Senator Ahmad Lawan, the Chairman,Senate committee on defense (APC, Yobe North)mentioned that the management of Defence Space Administration that it would be given adequate funding in the 2024 budget to enable the agency discharge its mandate optimally.
“It is also an opportunity for you to disclose if you have benefitted from the supplementary appropriation 2022, in which special attention was given to the defence sector.
“Let me assure you on behalf of my colleagues, that this committee is going to work with your administration to ensure that you discharge your mandate successfully.”
Chief of Defence, Defence Space Administration, Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Shinkafi, who told the Senate that the sum of N6,284,786,717.00 was appropriated for DSA in 2023, said that out of the amount, N1,922,736,282.00 was for personnel emolument, N298,632,998.00 for overhead cost.
Although, while speaking yesterday in Abuja when the Defence Space Administration appeared before the Senate Committee on Defence to defend its budget estimates for the 2024 fiscal year, the former President of the Senate, who noted that improved funding for the DSA became imperative because of the evolving security challenges confronting the nation, added:
“This is an opportunity for the Defence Space Administration to interact with the Committee on Defence to largely explain what happened in the 2023 Appropriation, how far you have been able to implement the projects as it relates to Defence Space Administration.