THE Ministry of Communications Technology and one of its affiliate parastatals the Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited, NigComSat  has proposed to spend N158.3 million for  travelling, fumigation, refreshment and miscellaneous purposes in the 2018 fiscal year.

This was contained in the  2018 appropriation bill submitted by the federal government to the National Assembly. The Ministry proposed that the amount in the appropriation bill will  enable it carry out the listed items in the fiscal year.

Of the amount,  the  Ministry and NigComsat are going to spend N48,334,551 on travel; N26,758,697 on fumigation; N42,672,391 on miscellaneous expenses; N8,911,615 on refreshment/meals  and the sum of N31,600,000 on electricity charges.

The amount is N14,290,188 lesser than the N172,566,975 approved for the ministry and two agencies only for travelling in the 2017 estimation.

The budget estimate which  allocated N11,716,581,495 for recurrent expenditure and N7,544,159,142 for capital projects, totaling N19.261 billion for the ministry and the two parastatals in the year. This is N510,644,861 higher than   the  N18,750,951,876  allocated to the same ministry in 2017.

For the ministry, the total allocation of N6,943,840,661 increased by N19,999,520 from N6,923,841,141 approved for 2017. Of the amount, the sum of N5,544,159,142 is allocated for capital projects, which shows no difference from the same amount allocated for capital projects in 2017,  while N979,681,518 is earmarked for recurrent expenditure, though N20,008,520 higher than N959,671,998 of 2017.

However, the Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited, NigComsat, also got an increased allocation of N4,169,826,133  in 2018 compared to N3,911,916,890 approved in 2017. For the capital projects, there was no change from the sum of N1,579,999,999 allocated in 2018 and for the recurrent expenditure, the sum of N2,589,826,134 is allocated , representing N257,909,243 increase from N2,331,916,891 approved in 2017.

For Nipost, though, there is no capital project cited in the budget estimate, there is an increase of N231,879,998 for the total of N8,147,073,843 from N7,915,193,845 approved  by federal government in 2017, as the  entire amount is allocated to recurrent expenditure.

The ministry got a total of N19,260,749,637 allocation for 2018, about N510 million more than the N18,750,951,876 estimate for 2017.

However, the ministry allocated the sum of N968,786,908 for research and development for the fiscal year. – Vanguard

– Nov. 24, 2017 @ 16:11 GMT /