The Federal Government has proposed to spend a total of N4.3 billion in its N20.51 trillion budget on the purchase of trains to expand railway services across the country.
This is contained in the 2023 Federal Government budget submitted to the National Assembly last week.by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The figure, which is part of the federal government’s executive proposal in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, also earmarked N126.532 billion for the parent Ministry of Transportation.
A breakdown of the figure indicated that the Ministry of Transportation headquarters got N93.661 billion, while National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, was allocated N5.397 billion.
Others are Maritime Academy, Oron, which got N1.550 billion; Council for the Regulation Freight Forwarding in Nigeria had over N775 million.
The breakdown of the budget showed that N85. 228 billion was earmarked for construction/provision of railways while N15 million was allocated for construction/provision of waterways.
The ministry would spend most of its capital budget on ongoing projects some of which include: activities of Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) in the ministry and its agencies and entrenching transparency, compliance, ethics, achieving zero tolerance for corruption in the workplace, development of code of conduct, project monitoring for which it is proposing N30 million.
The Federal Government also proposed N30. 759 billion for completion of Abuja-Kaduna; completion of Lagos-Ibadan and its associated additional works; rehabilitation of Itakpe-Ajaokuta rail line and construction of 12 NOS station buildings and tracks laying works at railway ancillary facilities area Agbor, among others.
The construction of identification and installation of 30km speed reduction on road signage in high risk areas (quarterly), was allotted N18 million, while appropriation of 10bn is for railway modernization.
N1.212 billion was also earmarked for construction of office accommodation for the ministry.
2023 Budget: HoS to spend N250m on purchase of vehicles
Meanwhile, N250 million was earmarked for procurement of official and monitoring vehicles for the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, OHCSF.
While the item has as its code, “ERGP7113688”, another item with code number “ERGP16195454” will see the ministry expending N60 million on establishment of an innovation hub in the civil service.
The purchase of office equipment would gulp N116.449 million, while institutionalization of the performance management system will take N80 million. The HoS will also expend about N50 million on purchase of air conditioners.
The Federal Government in the 2023 budget, allocated N12.698 billion to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
<<Vanguard>>