NNMA Laments 31% Slash in Capital Budget
The Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) has lamented a 31 per cent cut in its 2019 budget, insisting that such will only double its serially increasing debt burden from one year to another. According to the NNMA, prior to the slash, the allocation from the federal government alone was grossly inadequate to meet its statutory demands, adding that with the shortfall, the agency will hardly survive 2019 without encountering financial hardship. Chairman of the governing board, Prof Shekarau Yakubu Aku who stated this in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 11th forum of the laureates of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) themed, "The Imperative of Unity in Diversity". He said the slash will further create untold hardship to the agency in fulfilling its mandate, and called on the federal government to give legal backing on the proposed NNMA policy group. The group, he maintained, has the ability to assist government at all levels in policy imple