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Tag: 2014 budget

  • 2014 budget implementation faulty, says Saraki

    2014 budget implementation faulty, says Saraki

    Former Kwara State Governor Bukola  Saraki has described the implementation of this year’s budget as faulty.

    Saraki, who is the Senate Committee Chair on Environment and Ecology, lamented that contracts were just being awarded by most of the federal ministries and parastatals, wondering if such contracts would be completed this year.

    The senator, who is also a member, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions Committee, spoke yesterday with reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    He said: “The last time we passed the 2014 budget, I got up and made a comment that I was not happy with the way the budget was passed because I believe we did not deliberate enough on actual expenditure. Budget is an estimate and when you do not review your actual, then it is likely that your revenue estimate may be wrong. In 2013 when we had done budget estimate that we will be producing 2.5 million barrels of oil and at the end of the day we were only doing 2 million barrels; that is what distorted the budget.

    “Again, in 2014,  in majority of the ministries, contracts are just being awarded. So if they are just awarding contracts in October, is it possible to have implementation? The answer is no; these are some of the challenges that make us say the budget implementation is faulty and will not meet the expectations of Nigerians.

    “I think, we at the National Assembly need to review the way we go about the budget implementation because for example, the key issue is revenue and without revenue, there can’t be expenditure. But if you open the news every month, about six pages are dedicated to all the allocations given to every local government.”

    The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) asked: “But do we have publications of revenue? Do we know how much the country is making on volume of oil production?

    “We don’t and that is not where the focus is. If you want to have your budget implemented, your revenue must not be distorted. If you are expecting N10 and you only get N7, which budget are you going to implement?

    “The budget for 2015, if it is going to come now and when it comes to the National Assembly my own appeal is that we should spend time and debate what happened in 2014 before we really go into the issue; to be sure that projections and estimates are right and sustainable. I am afraid until we do that, budget implementation will not be right.”

  • 2014 budget implementation faulty – Saraki

    2014 budget implementation faulty – Saraki

    Former governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, has described the implementation of the 2014 budget in the country as faulty.

    Saraki, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, said that contracts were just awarded by many federal ministries and parastatals.

    The Senator spoke reporters in Ilorin, Kwara State.

    He said: “The last time we passed the 2014 budget, I got up and made a comment that I was not happy with the way the budget was passed because I believe that we did not deliberate enough on actual expenditure. Budget is an estimate and when you do not review your actual then it is likely that your revenue estimate may be wrong.

    “In 2013 when we did budget estimate, we announced that we will produce 2.5 million barrels of oil and at the end of the day we only produced two million barrels and that distorted the budget.

    “Again, in 2014 majority of the ministries’ contracts are just being awarded. So if they are just awarding contracts in October, is it possible to have implementation? The answer is no, these are some of the challenges that make us say the budget implementation is faulty and will not meet the expectations of Nigerians.

    “I think, we ourselves at the National Assembly we need to review the way we go about the budget implementation, because for example the key issue is revenue as without revenue there can’t be expenditure. But if you open the news every month about six pages are dedicated to all the allocations given to every local governments.”

  • ‘Jonathan didn’t submit addition to 2014 Budget’

    The Federal Ministry of Finance on Wednesday declared that President Goodluck Jonathan has not submitted any new budget or addendum to Budget 2014 to the National Assembly.

    A statement from the ministry signed by Paul Nwabuikwu Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister and Minister of Finance, said “all the parastatal budgets were submitted as required by law at the same time as the main budget and virtually all were treated by the relevant committees.”

    The delay in discussing any aspect of the budget, Nwabuikwu revealed has nothing to do with late submission of the estimates by the executive.

    “The negative reactions by some senators to some parastatal budgets were due to the delay by the relevant sub-committee to bring the parastatal budgets for consideration and has nothing to do with any effort by the executive to smuggle in additional budgets,” he said.

     

  • Jonathan passes 2014 Budget to minister

    Jonathan passes 2014 Budget to minister

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday handed over the 2014 Budget to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Director, Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, for implementation.

    This was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, on telephone while on his way to South Africa with the President.

    According to him, the handing over of the document followed the President’s signing of the 2014 Appropriation bill into law on Wednesday.

    He explained that the Finance Minister was not around when the President signed the budget two days ago and which necessitated formal handing over of the document to her.

    He said: “The President actually signed the 2014 Budget two days ago. But you know that the Minister of Finance was not in town.”

    “So he needed to hand over to her and the Director Budget for onward transmission. That was what he did today.”

    “The ministry will be addressing the press in the next one hour,” he stated.

  • FG laments delayed 2014 budget

    FG laments delayed 2014 budget

    The Federal Government on Wednesday lamented the continued delay in the passage of 2014 budget.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Goodlcuk Jonathan, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said it is becoming worrisome that almost midway into the year, the Federal Government has no budget in place.

    According to him, the distortions in what was transmitted to the National Assembly may work against the budget implementation.

    Maku explained that efforts are ongoing to reconcile the grey areas.

    He said: “The minister of finance briefed us today at the FEC relating to the progress on the budget. It is very sad that we have almost entered the middle of the year and we don’t have a budget.”

    “This indeed is sad that the budget has taken so long in coming and practically we have less than seven months to execute the budget.

    “We will do everything possible to reconcile the few differences that emerged in what was transmitted to the government by the National Assembly.”

    “There are few areas of distortions and there are those areas that are very serious and we think there is a need to look into them because of the negative impact those distortions may have on the implementation of the budget.”

    He went on: “There is a lot of conversation going on now between the federal ministry of finance and the National Assembly on these issues. And very shortly we believe that we are going to reconcile those areas and then the final budget will be announced to the nation by the President.”

  • 2014 budget: Financial experts express fear of poor implementation

    Some financial experts on Friday expressed concern that the late passage of 2014 budget would impact negatively on the ongoing development of capital projects across the nation.

    They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that another major impediment of the budget would be poor implementation.

    Prof. Sheriffadeen Tella of the Department of Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, said the budget was already too late.

    Tella said that the late passage would affect budget implementation, especially in the area of capital projects.

    According to him, budget delays contrary to other opinions have a multiplier effect on sectoral expansion and employment generation.

    Mr. Harrison Owoh, the Managing Director, H J Trust & Investment Ltd., said the budget would promote corruption.

    Owoh said that many ministries would engage in fraudulent spending to avoid return of unspent funds to government coffers by December 2014.

    Mr. Bayo Adeleke, National Secretary, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, also commended the National Assembly for passing the budget in spite the high level of politicking.

    Adeleke said that politicking delayed the budget passage which was contrary to the National Assembly’s earlier pledge that it would be passed before the end of 2013.

    “The implementation of the budget and its eventual impact on the living standard of Nigerians are the real issues,”Adeleke said.

    NAN reports that the Senate and House of Representatives recently passed the 2014 budget totaling N4.695 trillion.

    It was N52.2bn higher than the N4.642trn submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Breakdown of the approved budget showed that N408.69 billion was earmarked for statutory transfers, N712 billion for debt service while recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure stood at N2.45 trillion and N1.12 trillion respectively.

    NAN reports that the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Dec. 19, presented N4.6 trillion proposal for 2014 fiscal year.

    A breakdown of the proposed budget showed that N3.7 trillion, representing 72 per cent, covers recurrent expenditure, while N1.1 trillion was earmarked for capital projects.

    Okonjo-Iweala said that the budget would focus on job creation and inclusive growth.

  • Reps to pass 2014 budget on resumption

    Reps to pass 2014 budget on resumption

    The House of Representatives will resume plenary today after a three- week break to tackle the contentious 2014 budget which committees had concentrated on in the past weeks.

    The House had gone on break to enable its standing committees meet with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in order to allow them defend their estimates for the 2014 budget, as well as give the committees time to tidy every aspect of the budget,

    Arguments for the expeditiously passage of the N4.6 trillion 2014 budget is therefore expected to feature prominently as part of today’s deliberation as committees have concluded their reports on the budget.

    Apart from the 2014 budget, other issues the House would likely address today include the continuous deterioration of the security situations particular the killings related to insurgency and how to stem the tide.

    Expected to come through points of orders of urgent national importance by members are recent killings of a hundred people in Kaduna State, as well as the deaths of young job seekers at the Nigerian Immigration Service on Saturday.

    Tambuwal last Tuesday adjourned sitting till today as a special session in honour of students of the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, who were killed by suspected terrorists.

    Speaking last week during his welcome address, Tambuwal had asked that all Nigerians unite against terrorism.

    The Nation learnt that further down the week, other legislative activities of the House would include an investigation into if the funds to the security agencies fighting insurgency in the Northern part of the country is being properly disbursed or not.

  • 2014 Budget: IGP faults allocation to police

    2014 Budget: IGP faults allocation to police

    The Inspector-General (IGP) of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, said the Nigeria Police may not be able to pay the salaries of its personnel in 2014 due to a shortfall of N14.4 billion in the personnel cost.

    Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja at the 2014 budget defence in the Senate, the IGP said the budget office earmarked N279 billion for personnel cost against N293 billion required to pay the police personnel.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Abubakar lamented the steady decline in budgetary allocations for overhead to the police despite the increasing security challenges it had to contend with.

    The IGP added that the slight increase in the capital expenditure in the 2013 budget was because of the injection of constituency projects.

    He, however, noted that out of the N14 billion appropriated for capital expenditure in 2013, only N10.9 billion was released.

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police, Sen. Paulinus Igwe ( PDP- Ebonyi), expressed concerns over the reduction in the budgetary allocation for personnel cost particularly at this time of growing insecurity in the country.

    He said the committee would assist the police in any way it could.

     

  • 2014 budget scales second reading in Senate

    2014 budget scales second reading in Senate

    The N4.64 trillion 2014 Appropriation Bill presented by President Goodluck Jonathan scaled second reading in the Senate on Tuesday.

    The Bill has generated several controversies since the Senate commenced its debate on January 28.

    The budget with a recurrent expenditure of 74 per cent and capital expenditure of 24 per cent has continued to generate controversies.

    Lawmakers who made contributions during the final debate included Senators Gbenga Kaka, Helen Esuene, Matthew Nwagu, Christopher Nwankwo, Joshua Lidani, Emmanuel Bwacha and Emmanuel Paulker.

    Others are – Senators Zainab Kure, Nkechi Nwogu, Olubunmi Adetumbi, Andy Uba, Aloysius Etok, Babafemi Ojudu and Ehigie Uzamere, among others.

    A total of 61 Senators have so far contributed to the debate on the budget.

    Senator Adetunmbi stated that the greatest risk with the budget is not on the expenditure but the borrowing to finance it on the revenue side.

    He lamented that it has become a recurring decimal for the Federal Government to borrow to finance annual budgets.

    He blamed oil theft and pipeline vandalism for the shortfall of revenue being experienced by the Federal Government.

    He also condemned a situation where about N3.7 billion is appropriated for the Presidential Fleet which he said was more that what is budgeted for the Nigerian Air Force.

    “The Senate will have itself to blame and nobody else, if we fail to look at areas of wastage in the budget and reallocate the money to areas where they will be useful,” Adetunmbi stated.

    He lamented that the 2014 budget was at variance with Section 18 (2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which stipulates that the annual budget must be in tandem with the approved Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

    Senator Paulker said the Federal Government should be commended for targeting five million farmers in the budget.

     

  • Jonathan seeks speedy passage of 2014 Budget

    Jonathan seeks speedy passage of 2014 Budget

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday appealed to members of the National Assembly to expedite actions on the 2014 Appropriation Bill.
    The President made the appeal through the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, who represented him at a Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) stakeholders’ forum held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.
    Stressing that the SURE-P programme since its inception in 2012 has become a critical unit of his administration’s transformation agenda, he reiterated Federal Government’s determination to continue to impact positively on the infrastructural needs of the people.
    He said: “Let me appeal to Senator Ningi who chairs the Senate committee on SURE-P to please help urge his colleagues in the National Assembly to expedite consideration of the 2014 budget which is currently before them in order for us to continue to deliver dividends of democracy to our people.”
    Apart from the programme’s massive intervention in railway, road construction and health among other areas, he said that over 190,000 youths have so far been employed under various categories.
    Speaking earlier, Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada thanked the federal government for introducing the intervention programme which he described as laudable.
    Noting that the footprints of the programme are all over the place in his state and other parts of the country, he said, “In Kogi State, our first focus was on youth employment and empowerment. The first target was school drop outs. So far, we have trained about 6,000 youths.”
    “We started with 500 youths per quarter who are trained at the NYSC orientation camp. They are taught various types of orientation. We have also used the fund for rural roads.”
    He appealed for an increase in the amount accruable to states under the programme.