Lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Wednesday called for prudent utilisation of funds as well as a reduction in the proposed domestic and external borrowing in the 2022 Appropriation Bill being considered by National Assembly.
The lawmakers including chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Hon. Luke Onofiok; Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu; Hon. Abubakar Kabir, among others, gave the charge during the debate on the general principles of the 2022 Appropriation Bill.
President Muhammadu Buhari had revealed that the Federal Government will borrow N6.45 trillion to finance the 2022 budget deficit.
“We plan to finance the deficit mainly by new borrowing totaling N5.01 trillion, N90.73 billion from privatisation proceeds and N1.16 trillion drawdowns on loans secured for specific development projects.”
Hon. Onofiok, who expressed delight in the N10 billion increase in the allocation for judicial officers, called for upward review of the proposed N50 billion hazard allowance for medical doctors as part of measures toward reversing exodus of medical personnel to other countries amid lingering pandemic.
He said: “Following from the above, there are plausible recommendations by the Federal Government in the 2022 proposals which my constituents have asked me to share and then appreciate and look at it and commend it.
“One of them”, he said, “is the provision of about N50 billion for hazard allowance for medical personnel. We would recall that as part of the issues that led the medical personnel to go on strike is the hazard allowances which were not paid and even as of now those hazard allowances are quite very minimal.
“We commend this effort of the Federal Government to capture this. I believe that this would stem the tide of industrial action in the health sector in 2022.
