Senate chides NBRI over generation of N18m in 2021 fiscal year

The Senate’s Commitee on Science and Technology slammed  the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) on Wednesday for generating only N18 million  in the 2021 fiscal year which is less than 10% of N49billion budgetary allocation.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Uche Ekwunife (PDP Anambra Central), while accessing the agency’s 2021 budget implementation and 2022 projections, said it was unacceptable for such agency mandated by law to provide consultancy for all construction projects across the country to generate less than 10% percent of its yearly allocation.

“Your revenue generation is very poor going by your scope of operations and budgetary allocation  for required performance,” she said.

However, in his response, the Director General / Chief Executive Officer of NBRI, Prof. Samson Duna, said the agency received only 75% out of its estimate of N49 billion in 2021.

He explained that the N18million generated was from Journals and Tender documents.

According to him, the projected budget allocation for the agency in 2022 is N31billion.

He stated that operationally, with 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.

He assured that the agency is collaborating with the ministry of works and Housing, Road maintenance agency and relevant stakeholders in the construction  industry, to achieve  good and affordable roads across the country.

But the committee members advised the agency to focus on its core mandates of road research to ensure cheap ways of road construction  to achieve good and lasting roads across the country.

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.