During a budget defence session in Abuja on Monday, Julius Ihonvbere, majority leader of the House and Chair of the Adhoc Committee on Rivers, noted the committee had reviewed the proposal and flagged multiple concerns.
The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on the oversight of Rivers faulted the sole administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas, over some proposed expenditures in the N1.48 trillion 2025 budget.
The senate passed the N1.48 trillion appropriation bill for Rivers state on June 25. According to the budget breakdown, N120.8 billion is for debt servicing, N287. 38 billion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while N1.077 trillion will be invested in capital projects.
Ihonvbere queried the N24 billion earmarked for CCTV, N30 billion allocated for gunboats, and N23 billion for contingency allocations in the Rivers’ budget, demanding a breakdown and justification for the allocations.
He mentioned the budget was presented without an accompanying medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), which is a legal requirement.
The Committee chair further questioned why Rivers is funding federal projects without any agreement with the federal government for reimbursement.
Ihonvbere asked the sole administrator to provide details of transfers to local governments, including how funds meant for the LGAs are being managed.
“We need additional details for those allocations. We request details of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the last three months,” he said.
“That will enable us to know your financial flows so that we can weigh it against the deficit in the budget in terms of financing it and carrying out some of the projects.
“We also need details of transfers to local governments–essentially, how local government funds that came into the state are being managed at the moment.
“Those documents we have requested must reach us within 48 hours; rest assured that we are all on the same side in terms of getting Rivers working again.
“We want to ensure that we promote a lot of accountability and ensure that the interests of the people themselves, no matter how remote they are from the state capital, are protected,” he added.
The senior special assistant on strategy and policy to Ibas, Andrew Nweke, responded on the sole administrator’s behalf. He said the current administration inherited many of the budgetary items.
He said the allocations reflect what Rivers people prioritise based on a needs assessment conducted by implementing agencies.
Nweke defence on the CCTV allocation was rhat it is meant for modern surveillance infrastructure at the government house.
In respect to the gunboat budget, he said the gunboats were meant to aid security agencies patrolling Rivers’ waterways.
Nweke said the contingency reserve would help address insecurity, flooding, and other emergencies.
He promised to provide the requested documents to the committee.
