The House of Representative Committee on Human Rights has asked the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to provide evidence and details of its 2018 capital expenditure.
This was sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Simon Arabo (PDP-Kaduna) at the committee’s budget defence session on Wednesday in Abuja.
Arabo argued that it was strange to have an agency spend its entire capital budget to the last kobo.
Earlier, the Director General of NAPTIP, Ms Julie Okah-Donli, said that the agency proposed a total of N 4.2 billion for 2018 operations.
Okah-Donli said that N2.3 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure, N358 million was for overhead, while N1.8 billion was for personnel cost.
According to her, though the agency had a lot of duties to carry out, funds are however, not regular; and capital budget runs in a manner that funds are spent as they are released.
The director general said that the agency required funds to carter for the health condition of victims and suspects in its custody.
According to her, sometimes personal funds and those provided by concerned friends are used to care for those in custody.
For 2019, she said the agency was proposing a total N2.4 billion for its operations for the year, out of which N1.2 billion was earmarked for personnel cost, N358 million for overhead and N56 million for capital expenditure.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Sadiq Ibrahim (APC-Adamawa) said that the National Assembly was interested in passing the budget as early as possible.
Ibrahim said that Nigerians and constituents were waiting for the budget, while the assembly was also working to ensure a budget that would run from January to December.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Mr Tony Ojukwu, said the commission had budgeted N8.5 billion for its 2019 operations.
Ojukwu said N1.8 billion was earmarked for personnel cost, while N709 million was for overhead cost.
Ojukwu said that N6.1 billion was for capital expenditure and the commission intended to build offices in at least 10 states at the cost of N100 million.
He said that the commission needed operational vehicles in all its offices across the country for quick response to human rights distress calls.
The executive secretary said that the commission also needed a facility to give immediate shelter to victims of human rights abuse.
He said it was embarrassing for the commission to have in their custody but could accommodate them even for night.
Ojukwu tasked the lawmakers on the operation of the Human Rights Fund which was passed into law in 2011 by the National Assembly.
He said that the operations were supposed to be funded by the federal and state governments, as well as other stakeholders to enable the commission operate and respond urgently to human rights violations.
Ojukwu said that since 2011, neither the federal nor state governments had put in any money; and urged the committee to look into the matter and raise at least N3 billion for the fund.
Addressing newsmen after the session, Ibrahim noted that both agencies had performed very well in 2018.
He said that the committee would approve all the requests put forward by the agencies for their 2019 operations.
