The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has called for urgent intervention of the Senate to prevent the Agency’s operations from grinding to a halt as a result of non appropriation of programme votes for the Agency in the 2016 budget.
Director General of NOA, Dr Garba Abari made the call when the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation paid an oversight visit on the Agency’s Headquarters in Abuja.
Abari lamented that the Agency was in a dire strait 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 making it difficult for the Agency carry out programmes. This is in addition to the constraint occasioned by shortfall budgetary disbursements.
Responding, the Chairman Senate Committee on Information and national Orientation Senator Suleiman Adokwe regretted the appropriation of NOA’s Programme votes under a single capital charge, giving assurance that the error will be corrected subsequently.
“We want to give you an assurance that this error in not reflecting budgetary provisions in the critical mass of appropriation for programmes is an unpardonable omission and it will not repeat itself” said Adokwe, adding that the mistake has an adverse effect on the “Change Begins with Me” reorientation campaign of this administration since NOA has been disempowered from giving the campaign the advocacy it deserves. He said it was only through programmes that NOA can 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.