Senate Committee on Information Grills Lai Mohammed Over “NTA Project”

Senate Committee on Information Grills Lai Mohammed Over “NTA Project”. The Senate Committee on Information has questioned Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, over the nature of a project listed as “Completion of NTA Gashua Sub-Station Ongoing”.

According to the lawmakers, the amount of ₦250 million dedicated for the project has been previously given to the ministry of information and culture.

On Tuesday Mohammed led some top officials of the ministry to defend their 2021 budget estimates before the lawmakers at the National Assembly in Abuja.

At the defence session, members of the committee questioned the minister why the project has not been executed to a reasonable level, despite the full release of the fund for its execution in the 2020 fiscal year.

Mohammed responded by saying the project was sponsored by a lawmaker as a constituency project and inserted into the 2020 budget, stating that the fund for the project was released on September 24, 2020, making it difficult to execute it to a considerable level. The committee members disagreed with the minister for labelling the project as a constituency one.

They argued that if it was indeed a constituency project as claimed, it would not have been included in the projects for budget defence, but the minister promised to furnish the committee with details of the sponsor of the project, as well as the constituency.

The lawmakers also queried Lai Mohammed over the ₦43 million used on international travels, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. He replied by informing the committee that ₦19 million out ₦43 million was spent on travels and that expenditures for international travels occurred before the lockdown.

According to Mohammed, the ministry attended international summits such as, World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) conferences, which held in Spain and the United Kingdom, among other trips.