The Senate through its Committee on Science and Technology has faulted the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute, NBRRI, for generating only 18 million Naira in the 2021 fiscal year which is less than 10% of 49 billion Naira appropriated for it.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Uche Ekwunife, while accessing the Agency’s 2021 budget implementation and 2022 projection, said it is unacceptable for such Agency mandated by law to provide consultancy for all construction projects across the country to generate less than 10 per cent of its yearly allocation.
Prof. Samson Duna, the fifth Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the NBRRI, while presenting the Agency’s estimate of 31 billion Naira for 2022 Appropriation said the Agency received only 75% out of it’s estimate of 49 billion Naira in 2021.
He further stated that the Agency generated 18 billion Naira from journals and tender documents with a capital expenditure of 47 billion Naira and a personal cost of 774 million Naira.
The lawmakers while reacting to the internally generated revenue of the agency advised the CEO to focus on its core mandates of road research to ensure cheap ways of road construction to achieve cheap and durable roads across the country
The Executive Director of the Agency said that 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.
He assured that the Agency is collaborating with the Ministry of Works and Housing, the Road Maintenance Agency, and relevant stakeholders in the construction industry to achieve good and affordable roads in the country.
The NBRRI was established as one of the research institutes under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology to conduct research on local building and construction materials to determine the most effective and economic methods of their utilization.
