The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung, has appealed to the National Assembly to include about 23 billion Naira to the ministry’s 2017 budget.
He explained that the addition is for the shortfall of over 100,000 prospective corps members participating in the national youth service scheme in 2017.
Mr Dalung made the appeal during a budget defence session before the House Committee on Youth Development on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
He revealed that some funds in 2016 were not appropriated, adding that it had a negative effect on the accomplishments of some major government programmes geared towards youth development.
The minister further sought for the support of the committee for extra funding for the ministry.
The Chairman of the House Committee, Adekola Segun, noted that the plea is one the committee identifies with.
In another development, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine, appeared before the House Committee on Public Accounts to defend their 2017 budget proposal.
Mr Ayine stressed the need to fund the agency adequately in order to discharge its mandate of improving accountability in the 500 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.
He explained that while the office needs over 4.6 billion Naira for the year, only about 2.7 billion Naira has been allocated for the agency.
After much defence, the lawmakers agreed that the agency needed more funds.
The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Ibrahim Baba, pledged that the lawmakers would ensure that the agency was put on a first line charge.
