•A metaphor for all that is wrong with Nigeria

“I believe children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way…” These words from late Whitney Houston’s music encapsulates the value each parent, each citizen and nation must place on children. Children are born tabular razar according to some linguists who were trying to establish the fact that children are not born with any language, they tend to learn from adults and truly, some rare cases of children being inadvertently raised by animals like apes or dogs, they have the mannerisms of such animals and often lack human expressive language until they are fully rehabilitated.

Children learn other skills and mannerisms from adults around and that is why parenting is about responsibilities. The difference between one child and the next is often traceable to the values they imbibed from parents and other adults around them, either at family or community levels, and this includes formal and informal communities like schools and religious houses.

United Nations agencies like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) set global benchmarks for countries to ensure that each child is equipped with tools for growth and being more functional adults. Countries that understand this make laws that compel parents to care for any child they bring to the world. In developed countries, adoptions and foster parenting are encouraged to give better life and grooming to children whose parents for one reason or the other are not able to.

It is therefore very telling that the Nigerian systemic failure is allowed by adults to negatively impact on the children who are supposed to be the future. The country, from all indications, seems to lack the intuitive policy strategies that can set good examples for children. This, to us, is not only about the failure to provide for the children the basic necessities like shelter, health, security and education. There are the non-tangibles like the social justice system that punishes adult/juvenile crimes and rewards good behaviour.

We feel that the Nigerian system has, through omission and commission, failed the Nigerian child. Parents seem not to owe their children any obligations in the real sense because the state does not hold irresponsible parents accountable. Child rights laws are not enforced in all states and even where they are, offenders are not always punished.

The recent statement by the police spokesman in Bauchi State, a Superintendent of Police, Ahmad Wakil, about a 12-year-old boy who allegedly kidnapped a three-year-old girl and called the father on phone to pay a ransom of N150,000 is as mind-boggling as it is scandalous. When interrogated, he narrated a story of how he learnt about kidnapping through his friend who was kidnapped in Kano State and was released only when a ransom was paid.

He then planned his own kidnap scheme and as he has learnt from the socio-religious environment, a vulnerable three-year-old girl was the target. Again, he has been socialised to see the vulnerable girl as easy prey. He was quoted as saying that he wanted to use the ransom to buy clothes and a phone. We are compelled to ask, how and why does a 12-year-old have such desires? Whose phone was he using to contact the father of the victim?

We are worried not because there are no juvenile crimes in other climes but we also know that the criminal justice system in those crimes works. A young criminal often grows into an adult criminal. If the boy was referencing a kidnapped friend and there was no closure in terms of arrests and prosecution of the suspects in that instance, why would he and his ilk not feel that crimes pay, especially given the level of kidnapping in the country and the fact that such news is everywhere on the media/internet?

The fact that some clerics and influential persons often come on TV to narrate how they are negotiating with kidnappers emboldens not just the young but other adults. Criminality seems to have been elevated to a lucrative business because there are often no conclusive prosecution and jailing of arrested suspects that can serve as deterrent.

Beyond parading the boy, we expect that his parents must have questions to answer. How come he has such desires at such a young age? Why is a phone and clothes a priority for him at his age? The arrested boy is a mere metaphor for all that is wrong with the Nigerian system and the earlier all issues are systemically addressed, the better for the nation and its beleaguered future.

•Govt has to review SIM card registration for effectiveness

A time there was when criminals saw armed robbery as the crime to beat in Nigeria. The story has however changed, with abduction or kidnapping almost relegating armed robbery to the background. Indeed, notorious armed robbers like Lawrence Anini (aka The Law), Babatunde Folorunso, Ishola Oyenusi, etc. who in their days held the country hostage must be wondering in their graves why they never discovered the new ‘fad’ in crime which appears to be a less stressful money spinner.

But not so our kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, (aka Evans), who, in 2006, dumped armed robbery for  the more lucrative crime. He had raked in billions from the illicit business until the long arms of the law caught up with him in 2017.

True, kidnapping did not start yesterday in Nigeria. If Evans said he had been in the business since 2006, it means the crime has been with us for some time. It probably started in the Niger Delta where oil expatriates were kidnapped for ransom by militants in the region. Today, it is a crime that is perpetrated all over Nigeria. Unfortunately, while the kidnappers have been getting increasingly sophisticated, the country’s security agencies seem to be years behind, given the relative ease with which the kidnappers operate. The fact that kidnap cases are increasing in the country is enough proof that the government is yet to have a handle on it.

Not that the government has not been doing something to nib the crime in the bud; just that the efforts have proved far inadequate to deter those who engage in the crime. What baffles many Nigerians is that virtually all of these criminals contact their victims’ relatives by telephone, which, other things being equal, should facilitate their being apprehended. Yet, it is only in a few cases that they are caught.

The Federal Government, as part of measures to isolate their locations so that security agencies could round them up with relative ease came up with the idea of compulsory registration of  telephone Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards. This was probably in response to the suggestion by the then Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro’s suggestion. Indeed, Evans confirmed that they used telephones in their operations. He also testified to the lucrative nature of the crime when he said during interrogation that “We did our operations through the phone and we once collected as ransom $1m.” The police made Nigerians heave a sigh of relief after Evans’  arrest when the then Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, boasted that “The arrest of Evans and his gang members is the beginning of the end of kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country.”

But since then, kidnapping has worsened, with very few arrests made.

What this tells us is that the measures put in place by the government to tackle the menace are inadequate. There is the need to interrogate the fidelity of the SIM registration process to ensure that every aspect of the owner of SIM cards that is supposed to be captured is captured. Photographs must be clear and true representation of the SIM owner.

But it is not just a matter of deploying technology because technology would only work as programmed. Is the programming being done in a way that would make possible the realisation of the objectives of the SIM registration? How competent are the programmers? Did they get the necessary training?

Nigerians paid a huge price to get most of these processes done. Take obtaining the National Identification Number (NIN) for example. Those who were compelled to obtain this, especially during the days of the coronavirus pandemic, literally went through hell to get it. People do not have to undergo all of the stress they have undergone only for them to be falling victims of kidnappers who appear several steps ahead of both the government and its security agencies.

If kidnappers are still operating as they wish, contacting people on phone and collecting ransom in the process, with little chances that they would be caught, it means the government has to return to the drawing board to figure out where the problem lies. If things work seamlessly elsewhere only to fail woefully in the country, then, we must find out why.

Perhaps the matter is being handled in the same cavalier manner the government handles many other matters of national significance. Like crude thieves that the government watched for years, only wringing its hands in frustration. Security experts have told us that the modern, sophisticated devices needed to track the activities of kidnappers and other criminals are not particularly expensive. So, why can’t the government provide them across the commands and zones to facilitate the tracking of kidnappers and other criminals?

•We commend UNIOSUN for winning $1.4m Bill and Melinda Gates research grant

It’s good news that Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Osogbo, won a $1.4 million Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation research grant.  The institution’s vice-chancellor, Prof. Clement Adebooye, who announced the success, said the research “is for the development of black fly pheromone baited trap and some entomological studies on black fly trapping and control in Nigeria.”

He said a multi-disciplinary research team led by Prof. Monsuru Adebayo Adeleke, a Professor of Public Health Entomology and Parasitology in the university’s Department of Zoology, had submitted a long-term proposal that was successful “in a stiff and healthy competition.”

The research team includes Prof. B.E.B. Nwoke (Imo State University, Owerri); Prof. H.B. Mafuyai (University of Jos, Plateau State); Prof. K.N. Opara (University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State) and Dr. O.A. Surakat (Osun State University, Osogbo).  This group of Nigerian scientists is a credit to the country’s scientific community. There are other scientists from America, United Kingdom and Costa Rica involved in the study.

Adebooye gave an insight into how the subject of the research, black fly, poses a serious threat to public health.  He explained: “Most black flies feed on the blood of mammals, including humans, although the males feed mainly on nectar of flowers. They are a common nuisance for humans, and many countries have programmes to suppress the black fly population because they spread several diseases, including river blindness. River blindness is one of the debilitating diseases of public health importance.”

More than 99 per cent of people with river blindness, also called onchocerciasis, live in 31 African countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).  About 220 million people, it has been estimated, required preventive chemotherapy against onchocerciasis, 14.6 million of the infected people already had skin disease and 1.15 million had vision loss. The data shows the scale of the problem.

Four countries, verified by WHO as free of river blindness after successfully fighting the problem, are proof that it is not a losing battle. They are Colombia (2013), Ecuador (2014), Mexico (2015), and Guatemala (2016).

”Nigeria needs to double its scientific research to get out of the burden of river blindness,” Adebooye observed.  The Nigerian research supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is an important step towards solving the problem as the world targets year 2030 for global onchocerciasis elimination.

It is reassuring that the vice-chancellor promised to ensure that the project is successfully implemented and the grant properly managed. This shows seriousness, and helps to give a positive image of the country’s universities.

The leader of the research team, Prof. Adeleke, is a credit to UNIOSUN. It is remarkable that a state-owned university is at the centre of a project of such magnitude, and the institution demonstrates the relevance of public universities. Established in 2006, it has a reputation for academic excellence despite its less than 20 years of existence.

The funder should be commended.  Launched in 2000, and based in Washington, USA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in 2020, was reported to be the second largest charitable foundation in the world. It has spent $53.8 billion since 2000 “fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world.” Among its primary stated goals are to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty across the world.

Local stakeholders, including political authorities, foundations and companies should learn from the example of the foreign non-profit organisation. In a case like this which involves such a huge sum, for instance, local stakeholders could consider joint funding. The country should not give the impression that it depends on foreign help to tackle domestic problems.

The goal of eliminating onchocerciasis in the country demands more than this foreign grant, and local stakeholders also should be involved in funding. There is room for local support for research towards this end.

•Governor Nyesom Wike’s revelations call for transparency

Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike’s revelation of money that states in the Niger Delta have received from the Buhari administration has raised soul-searching questions about our democracy and the quality of civic engagement in the country.

Governor Wike said all the Niger Delta governors raked in all the derivation funds that past presidents had failed to give the states since 1999. He further revealed that the money enabled him to prosecute a series of projects, including 12 flyovers, in parts of the state.

But for the information he volunteered, many Nigerians were not aware. His words were not only a supposed fact but a challenge to the different states. He clarified that the money he was referring to did not affect all south-south and southeast states but all that produce oil. These insights have troubled not a few Nigerians who want accountability. Wike’s disclosure also goaded the opponent parties to exploit the moment to lash out at the lack of accountability and presumed larcenous impulses of the governors who, incidentally, belong to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

At a campaign rally in Warri, former governor of Edo State and a former party chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, announced that the Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, enjoyed a haul of N250 billion from the Buhari administration, apart from different tranches of N60 billion, N10 billion and N10 billion. He added that his successor Godwin Obaseki received N100 billion. We have not been able to independently ascertain the facts of how much of the 13 percent derivation the Federal Government remitted to the states and how much they were owed.

Suffice it to say that no governor has denied ever receiving the largesse. They have denied the figures while admitting they received some tranches.

The Delta State governor said the state got N14.7 billion and discounted N150 billion.  Bayelsa State governor Douye Diri said the state was underpaid. Governor Obaseki of Edo State expressed the same sentiments. The only state with a more comprehensive rendering of its account is Akwa Ibom State under Governor Udom Emmanuel. But whatever the case, we expect the Federal Ministry of Finance to avail the nation a full report of how much each state received and when.

If Gov. Wike’s assertion is true, then we have entered an unusual moment of accountability in this democratic dispensation. The argument sometimes advanced by some elements of the Niger Delta is that the Niger Delta money belongs to the people of the region and others should not question them on how they spend it. This is not only an insult to the democracy we practise but also on the suffering people who have endured while the bowels of their earth teem with crude oil explored and exploited by big finance, oil majors and political titans in the land.

Again, the divulgence also leads us to another important point. The Buhari administration has not only been sending money to the Niger Delta States alone. It has released trillions of naira to all 36 states. Some of them were bailout funds.

In spite of this, the administration has continued to take the blame for a struggling economy, with a high unemployment rate, inflationary spiral, low productivity and, consequently, alienation. Yet, the states are supposed to serve as the laboratories of this democracy. We need not only the Niger Delta states to account for all they have received, but governors across the 36 states to show they have been good stewards of our patrimony.

It is a time for transparency. We applaud Governor Wike’s forthright effusions, and we hope that this hour will not fizzle out in the heady flush of news in Nigeria.

• Nigeria must do something fast to avert the consequences

Different poverty index reports about the Nigerian situation have been published periodically by the Breton Woods organizations, UN agencies, economic groups and even individual tink tank groups. At some point in the last few years, Nigeria overtook India as the poverty capital of the world. For the avoidance of doubt, extreme poverty is measured by the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day.

There have been arguments and counter-arguments by some Nigerians about the veracity of some of the reports. Most times, the counter-arguments are not based on any verifiable research data but flimsy patriotic sentiments. However, global development economic parameters for reaching such conclusions are not subject to sentiments or politics. Usually, the data and statistics accompany such reports.

Even though the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has periodically put out statistics that show the poverty index, none has been as scary and detailed as the recent one that shows that a whopping 133m out of the estimated 200m population are living in multi-dimensional poverty. The very dire details: North West comes with the highest number of 45.5m,  North East, 20.5m,  North Central, 20.2m, South West, 16.3m, South-South, 19.7 and South East with 10.9m people. The rural population is hardest hit with 109m and the urban areas with 27m poor people.

Read Also: The scandals of Nigerian poverty!

These statistics clearly indict governments at all levels as they all have their constitutional duties. The core function of government is the welfare of the people. If this huge number of Nigerians from each region which individually can be more than the population of some countries are poor, then the country is definitely in trouble.

We are worried about this level of poverty because of the inter-generational implications for development. What this means is that successive governments have had no clear workable plans targeted at development in the short, medium and long terms. Despite the global economic problems, different countries seem to be focused on making lives of citizens better in terms of real attempts at eradicating poverty. Countries like Singapore and Rwanda are clear models of focused leaderships.

The level of poverty in the country clearly indicates that governments at all levels have not made democracy very functional. Unfortunately, while this level of poverty ravages the people, most people in government live in utter luxury, and election after election promises are made, policies announced but clearly, those seem to have failed the people they are meant to lift out of poverty. The various Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), national development programmes like the Nigerian Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the Sustainable Education and Enterprise Development (SEED) have obviously not been effective, from all indications, despite billions that have been sunk into them.

Multi-dimensional poverty is crippling at all levels because it affects the most vulnerable in society; children, women, youths and those living with disabilities. The implication of their poverty is unimaginably impactful on any economy. When this level of poverty exists, there is usually a crippling effect on mothers and their children. The maternal and child mortality rates increase and as such, those segments of the population reduce. Children that manage to survive are malnourished and might experience stunted growth and low brain development, and this is dire for the country’s future.

This level of poverty means that the poor have no access to the basics of life; food, shelter, healthcare and education, in the least. There is a reason global institutions and the United Nations set benchmarks for programmmes that can reduce poverty globally and encourage governments to make certain budgetary allocations for better and more impactful policies. None has been functional in Nigeria.

However, we feel that those who seek the votes of the people in a democracy and take oaths to abide by the constitution and show patriotism and nationalism have repeatedly failed, either due to incompetence or a sheer refusal to care of the people. Such leaders must be held accountable.

It amounts to a betrayal of trust to take office and fail to work for the people. If the leaders continually live in a bubble and pretend the people must maintain their luxurious lives while in government and even outside of it, then the essence of leadership as service is totally defeated. The people themselves must understand that each society gets the leadership it deserves. Those in leadership positions must realise the socio-economic implications of this high level of poverty. There is nowhere in the world where such exists without damaging consequences. It is really better for reform to start from the top.

• EFCC should conduct its probes quietly rather than make premature claims

From indications, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) loves waging its battles against graft rather loudly. Many atimes, that approach obstructs the commission’s effectiveness in achieving its stated objective. By the very nature of its mandate, the agency should be a discreet operator. In other words, the bulk of its work ought to be undercover before it comes in the open with concrete evidence to nail its quarries in suspected cases of graft. But the commission doesn’t seem much enamoured by this quiet tack. And this, arguably, isn’t too helpful.

The latest crusade by the anti-graft agency is against suspected launderers of liquid cash in the economy caught up by an ambush policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign the naira. The apex bank had mid-October announced the policy, which took effect with the unveiling of redesigned N200, N500 and N1000 notes by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, last week. Under the policy, the old notes of stated denominations will cease to be legal tenders from January 31, 2023. The policy was unveiled against the backdrop of more than three trillion naira cash said to be circulating in the economy outside of the banking system, and which the EFCC envisages that some holders will have difficulty returning into bank vaults before the expiry date. The anti-graft body had said it had placed three state governors under surveillance regarding liquid currency they are suspected to have stashed, and which they might resort to unorthodox ways of disposing – like paying some workers’ salaries in raw cash.

Read Also: Stashed cash: EFCC putting more governors under watch, says Bawa

EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa raised the stakes lately by saying the number of governors being monitored by the agency for possible money laundry had grown beyond three. Addressing journalists after a meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa penultimate Thursday, he, however, declined to give the exact number of state chief executives involved. “On the issue of the governors that we are monitoring, in fact, the numbers have even increased. We are monitoring everything; Nigerians are helping. Well, I don’t want to give you the figures so that you will not go and speculate whether they are in the north or in the south, but it’s important that Nigerians key into it,” he said. The EFCC boss was full of praise for the CBN currency redesign policy, describing it as a significant step in Nigeria’s fight against financial crimes and other forms of corruption. “You know that there is an obligation of money laundering law that we have, in which an individual is expected to carry out a transaction that is above N5million through the financial institution. There is also the threshold in which a corporate entity is expected to carry out transactions that is above N10million in the financial sector. And why is it so? It is so because financial institutions are expected to make currency transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports to relevant agencies. With that, institutions like us will be able to monitor which funds are legitimate and which ones are not legitimate,” he explained.

The anti-graft czar solicited the assistance of the public to provide his agency with information that could help in tracking down illicitly stashed cash out there. And it is perfectly legitimate to seek to get Nigerians on board EFCC train. By all means, the war against corruption must be collective and Nigerians must pitch in support for EFCC and other anti-graft agencies in tackling down the menace. But premature disclosure about who is of interest seems like publicity gaming without prerequisite incontrovertible evidence. When the EFCC made the initial claim about governors being under its surveillance, for instance, Zamfara Sate Governor Bello Matawalle challenged it to search his property over an allegation that huge sums meant for laundry through cash payment of salaries had been found in one of his residences. That was a challenge the commission has not been able to take up.

If there are suspects being tracked by the EFCC, it would help the agency more to get on with discreet probe until it obtains enough proofs to tag the suspects. Otherwise, premature disclosure could indeed alert suspects to cover up their tracks from the agency. It might well be because of premature disclosures that some cases taken to court by EFCC have come unstuck at trial, and lessons should be learnt.

•Loses medics with the virtual speed of light, yet can’t replace them fast enough.  Time to tweak the recruitment regulations

You just must feel for Professor Abiodun Otegbayo, chief medical director (CMD) of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, on his double jeopardy at managing Nigeria’s pioneer university teaching hospital. The hospital marked its 65th Founder’s Day on November 21, for which the CMD briefed the media.

“Every week, I signed resignation letters of 15 health workers at the institution,” he rued, “who are mostly clinicians: that is, nurses, doctors and pharmacists, among others.”

The grim statistics, from the heavy clinical manpower haemorrhage: between 2020 and October 15, 2022, the tertiary medical facility, which caters for patients well beyond Nigeria’s shores, drawing medical tourists from Nigeria’s West African neighbours, lost no less than 600 medics and clinical support staff — the virtual fighting tooth of the hospital’s army.

But that is only one leg of the CMD’s splitting headache.  The other leg is that he cannot bridge this manpower gap, caused by push-and-pull market dynamics, poor worker welfare that seems to make UCH compete less and, of course, a current societal crisis as insecurity.

He cannot replace lost staff, even if there is no shortage of applicants, experienced and fresh, across the whole gamut of the hospital’s clinical staff needs, because of bureaucratic bottlenecks which slow down the recruitment process.  Inasmuch as these processes were put in place as checks and balances to maintain the integrity of recruitment, it’s high time these processes were tweaked to respond to the urgent demands of the time.

Tweaking does not mean removing all checks and balances.  Indeed, that’s the whole essence of bureaucracy: a set of rules, adopted over a period of time, that imposes calm and stability on government hire-and-fire, without subjecting such to individual whims.

Without dismantling the fundaments, the recruitment code should be tweaked to make the process faster and more responsive, though no less dependable and predictable. That is the urgent task now before the Federal Ministry of Health, the supervisory government arm of federal-owned university teaching hospitals.

Beyond that, the ministry, partnering with other clinical authorities and stakeholders in all states, should make such new recruitment code a national policy, so that state-owned university teaching hospitals, having a similar challenge as UCH’s, can benefit from such flexible policy, to urgently hire clinical staff.

Despite the exodus of key medical personnel to better markets, it is pleasing to know that Nigeria, for now, still does not face doctors and allied professionals’ shortage.  Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, just argued, by numbers, that whereas an average of 1, 000 doctors leave Nigeria yearly, 3, 000 graduate from the country’s medical schools, leaving a net-gain of 2, 000.

But at best, that is cold comfort.  Nigeria invests too much in these choice graduates to just become high-end labour nursery for other countries, while its own citizens, for whom the state makes such investment, are left in the lurch.

So, the UCH headache takes the problem right back to square one.  Working at a more liberal and flexible recruitment policy is fine in the short run, just to stanch the bleeding. But the ultimate solution is to rebuild the entire process, such that most of Nigeria’s medics stay within Nigeria’s shores.

Despite the doom-and-gloom picture usually painted about critical health care delivery in Nigeria, the UCH CMD’s account is a mixed bag.  If it hadn’t come from the horse’s mouth, it would have been inconceivable that medical tourists seek out UCH from neighbouring countries.

That should be enough motivation for the government to work hard at sound rebirth, so that UCH, once ranked as fifth in the entire Commonwealth of Nations (peopled with countries like UK, Canada, India, Australia and New Zealand), can re-find its old glory.  Other tertiary hospitals can now follow suit, right down the chain, to the most humble of primary health clinics.

It’s good the federal authorities are pondering a new — hopefully mouth-watering —deal for medics.  That’s the path to follow.  But with better welfare should come better working tools and a superb working environment.  That’s the ultimate solution to making UCH very competitive again, and for Nigeria to retain the best of its medical hands.

•National Assembly must interrogate ministries’ claims and counter-claims

If there is one lesson that emerged from the budget defence sessions at the National Assembly by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the past week, it is how far the ghost of budget padding is far from being interred. Before now, the usual suspects were the committees of the National Assembly which have traditionally arrogated to themselves the power to alter the budget framework in every material sense. The emerging brickbats between the finance ministry, which serves as the clearing house for other ministries, departments and agencies’ budget proposals on the one hand, and other ministries and agencies of the same Federal Government on the other, would appear to suggest that the National Assembly is not alone in the ignoble practice.

Last week, the finance ministry was accused of padding the estimates of some ministries and agencies, and by extension, of wilful distortion of the budget instrument.

Asked by a member of the Senate Committee on Special Duties Elisha Abbo (APC Adamawa North), how a ‘strange’ N206bn came to be in her ministry’s budget, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq not only denied any knowledge of it, she pointedly accused the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, of being behind it.

Her ministry, she admitted, requested some projects for the North East Development Commission and the National Social Safety Net Project in the 2022 budget. The requested funds were not released, she said, hence, she found it strange that the funds nonetheless popped up – this time around by almost 10-fold in the 2023 Budget estimates and this without the knowledge of her ministry.

“We are also going to seek clarification from the Ministry of Finance to know why the increase occurred despite the fact that the previous year, the money requested wasn’t released for the projects. So, we will get the details and then send them to you”, she told the committee.

And she wasn’t even alone. Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (retd), had equally raised issues with N11 billion inserted into his ministry’s 2023 budget by the finance ministry.  So did Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire complain of ‘strange’ insertions’ into his ministry’s estimates and the Ministry of Power.

The finance ministry has since denied the accusation. Describing the claims as spurious and misleading, the finance minister insisted that the proposals as submitted by the ministries, departments and agencies were as contained in the presentation made by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly.

In a 21-paragraph statement issued on Sunday, the minister acknowledged that the N206 billion was true but that every other statement insinuated in the report was mere fabrication. She also admitted that the project in question, although domiciled in the humanitarian affairs ministry, has the World Bank as the funding source. So, because the loans are different from the envelopes usually given to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), she further claimed that they are drawn by the beneficiary ministries under the terms of the agreements, and the financial institutions disburse directly to service providers.

Most importantly, she also admitted that a wrong code was applied which resulted in a wrong description of the project. Similar defence was made on the accusations made by other ministries and agencies. In all, she noted that “The proposed 2023 budget for each ministry was circulated for review and feedback”, then reviewed by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) before it was submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

That response by the finance ministry, if it can be deemed as any consolation, must be deemed as tragic.  Here, the picture, as painted by the finance minister, is one of an embarrassing lack of coordination among and between different agencies of the same Federal Government; add to that is the implied accusation of either ignorance or mischief and perhaps slothfulness being levelled against top players of the administration by one of its leading members. To crown it all is the intriguing confession to possible sloppiness by a finance ministry expected to have deployed the best of tools in the trade in delivering a credible budget process. Coming from a department of government with a full complement of bureaucracy, it’s hard to imagine a worse attempt at self-exculpation. And to imagine that this is a budget that will usher in another administration makes it highly unsettling.

Needless to state that both claims and counterclaims need to be thoroughly examined by the National Assembly. Of particular interest is the reference by the finance minister to terms of the agreements which preclude loans under the ambits of specific ministries from being captured under the relevant ministry’s vote. Is that the usual practice? The suggestion obviously smacks of subterfuge – and so needs to be thoroughly checked out to see whether this aligns with global best practices. Surely, Nigerians are entitled to know the truth – the whole truth – and nothing but the truth.