The National Assembly Joint Committee on Solid Minerals has rejected the 2025 budget proposal submitted by the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, citing insufficient allocations to the critical sector.
The decision was announced during a budget defense session on Friday, where the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, presented the ministry’s plans.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Ekong Sampson, expressed disappointment over the proposed N9 billion allocation for capital expenditure, a figure far below the N539.7 billion originally requested by the ministry.
Sampson emphasized the need for substantial investments in the solid minerals sector, describing it as vital to Nigeria’s economic diversification efforts.
He said, “This is because of the potential in not addressing the key concerns in this sector at a time that Nigeria is in a grand need to diversify the economy.
“The estimates presented before us are grossly inadequate and will not help our economy at this critical period, when we have to invest in the future, consistent with what obtains in other economies.
“We’ve taken this position in the interest of this country and as a support item to the vision of government as it were that this budget clearly needs a review.
“The need for this review clearly contemplates the peculiarities in the sector.
“Time has gone by and you have to take a very bold step in exploration, in data gathering, in tackling major drawbacks that have put us in dire situations as a nation richly endowed but faced, as it were with the contradictions in abundance.
“It is the view of the joint committee that the budget of this sector be reviewed upwards.
“I think that is the spirit of the meeting, in the meantime, we will suspend further decisions on this budget unless those steps are taken.
“The budget for this sector needs radical upward review. So the joint session rejects the estimate before us. We will step everything down.”
Senator Diket Plang, who moved the motion for the budget’s rejection, supported this sentiment, adding that the inadequate funding undermines the government’s vision for economic growth.
Co-chairman Mr. Gaza Gbefwi echoed these concerns and proposed suspending the budget review until the Minister of Planning and Budget provides clarification.
“I move that we suspend this budget screening for the Ministry of Solid Minerals for the fact that what is appropriated to them, if it is true, is beyond imagination.
“Also, we are here to pass a budget not for the ministry, not for us, but for Nigerians and the progress of this country.
“I, therefore, propose that we step down this screening of the budget presented to us and request that we invite the Minister of Planning and Budget to appear before this committee,” he said.
Earlier, Alake said that the ministry in 2025, proposed N539.7 billion for capital expenditure and N2 billion for overhead cost, making it a total budget of N541.7 billion for the ministry.
Minister Alake disclosed that the ministry had originally proposed N541.7 billion for 2025, including N2 billion for overhead costs. He lamented that the approved envelope allocation was a “paltry N9 billion.”
He further noted that in 2024, the ministry achieved 100% of its overhead cost goals but only 18% of its capital expenditure targets, blaming poor budget releases.
Despite these challenges, Alake highlighted the ministry’s success in generating N37.8 billion in revenue for 2024, surpassing its N11 billion target.
