees , others have been haunted by their past budget expenditures and their unpleasant dispositions in the past, to relevant senate committees.
The Minister of Defence is getting knocks from Senate’s Committee on Defence for his reluctance to escalate Efforts by the senate to resuscitate the grounded NNS ARADU , Nigeria’s largest and most powerful Naval fleet.
The committee says before it can proceed to receive the Ministry’s Budget, the Minister must answer the calls of the Adhoc Committee
In another development, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed is not comfortable with the budgetary allocation to his ministry.
He tells the Senate that the money is inadequate and could stall the ongoing campaign against fake news, hate speech and misinformation, spearheaded by his ministry, which has continued to threaten Nigeria’s national Security.
The standing Committees are expected to compile their findings after interfacing with the relevant MDAS and submit their reports to the Desk of the Appropriations Committee, which will then be presented at the Resumption of Plenary.
