‘I Need Money To Inform Nigerians’ – Lai Mohammed Groans As N14.5Bn Slashed From Ministry’s Budget

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, is unhappy with the Federal Government after budgetary allocation to his ministry was slashed by more than N14.5 billion when compared to what it got in the 2022 budget.

Mohammed registered his frustration during the defence of his ministry’s 2023 budget proposal at before the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation on Tuesday in Abuja.

Checks by THE WHISTLER showed that while the total budgetary allocation to the Information Ministry in 2022 was N78,778,194,041, the ministry will be getting N64,239,951,994 out of the N20.51 trillion total budget presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari for 2023.

Buhari made the presentation to a joint session of the legislative arm on October 7, 2022. He noted that the appropriation bill was designed to address critical issues and lay a solid foundation for the administration coming after the end of his tenure on May 29, 2023.

But Mohammed said the nearly 20% cut in his ministry’s 2023 budget will make it “difficult” for the ministry to carry out its statutory functions.

The minister specifically complained about the N726,360,000 slashed from the budget for jingles and other publicity allocated to the National Orientation Agency (NOA) which is one of the agencies under his ministry.

“It is really a difficult situation and I do not know how we are going to handle it. In times of challenges like this, that our country is going through, we need the information ministry to be fully equipped to properly inform the public

“This is the time the people need information and the voice of government should be heard on what we are doing in the areas of security, infrastructure and other sectors.
“We also need to tell the world what the government had done in the last seven years and we need funds for all these.
“I also believe that the 30 percent cut in the 2023 budget proposal across board should not apply to the ministry, rather it should be increased because of the importance of information dissemination now more than ever,” he said.

Mohammed appealed to the lawmakers to consider increasing the budget for his ministry to enable it to effectively discharge its statutory functions.