Senate urges training, research institutions to deploy budgetary fund on execution of core mandates

The Senate has urged training and research institutions in the agricultural sector to focus on deploying budgetary appropriations to the pursuit of their core mandates.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Sen.Abdulahi Yahaya made the call in an interview with Journalists in Lagos.

Abdullahi, who led an oversight meeting of the committee with training and research establishments in agric sector said government has done much to provide fund for the institutions in the agric sector.

He, however, said the major area of concern was the way the approved funds were been deployed by the agencies.

“Now the major area of concern is the way in which this fund are deployed, we say the deployment should be more in the areas of the cognate responsibilities of these institutions so that they should be able to work and raise revenue.

” Because once they can work and raise revenue, raise local employment,they should be given a kind of leaway in some relative operational independence.

“So that in the areas where they can raise revenue, the government investments should be in those areas where this institutions can do their technical and operational capacity to be able to make investments in the real sector of the economy which can add value.”

He said the National Assembly would look at the budgets to see how it could assist the agencies to deploy resources to those areas where they can add value to their work.

Yahaya said from the oversight meeting of the agencies, so far, a lot of the personal and capital budgets of the organisation have been implemented almost 100 per cent, saying that areas like the expenditure account was hovering around 60 to 70 per cent performance.

The former Senate Leader said the committee embarked on the oversight to see and have a knowledge of the implementation and utilisation of funds and appropriations made in 2020 and 2021budget by the agencies.

He also said the oversight was designed to have a knowledge of the challenges faced by the agencies consequently collectively find ways to solve the problem.