The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 2015 Budget

  • Shock as agency presents 2015 budget to Reps for 2016

    Shock as agency presents 2015 budget to Reps for 2016

    The House of Representatives’ Committee on Capital Market, led by Tajudeen Yusuf, was shocked to discover that the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) presented same copy of its 2015 budget in 2016.

    This discovery put on hold the budget defence session of the agency.

    Yusuf said: “We expected this yesterday to take the budget defence of the IST but we realised that the budget for IST in the 2016 budget proposal is just an exact copy of its 2015 appropriation. It is word for word, figure for figure. And Items dealt with and completed in 2015 were repeated.

    “We looked into the budget about two weeks ago and, apart from the issue of personnel that the agency treated late in 2015, the 2015 budget for IST was okay.”

    IST Chairman Ngozi Chianakwalam refused to speak with reporters on the issue.

    The Senate, House of Representatives and the Ministry of Finance are to meet to straighten the inconsistencies in the 2016 budget proposal, the chairman said.

    Also, at the same committee yesterday, the MD/CEO of Nigeria Commodities Exchange, Baba-Ari Zaheera, appealed to the committee to assist in an enabling law to make the agency more effective.

    The NCE boss said the passage of the bill on Warehouse Receipt System ( e-WRS) would make the Exchange more relevant in the country.

  • Buhari signs 2015 budget amendment

    Buhari signs 2015 budget amendment

    President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday signed an Act of the National Assembly which authorised the executive to extend the implementation of the Capital vote component in the 2015 budget beyond December 31, 2015.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, confirmed this in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

    Enang said his clarification became necessary because legislators, institutions and other concerned agencies had been contacting him to know the true status of the Act that was forwarded to Buhari last week.

    He said, “Further to several enquires and calls by legislators and institutions on the subject, we deem it appropriate to issue this release.

    “His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, has assented to the 2015 appropriation amendment Act passed by the National Assembly on December 22, 2015, (extending the 2015 financial year to March 31st  in respect of capital projects).”

  • 2015 budget probe: Reps blast perm sec, AGF, Budget Office

    2015 budget probe: Reps blast perm sec, AGF, Budget Office

    The House of Representatives has expressed reservations at the capacity of the Federal Ministry of Finance to effectively drive the economy.

    Its position was informed by the discrepancies discovered in documents presented to its ad hoc committee investigating the implementation of the capital component of the 2015 budget.

    The public hearing, postponed twice due to the absence of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, however, got underway yesterday despite her absence.

    She was said to be on the entourage of President Muhammadu Buhari to France.

    Agencies at the hearing included the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Budget Office, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) and National Planning Commission (NPC), among others.

    Trouble began after the submission of the ministry by the representative of the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Aliyu Gusau, who is the director general, Budget Office.

    He said the document was too ‘sketchy’ to be of any value to the committee.

    The permanent secretary, in her presentation, said N3.45 trillion was budgeted for 2015 of which capital appropriation was N5579 billion.

    “Of the amount, N194.492 billion was released as at September 15, representing 34.89 per cent of total releases.

    “Of the N375.62 billion budgeted for statutory tranfer, N187 billion was released as at quarter two and N250.41 billion as at August 2015.

    “Of N231.41billion Pensions budget, N149.92 billion was released as at the end of August 2015.

    Public debt to GDP ratio as at 2013 was 10.82 per cent, and N882.122 billion appropriated for domestic and external borrowing was fully raised to finance the 2015 budget.

    “External debt as at June 30, 2015, stood at $7.74 billion and $3.42 billion for states and the FCT; bringing it to $10.31 billion while Federal Government’s internal debt stood at $8.396 billion”.

    Reacting to the presentation, the committee said the document lacked depth, while  figures in the submission of some invited agencies were contradictory.

    Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee Ahman Pategi said the sketchy nature of the permanent secretary’s presentation failed to give the true position of the implementation of the 2015 capital budget.

    He noted that the presentation was silent on revenue accruing from oil while there was a need to know the shortfall from January to August.

    Besides, he cited the shortfall recorded in non-oil revenue as contained in the document but  was short on explanations on month-by-month details.

    He also said the presentation was vague on the nation’s debt profile and silent on the position of each sectors of the economy and how the government planned to liquidate it.

    The chairman was also concerned about the inadequate presentation of most of the agencies, spanning January to June 2015, rather than from January to August 2015.

    “My own of view of the presentation is that it is sketchy and does not give a holistic view for full understanding of what the 2015 budget implementation is all about.

    “We had expected you to provide vivid insight into the regime of import duty waiver using explanatory notes to describe how what was done and why,” he said.

    Members of the communittee, including Linus Okorie and Wale Oke said documents presented by the Ministry of Finance, the Budget Office and the OAGF lacked credibility.

    Okorie, who said he had no confidence in the documents, noted that they were incomplete and contradictory.

    To highlight the discrepancies in the documents presented by the Budget Office and the OAGF, Okorie observed a difference of N248 billion over projected revenue for 2015.

    He also pointed out another N146.8 billion difference in figures presented by the two agencies on debt servicing.

    According to the lawmaker, who asked for clarification on the nation’s debt profile, the documents showed that N148 billion was overpaid for debt servicing.

    In addition, Okorie pointed out the contradictions in the two documents concerning releases to the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P).

    Okorie said while one document showed that the entire N21 billion SURE-P budget was released, another said only N14 billion was released and utilised.

    On his part, Wale Oke, who later urged the Committee to adjourn the meeting for a week said the various documents failed show the capacity of the Federal government to implement the 2015 budget.

    The Committee wondered why the Federal government had to borrow to fund non capital expenditure in addition to using local instruments to service its debt.

    N882.1b has been fully borrowed and disbursed to the Consolidated Revenue Account to fund the 2015 budget deficit.

    According to the committee, it is against the Fiscal Responsibility Act to borrow to fund projects that were not contained in the capital component of the budget.

    The committee advised that an inter-ministerial group be constituted among the agencies to articulate the figures.

    According to the Chairman, the opportunity given to the agencies to reconcile the books was not for connivance but to aid the committee in its findings.

    The hearing was adjourned to next Tuesday.

     

  • Oshiomhole seeks downward review of Edo budget

    Oshiomhole seeks downward review of Edo budget

    Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has sent a bill to the State House of Assembly, seeking a review of the already signed 2015 appropriation budget.

    Oshiomhole had last year signed the approved N159.3billion appropriation bill into law with a promise to ensure set out objectives in the budget are realised.

    In a letter to the lawmakers and signed by Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Oshiomhole said the need to review the budget was because of dwindling revenue and fall in crude oil price.

    The governor is seeking a downward review of the budget to N127billion.

    The lawmakers who would be having their last sitting on Thursday suspended some sections of the House Rules to enable them pass the reviewed budget.

  • Senate approves N4.493tr 2015 budget

    Senate approves N4.493tr 2015 budget

    The Senate on Tuesday concurred with the House of Representatives by passing the sum of N4, 493,363,957,158 as the budget for the 2015 fiscal year.

    This came just as Senators asked the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to prepare and forward to the National Assembly a supplementary budget that would take care of glaring short comings in the fiscal policy.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Ahmed Maccido, presented the recommendations of his committee and the committee on Finance on the 2015 Appropriation Bill.

    Like the budget passed by the House of Representatives, no appropriation was made for fuel subsidy.

    Some said that the implication was that fuel subsidy had been tactically stopped while others hinted that with the fall in oil price in the international market, fuel subsidy should also be affected.

    Maccido noted in his submission that given that due consideration had been given to the preparation of the 2015 Appropriation Bill, the joint committee recommended that the Senate should consider and approve the Bill for an Act to authorize the issue from the consolidated revenue fund of the federation the total sum of N4, 493,363,957,158 only for the year ending 31 December 2015.

    Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, who spoke to our correspondent on the budget, said that there would be the need to realign the budget to fit into the priorities of the incoming administration.

    He noted that the realignment would naturally be inform of supplementary budget for necessary amendment

    He said, “The budget is staggering into two successive administrations coming from different political parties.

    “So it is normal that with the coming of the new administration, one would expect that the new administration look into the budget to see how it fits into his (Buhari’s) own priorities.

    “This is because there were campaign promises; there is manifesto that will guide the new government.

    “I would imagine that naturally there will be need to realign the budget to fit into his priorities.

    “To that extent, a supplementary budget proposal will be brought for necessary amendment of the budget.

    “On oil subsidy, he said,” a policy that is contentious and controversial will not be done without due consultation.

  • Reps consider 2015 budget report today

    Reps consider 2015 budget report today

    The House of Representatives will consider and adopt the 2015 Appropriation Bill of N4,425,930,000,000 report today.

    The budget report, which made provision for an additional sum of N21.030billion for Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) was presented on the floor of the House yesterday by the Chairman, Joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance, John Enoh.

    The breakdown showed that N366.280 is for statutory transfer, N953.620 is for debt service while N2.607b is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure.

    The N642,848,999,699 inclusive of N144.420b is for capital expenditure.

    From the N1,993,891,830,842 recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, Education ranked highest with an allocations of N392,242,784,654 while Defence/Army/Air Force/Navy followed with N326,697,219,43.

    Police Formation and Commands got N303,822,224,611 while N236,975,742,847 was allocated to Health sector.

    From the N13,965,664,092 approved for the eight federal executive bodies, the sums of N5,299,416,374 is for National Population Commission (NPC); N1,935,767,344 is for Code of Conduct Bureau; N473,656,088 is for Code of Conduct Tribunal; N2,214,028,373 is for Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC); N1,129,445,636 is for Federal Civil Service Commission; N740,477,185 is for Police Service Commission while N2,172,873,092 is for Federal Character Commission.

  • Chime signs 2015 budget into law

    Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has signed the state’s 2015 Appropriation Bill of N96.735 billion into law.

    This followed the passage of the bill by the state House of Assembly after a motion moved by the Leader of the House, Hon. Sunday Ude Okoye and seconded by the Deputy Leader, Hon John Kelvin Ukuta.

    Performing the function at the Government House in Enugu, Governor Chime promised a speedy implementation of the budget and the continued delivery of good governance and dividends of democracy to the people until his last day in office.

    A breakdown of the budget, termed “Budget of transition”, the last to be administered by Governor Chime, shows that a total sum of N54, 939,980 (fifty four billion, nine hundred and thirty nine million, nine hundred and eighty thousand naira) has been set aside for capital expenditure, representing 56.8, while N41, 795,319 (forty one billion, seven hundred and ninety five million, three hundred and nineteen thousand naira) is for recurrent expenditure.

    Speaker of the House, Hon Eugene Odo, had shortly after the passage, urged the speedy implementation of the budget, saying that this would facilitate a smooth transition to another administration by May 29.

    He enjoined the various committees of the House to exercise effective oversight functions of relevant ministries, departments and agencies in the state to ensure its proper implementation.

    It will be recalled that while presenting the budget to the House last December, Chime had noted that the government was committed to the completion of on-going projects in urban areas and the payment of liabilities to contractors.

    He had said, “When I took office in 2007, we visited all the 472 communities in the state and identified the key development needs of our people as chosen by them. The good news is that all the communities have had some or all of their chosen projects executed for them by government.

    “We are committed to completing and handing over the various on-going urban and inter-local government roads currently at various stages of completion.”

    He also thanked the state House of Assembly for the support it had given to his administration since its inception, saying, “Today’s event fills me with immense pride of what we have achieved as a united team stitched together by destiny. The credit belongs to all of us – the executive, legislature and judiciary. More importantly, the bigger credit goes to all our people. All I can offer is to say thank you to all concerned.”

  • 2015 budget: Reps reject $65 benchmark

    2015 budget: Reps reject $65 benchmark

    The House of Representatives has rejected the $65 oil benchmark proposed in the 2015 budget by the executive.

    It said the 2015 proposed budget was based on certain policy thrusts, instruments and assumptions that were flawed and needed to be “critically looked  at.”

    The House seems to be sticking to a benchmark of between $53 to $56 benchmark.

    The Green Chamber described the benchmark for 2015 budget as “unrealistic” and “ a problem”. “The budget cannot fly,” it said.

    It has also faulted another parameter in the budget, which is the 2.278 million barrels per day crude oil production estimate in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), saying it does not also reflect realities.

    A meeting held yesterday between the Executive and the House on the budget at the National Assembly was stalemated. The 25-member special committee headed by John Enoh, chairman, House Committee on Appropriation and Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Director General, Budget Office, could not resolve the issue.

    The bone of contention, a source told The Nation, was the parameters. The two parties could not agree on the benchmark. While the Federal Government wanted a benchmark of $50 per barrel, the House insisted on between $53 and $56 per barrel.

    According to the source, the over five hours closed door meeting also featured differences in exchange rates between the two parties.

    A member of the committee rejected N165 to a dollar proposed by Dr. Okonjo- Iweala’s team and insisted on $180 to a dollar.

    The Nation also learnt that capital expenditure dominated the discussion as the lawmakers insisted that the proposed 17 per cent of the budget allocated to capital project was meagre and that it should be upped to about 25 percent to give Nigerians some benefits.

    In an earlier interview, shortly before plenary, the Chairman, National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO), Hon. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, decried the parameters in the 2015 budget, especially the oil benchmark and the oil production estimates

    Of the oil benchmark, he said: “Definitely, this is a wrong assumption. Its a problem. It’s part of why the budget cannot fly and it’s not flying.

    “Going by what is happening in the international crude oil market, it’s wrong. It’s unrealistic for the Executive arm of government to have proposed a $65 per barrel benchmark.”

    The lawmaker said his committee did some comparative analysis on the issue and that it is evident that the executive is not forward looking.

    “Iraq pegged its benchmark at $60 per barrel; Saudi Arabia pegged its own at $60 and Venezuela $60. These are countries that don’t even have the kind of challenges that we have, and they are countries with better macro-economic fundamentals. But based on foresight, they chose $60 as their oil benchmark.”

    Bamidele said the budgets of these three countries had been passed in 2014 before the price of oil fell.

    “Here we are in Nigeria, we’re already in the middle of it and today, they (executive) are still talking about $65. Where is the foresight?”

    Bamidele also criticized the 2.278 million barrel per day estimate of the executive, saying it’s not a true reflection of current realities.

    House spokesman Zakari Mohammed expressed confidence that the 25-member committee headed by the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, John Enoh, which had been mandated to meet with the Minister of Finance on realistic parameters for the 2015 budget, will come out with a benchmark that reflects the true position of Nigeria’s oil earnings, as against the $65 proposed in the budget.

  • 2015 budget: Reps reject $65 benchmark

    2015 budget: Reps reject $65 benchmark

    The House of Representatives has rejected the $65 benchmark proposed in the 2015 budget by the executive.

    It said the 2015 proposed budget was based on certain policy thrusts, instruments and assumptions that were flawed and must be “critically” addressed.

    From all indications, the House will stick to a $50 benchmark or something slightly above that figure.

    The Green Chamber described the benchmark for 2015 budget as “unrealistic and problematic,” saying “the budget cannot fly.”

    It has also faulted another parameter in the budget which is the 2.278 million barrels per day crude oil production estimate in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), saying it does not also reflect current realities.

    This disclosure comes even as a 17-member special committee meets with the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, on Thursday.

    This disclosure on the position of the House was made by the Chairman, National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO), Hon. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele.
    “Definitely, this is a wrong assumption. It’s a problem and part of the reasons the budget cannot fly.

    “Going by what is happening in the international crude oil market, it’s wrong and unrealistic for the executive arm of government to have proposed a $65 per barrel benchmark,” he stated.

     

  • 2015 Budget: Reps warn Jonathan against extra-budgetary spending

    • Lawmakers to focus on PIB, Electoral Act, Constitutional amendment

    The House of Representatives has sounded a note of warning to President Goodluck Jonathan to shun the temptation to embark on extra-budgetary spending pending the passage of the 2015 budget.

    The Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Albert Sam-Tsokwa, said yesterday in Abuja that the country  could witness a devastating deficit should the Presidency embark in any reckless expenditure.

    The lawmaker, who gave the advice against the background of the resumption of the National Assembly today, said though the constitution has given the President the authority to spend before budgets are approved, the present financial situation of the country occasioned by the fall in oil price calls for caution, lest the country be plunged into financial crisis.

    His words: “I am aware that the constitution allows Mr. President to spend an amount of money equivalent to the one that was spent in the preceding year pending the approval of the budget. But the snag we have is that last year’s budget was based on a crude oil price of over $100 per barrel but as we speak, the price is barely $50.

    “So, if Mr. President is to spend the equivalent of what was spent in a particular period last year, this year, we will run into trouble.

    “ I will advise that Mr. President to thread cautiosly and I call on legislators to expedite action on the budget and put it behind us before going for presidential and governorship elections”

    Sam-Tsokwa alleged that the Executive has violated the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), by failing to submit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) six months before submitting the budget proposal, adding that the lawmaker said because of this infraction, both the MTEF and the budget are awaiting the approval of the National Assembly when in normal practice, the budget should be an offshoot of an approved MTEF.

    Section 82 (5) of the 1999 constitution as amended states:

    ”If the Appropriation Bill in respect of any financial year has not been passed into law by the beginning of the financial year, the President may authorise the withdrawal of monies in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of the Government of the Federation for a period not exceeding months or until the coming into operation of the Appropriate Act, whichever is the earlier:

    “Provided that the withdrawal in respect of any such period shall not exceed the amount authorised to be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation under the provisions of the Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly for the corresponding period in the immediately preceding financial year, being an amount proportionate to the total amount so authorised for the immediately preceding financial year”.

    Sam- Tsokwa said aside the 2015 budget, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the report of the constitutional amendments from the states, as well as the amendment of the Electoral Act are on the priority list of the House.

    He said:  “Also on the front burner is the issue of PIB, which we promised to pass before the 7th House lapses. We will accord a lot of attention to see what we can achieve before June six.

    “Also the constitutional amendment, the report of which has been received from the states just before we proceeded on christmas and New year break has been put together and the National Assembly will consider the report of the states on constitutional amendments and approve same as the situation demands.

    “Before we went on Christmas and New Year break, we had concluded work on the Electoral Act amendment bill; conference committee had been constituted and we are looking forward to receiving the report of the conference committee of both houses and give effect to it”