The Senate Committee on Science and Technology has slammed the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute for generating only N18 million in the 2021 fiscal year.
The Senate Committee disclosed on Wednesday that the budget of the agency for 2021 was N49 billion.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Uche Ekwunife, during assessment of the Agency’s 2021 budget implementation and 2022 projections, expressed dissatisfaction with the revenue generated by the agency.
She wondered how an agency mandated by law to provide consultancy for all construction projects across the country could generate less than 10 per cent of its yearly allocation.
Ekwunife said: “Your revenue generation is very poor going by your scope of operations and budgetary allocation for required performance.”
However in his response, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NBRI, Prof. Samson Duna, said the agency received only 75 per cent out of its estimate of N49 billion in 2021.
He explained that the N18 million generated was from journals and tender documents.
According to Duna, the projected budget allocation for the agency in 2022 is N31 billion.
He stated that operationally, with a staff strength of 530 across the country, the agency has come up with an alternative to cement produced from waste products to help reduce the cost of building and road construction in the country.