Senators yesterday queried the N921.74 billion President Goodluck Jonathan allocated to security in the 2012 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n The matter came up during senators\u2019 consideration of the general principle of the 2012 budget proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n The onslaught against the security vote was led by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (Ekiti North) who noted that the sectorial allocations are not reflective of the country\u2019s need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba led the debate as he read \u201cA Bill for an Act to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N4,749,100,821,170 only of which, N397,929,101,917 only is for statutory transfers, N559,580,000,000 is for debt service, N2,471,814,067, 335 only is for recurrent expenditure while the balance of N1,319,777,651,919 only is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December,2012.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ndoma-Egba, who gave the overview of the budget proposal, noted that the budget is not an end in itself but a stepping stone to consolidate the gains of the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said the budget, if well implemented, will restore hope in the nation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ekweremadu urged the Senate to do something about late presentation of the budget, in addition to opening up the process of budgeting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He said the processes leading to the drawing of the budget estimates are shrouded in secrecy.<\/span><\/p>\n He also canvassed conducting a public hearing to sensitise Nigerians about the process.<\/span><\/p>\n Senator Ganiyu Solomon (Lagos West) praised Senate President David Mark for his opening address during the budget presentation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Solomon is not comfortable with the size of the capital expenditure which, he noted, is meant to promote growth and job creation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to him, the 28 per cent capital expenditure cannot promote growth and job creation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Lagos State-born lawmaker said the amount set aside for debt servicing is too much.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He would like a reduction of the debt profile, which he put at 16.4 per cent of the GDP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Adetunmbi noted that though security vote is meant to fund Defence, Police, office of the National Security Adviser and the Ministry of Interior, it represented two-thirds of Education budget, and four times what is budgeted for the Health Ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n Adetumbi said security budget is 34 times what is voted for Housing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He said: \u201cOur spending is not reflective of what we need. Security challenges are mainly driven by lack of education and lack of jobs and agriculture, which has been made a dumping ground for those who could not make it elsewhere.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He noted that only agriculture has a road map, which can be a basis for performance measurement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He said managers of agencies should be mandated to provide the roadmap \u201cso we don\u2019t throw away money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The lawmaker observed that the budget is silent on safety nets to cushion the effect of the transformation Nigerians expect.<\/span><\/p>\n He described 35 ministries and over 800 parastatals as a huge drain on the economy. \u201cIf we are not funding the real sector, then it will be very difficult to come out of the present situation,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n Senator Emmanuel Bwuacha noted that the close to N1 trillion voted for security is too much.<\/span><\/p>\n Bwuacha said President Jonathan should adopt the approach of the late President Umaru Yar\u2019Adua in dealing with the Niger Delta militants to deal with the security situation in the North.<\/span><\/p>\n