The Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission (NCDC) has approved the N140 billion budgetary provision for the commission in 2025, with a charge to ensure prudent and transparent utilisation of the funds once the Senate gives its final approval.

The endorsement came after Tsenyil Yiltsen, the Managing Director of the Commission, appeared before Titus Zam-led Committee on Tuesday to defend the proposal.

Announcing the approval, Titus Zam, who chairs the Senate Committee, stated, “After a careful look at the issues contained in the budget and the eloquent presentation by the MD and his team, the committee has approved the budget of N140 billion as presented by the Commission.”

In his presentation, Yiltsen explained that the Federal Government allocated N140 billion to the commission for the fiscal year, with N100 billion set aside for capital expenditure across the six States of the North Central region and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while the remaining N40 billion will cover recurrent expenditure, including overhead and personnel costs.

He clarified that the N100 billion capital vote was intended for multiple projects across the states rather than a single project.

“We have eight thematic areas in terms of infrastructure deployment, which are security, agriculture, mining, environmental degradation, education, health, road construction, etc,” he said.

Yiltsen assured lawmakers that the Commission would implement projects equitably across all the states in the zone and the FCT.

“We will go out for proper needs assessment in all the states and will be fair in the distribution of these projects in all the six states and FCT,” he added.

On the recurrent component, he disclosed that a large portion of the N40 billion would go towards the salaries of 200 new staff, pending approval of their recruitment by the Office of the Head of Service.

While commending the Commission’s presentation, the committee tasked the NCDC to ensure judicious application of the funds, particularly the N100 billion earmarked for capital projects.

It also called on State Governments in the North Central region and the FCT to provide office accommodations for branches of the commission in their respective States.