The
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has refuted some media reports that it
budgeted the sum of N75 million for the rehabilitation of toilet doors and
keys.
Head,
Media & Public Relations, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, while refuting this
allegation, said that the attention of NCC has been
drawn to widely reported story in some national dailies of Wednesday, February
8, 2012, titled “Reps Query NCC’s
N75 Million Budget for Toilet Doors and Keys” claiming that the
House of Representatives Committee on Communications has queried the Commission
over a number of items proposed in its 2012 budget.
NCC,
he said, was constrained to respond to these reports because of several
inaccuracies and misrepresentations of facts contained in them, and a
deliberate attempt to impugn on the character and reputation of the Commission
for unknown reasons.
“The
tone of the reports is contrary to the atmosphere of understanding that
pervaded the budget defense by the Commission,” he declared.
Muoka
also noted that the sum of N75 Million under reference was for major works which were fully evaluated by the Commission before the budget submission.
“They
include repainting of the external walls of the Commissions headquarters
building, repairs and repainting of the steel roof structures. This is in
addition to a major face lift of the reception areas, waiting room, two-wing
canteen facilities with several equipments, provision of directional signs in
the 9-Storey edifice of the Commission, in addition to replacement of old and
unbefitting toilet doors and locks,” he explained.
Additionally,
he said, there was no query by the Committee on the provision of the sum of N30
Million in the budget for procurement of furniture at the headquarters of the
Commission, and four zonal offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Ibadan.
“The
N10 Million provision for air conditioners at the headquarters building is for
the phased replacement of some air conditioners which have served out their
useful life as procurement of new ones is more cost effective than the high
cost of maintaining the old ones,” he said.
According
to him, the newspaper reports also misconstrued the provision of N89 Million
for project vehicles, and N72 Million for Quality of Service monitoring
vehicles as duplication.
He
said, the information provided in the budget details was explicit, stressing
that the project vehicles were operational vehicles for compliance monitoring
and surveillance exercises in Port Harcourt, Kano, and Lagos zones; covering
all the cities in the respective geopolitical zones while monitoring vehicles
are special purpose-built vehicles with equipment for drive tests designed for
quality of service monitoring as they enable set-up tests with minimal
vibration and shocks while in motion.
The
minute details of each item on the budget proposal for 2012 were available
during the budget session at the House of Representatives for any credible
report by the media which wished to report the facts.
“The
Nigerian Communications Commission is a responsible organization and does not
engage in frivolous budgeting as all works and services are carefully evaluated
before the budgets are sent to the National Assembly,” he said.
Therefore,
he said, the Commission wished to dissociate itself from the content, tone and
interpretation in the reports which appeared in the Vanguard, Leadership,
Tribune, People’s Daily, and Daily Mirror newspapers with same captions, same
contents, same words, yet were written by five different reporters.
Remmy Nweke
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