FG votes N49.3bn for Information, Culture Ministry

Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning on Monday said N49.3 billion was voted to the Ministry of Information and Culture in the 2017 Budget.

Udoma stated this in Abuja at the public presentation of the 2017 budget proposals for the ministry on Monday in Abuja.

He said that the recurrent expenditure of the ministry would gulp N41 billion.

The minister, who spoke during the question and answer session of the programme, had earlier apologised for the omission of the ministry’s budget in the original document earlier presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said that the estimate for capital expenditure for the ministry was N8.3 billion.

In his remarks, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, commended the media and other stakeholders in the ministry for their support and resilience in the discharge of their duties.

He said that the public presentation of the budget was among the platforms created by the government for stakeholder to come together to share ideas.

“Government must have a way of getting feedback of what is being done and that is why we started the town hall meetings.

“It is a platform to showcase what the government is doing and also to get feedback from members of the public,” he said.

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He said that it was also an opportunity for the public to understand the programme and activities of government.