4th November, 2016
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has solicited the intervention of the Senate to prevent the agency’s operations from grinding to a halt as a result of non-appropriation in the 2016 budget.
Director-General of NOA Garba Abari made the call when the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation paid an oversight visit to the Agency’s Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
Abari said the agency was in a dire need because both the programmes and capital appropriations for the agency came under one charge as “Construction and Provision of Office Buildings” in the 2016 budget.
He explained that this fact was making it difficult for the Agency to carry out programmes. This is in addition to the constraint occasioned by shortfall budgetary disbursements.
Responding, the Chairman of the committee, Sen. Suleiman Adokwe, regretted the appropriation of NOA’s Programme votes under a single capital charge, giving assurance that the error would be corrected subsequently.
“We want to give you an assurance that this error not reflecting in budgetary provisions in the critical mass of appropriation for programmes is an unpardonable omission.
“It will not repeat itself” Adokwe said.
He added that the mistake had an adverse effect on the “Change Begins with Me” reorientation campaign of this administration since NOA had been disempowered from giving the campaign the advocacy it deserves.
Adokwe said it was only through programmes that NOA could reach out to the masses and the Senate was committed to supporting the Agency in fulfilling its mandate in the interest of positive national orientation.