By Emmanuel Adigwe
The Office of Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals has stated that the claims in some media reports that its allocation was increased by N33 billion in the 2020 Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari as false.
In a statement issued on Friday, 5 June, 2020, made available to the media, it stated it was not aware of any such amount or any other allocation aside from the duly appropriated figure allocated to it in the budget signed into law by the President.
It added: “The Office also wishes to state that aside the opportunity to defend its budget proposal before the relevant committees at the National Assembly as prerequisites for the passage of Budget, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs has no power whatsoever over the review of the budgetary proposal.
“As such, the responsibility of the Office over the years has been limited to implementing the budget as duly approved and signed by the President, subject to release of funds appropriated for the different sub-heads.”