2018 Budget: Senate Rejects DPR’s N355m Proposal For Foreign Trips

The Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream)
on Thursday rejected the Department of
Petroleum Resources’ proposal of N355 million
for foreign trips in the 2018 fiscal year.
The committee rejected the proposal when the
officials of DPR appeared before it to defend the
Department’s 2018 budget.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Tayo
Alasoadura, vowed that the committee would
reduce the estimates when sending it to plenary
for approval.
Alasoadura said: “Your proposed figure for
foreign trips in the 2018 fiscal year is too high
and must be drastically reduced before it is
presented to the Senate for approval.
“Even the N60.2 million proposed for local trips
in terms of monitoring is also on the high side
and may also be reviewed downward.”
Also, the committee chairman observed that the
renovation of DPR Head Office in Victoria Island,
Lagos, already rolled over to 2018, was
becoming a reoccurring decimal in the agency’s
yearly budgetary proposals.
“You must finish this project latest June next
year as you have just pledged,” he said.
Alasoadura further tasked the agency to fast-
track the execution of the project on upgrading
of the National Production Monitoring System to
save Nigerians who were being cheated by
petroleum marketers on daily basis.
The DPR Director, Mordecai Baba, had in his
defence of the 2018 Budget of the agency stated
that N60 million had been proposed for local
travels, while foreign trips would gulp N355
million as part of overhead cost.
He also stated that N50 million had been
earmarked for advertisement, N19 million for
courier services, N102 million for consulting
services and N2.5 million for recruitment.
Baba explained that proposal for promotion was
put at N14.6 million, fuelling and lubricant for
generators would amount to N182 million and
utilities would cost N92.8 million.