Reps to probe non-release of ministry's budget

The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs said it will investigate the non-release of budgetary funds to the foreign affairs ministry by the Ministry of Finance.Chairperson of the committee, Rep Nnena Elendu-Ukeje, who led the committee on oversight visit to the ministry lamented that the non-release of the 2011 appropriation to the ministry has negatively affect the nation's foreign policy.'At 59 percent capital expenditure and 79 percent overhead for the ministry for the second half and with one and half months to go I don't think we have done very well. For us apart from findings of our visit, it is a fact that our foreign policy is grossly underfunded when you go around the world and it is there for everybody to see that our foreign missions are groaning for lack of funding.'The ministry while given the load down of its budget lamented that out of the N3.5 billion appropriated for the headquarters of the ministry and Nigeria missions abroad for 2011, only N207 million was released for them thereby affecting most of the ministry's work.
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