By Ignatius Ushie
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo has presented a budget of Ninety Two Billion, Six Hundred and Thirty-Three Million, Six Hundred and Eight Thousand, Two Hundred and eighteen (N92,633,608,218) Naira only, to the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Land and Marine Transport for the Ministry and its agencies for 2023 fiscal year.
In a statement made available to Transport Day in Abuja, the Minister who made this known at the budget presentation last week, at the National Assembly in Abuja, also presented the 2022 Budget Performance, of the Ministry which was N147,549,080,677 out of which N52,134,727,253.22 representing 35.33% has been released and N38,904,208,345 has been utilized as at 25th October 2022.
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Also, he informed that the Ministry through the support of the Joint Committee is implementing the Nigeria Railway Modernization project and progressively expanding the Railway Network through yearly budgetary appropriations, following the challenges being faced in securing counterpart funding through loans, adding, that the implementation of the Kaduna – Kano, Port Harcourt- Maiduguri and Kano-Maradi segments of the Railway Modernization is ongoing with the Federal Government counterpart funding in the 2022 appropriation while expecting the Federal Ministry of Finance to conclude negotiations of the loans with the Infrastructure Development Finance Institutions of the Chinese, Portuguese and Turkish origin to implement the projects.
While soliciting for favourable budget consideration, the Minister said: “Permit me to also report that the Lagos – Ibadan segment of the Lagos – Kano and Itakpe to Warrii railway project are fully operational and receiving patronage from the general public. To reach practical completion on these projects, some aspects of works, including the construction of Overpass Bridges, connection to the National Grid and other ancillary provisions have to be completed. Therefore, adequate funds need to be provided in the 2023 budget to facilitate the practical completion of the projects”.
