The Senate was taken aback on Wednesday when the Director General of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Samson Duna, revealed that the institute only generated N18 million in income each year.
Duna also announced that the institute’s budget for 2021 was N49 billion.
He revealed this while leading the NBRRI management team to the National Assembly’s Senate Committee on Science and Technology in Abuja.
Despite the N49 billion it received in its 2021 budget, the DG told the Senator Lilian Ekwunife-led Committee, NBRRI was unable to meet its goals for the year under review.
Duna explained that the institute only received 75% of the whole planned amount, with 18 million naira in revenue from journals and tender documents, and capital expenditure of 47 billion naira and personnel costs of 774 million naira.
Professor Duna revealed that the research institute has produced an alternative to cement while noting that it employs 530 people around the country.
According to him, the alternative made from waste items will lower the cost of construction and road construction.
He stated that the agency is working with the Ministry of Works and Housing, the Road Maintenance Agency, and other construction sector stakeholders to achieve decent and cheap roads across the country.
Professor Duna also revealed that N200 million had been set aside for the procurement of computer software to meet NBRRI’s mandate in a clause-by-clause explanation of the institute’s fiscal policy for 2021.
The program, he claims, will aid in the design of research prototypes as well as the monitoring of ongoing initiatives.
The Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (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;
In their reactions, the lawmakers urged the leadership of the institute to find alternatives to shore up its income.
They also mandated it to reducing the cost of constructing feeder roads by using rice sauce ash and other forms of waste including industrial waste earlier suggested by NBRRI.
