The House of Representatives member representing Ede-North/Ede-South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency, Hon. Bamidele Salam has called for the even distribution of the controversial 11 billion road projects enlisted in the 2021 budget proposal of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to all the six geopolitical zones.

Speaking earlier after the budget defence session, Hon. Bamidele Salam (PDP-Osun) observed that “there was an attempt to rush the passage of the budget and prevent those of us who had observations from doing so.

In a statement released by his office, the lawmaker added, “The National Assembly should be tired of being called a rubber stamp Assembly. We are not; we are not supposed to be. If a ministry, department or agency brings in a document, we should subject that document to thorough scrutiny.

"We should scrutinise it with the eye of the law, and equity, fairness and justice. That is what the parliament should do but that is what some people are trying to resist, from what happened at this meeting. I think we should go back to look at this document and ask ourselves honestly: does this budget proposal by FERMA reflect the spirit of the Nigerian Constitution and the budget which is supposed to bring even development to all parts of the country?

“To me, the answer is no. And if the answer is no, then we should go back to the drawing board. It is still a proposal; it is a bill before the National Assembly, which is subject to being tinkered with. I am expecting that the committee, under the chairmanship of Hon Bamisile, will reconvene and address the concerns that I expressed.”

“The observation that I made was very simple: first is the fact that in the 2021 budget proposal analysis that I have before me, out of the 420 projects proposed, the South-West zone which I am from has the least allocation which is 48, and least allocation which is about N3 billion. That is just a part of it.

“The larger part of it is that the constituency that I represent, Ede-North/Ede-South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency, does not have a single allocation of a project out of the 420 projects. Even the whole of the state where I come from, Osun State, which is represented by nine members in the House, does not have a single projected allocated to it, out of a budget of N38.2bn proposed by FERMA", Hon. Salam posited.


https://osuninsight.com.ng/2021-budget-bamidele-salam-protests-against-lopsidedness-of-11-billion-road-projects/


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Good one