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Tag: Budget 2016

  • Budget 2016 review likely, says Udoma

    Budget 2016 review likely, says Udoma

    •Fed Govt has released N331.5b for capital projects

    A windling resources may force the Federal Government to review the budget, Minister of Budget and Planning Udoma Udo Udoma, said yesterday.

    He added that the government is optimistic that the persistent fall in revenue projections will not continue for too long.

    Udo Udoma, who spoke yesterday at a Town Hall meeting in Abuja, noted that the disparity between projected revenue and actual receipts in the last two quarters was obvious.

    The meeting which was inspired by the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) focused on Effective implementation of the 2016 Budget.

    Senator Udoma said the government was keeping a close watch on the economic indicators.

    He said the budget signed by the president was well scrutinised and passed the due process of appropriation in the National Assembly before it was signed into law  in May.

    He said: ‘‘We did not assent padded budget. The budget followed through the various stages of preparation and scrutiny and appropriation before it was signed into law.’’

    He said government had released N331.5billion as part of capital allocation of the budget to key ministries covering sectors that will turn around the economy.

    The minister said the 2017 Budget would be submitted to the National Assembly in October.

    Other ministers at the meeting were Finance-Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Power, Works and Housing-Babatunde Fashola; Solid Minerals Development-Dr Kayode Fayemi; Agriculture -Chief Audu Ogbeh; Health-Prof. Isaac Adewole; Foreign Affairs-Godfrey Onyema; and Environment-Amina Mohammed. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu.

    The Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar, who was chairman of the event  was accompanied by the Etsu Nupe, His Highness Alhaji  Yahaya Abubakar

    Udoma admitted that government is worried about the current trend which does not align with expectations as contained in the budget fundamentals.

    The minister however said  if the downward trajectory persists, government might make reasonable adjustments to accord with prevailing realities.

    He explained that at the inception of the current administration, the economy was facing several challenges including declining oil prices and production which led to declining external reserves and gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate.

    He also identified rising inflation, increasing unemployment rate, insecurity, high cost of governance, corruption, infrastructure deficit and the worsening of key socio-economic indicators, as inherited problems.

    Udoma said the 2016 budget was therefore to deal with these problems.

    Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said government was ready to engage with Nigerians and explain its policies and actions to seek input from the people for better governance.

    He was delighted that instead of joining the band of fault-finders and traditional critics of government, the alumni of NIPSS decided to constructively engage with government towards finding solutions and contributing to the growth of the economy  .

    Fashola said though the ministry was working with lean resources, it was determined to do more in the interest of Nigerians.

    According to him, the Federal Government had paid N300 billion for various projects since the budget was passed out of which the ministry received N102 billion.

    He said of the sum received, the ministry had embarked on several road and electricity projects, including the rebuilding of the Mambilla and Zugeru Power Plants, among others.

    “We are mindful that it is a tough time, but life will get back to normal. We are not a repository of knowledge; so we are willing to hear from you and make amends,’’ he said.

    Mrs Adeosun said the government had decided to reverse the trend with increased capital expenditure and diversification of the economy from the current mono-product status.

    Adeosun said diversification is an agenda which government must achieve, because it is a veritable means to unlock the economy and create more jobs for the people.

    Mrs Adeosun said the government inherited 1.2 million public servants and spent N165 billion monthly as salaries.

    She added that the government had been able to save N8 billion from the monthly pay roll of public servants due to various strategies introduced to block loopholes.

    She maintained that the country‘s present economic challenges was not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that the economies of most western countries were built out of their diversity.

    “Change can be extremely painful, but we must change,” she said.

    Prof. Adewole, said Nigeria would end malaria mortality by 2020.

    “We have set some time frame for ourselves. We are committed to reducing maternal mortality before the life span of this administration. We want to end malaria mortality by the end of 2020,’’ he said.

    Adewole said government was on the verge of putting a new health policy for the country.

    He  recalled that attempts had been made twice, in 1988 and 2004, respectively, to develop health policy for the nation.

    “We want to make a statement that when we improve the health of the people, we can engender socio-economic development,’’ the minister said.

    Fayemi said Nigeria is a mineral rich nation but not a mining nation.

    He said the ugly trend was because the country abandoned mining in the better part of the last 40 years,  assuring that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to changing the trend with its economic diversification programme.

  • Budget 2016 wasn’t padded, says Presidency

    Budget 2016 wasn’t padded, says Presidency

    The Presidency yesterday defended the integrity of the 2016 Budget signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying it was not padded.

    Presidential legislative aides told reporters in Abuja that there is nothing known as “padding” in legislative parlance.

    Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant (SSA) (Senate), Senator Ita Enang and his House of Representatives counterpart, Ismaila Kawu, spoke with reporters after meeting with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s headquarters.

    The budget, which is being implemented, they said, was not padded, pointing out that when a budget is presented to the National Assembly, the lawmakers are expected to deliberate and pass it as they deem fit.

    Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Abdulmumini Jibrin accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuff Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor of padding the budget with N284 billion.

    Enang and Kawu declined to give details of their meeting with the APC leadership, saying they have been asked not to comment on the issue.

    Enang said: “I am here on the invitation of the leadership of the APC with my colleague to bring answers to issues raised by the party on the 2016 Appropriation and we have been with the party for a little over three hours. We have given explanation to them on every issue and told them that there was nothing, to our knowledge, like padding of the budget.

    “The budget as assented to by Mr. President is the budget as passed by the National Assembly and that is the budget being executed.

    “But as at now, the party is handling it as a domestic issue, and all of us are enjoined not to make public comment on the details because the matter is still under consideration.

    “So, that is what we will want to say for now, we will not want to go into the details of it so that we will not breach the ethics of the party, the directives of the party or pre-empt anything or any outcome from the party investigation”

    Asked of the Presidency’s feeling about the issue, he said: “I will want to say that we came here as persons who work as liaison officers on the budget because the party had questions for us and we came to make clarifications on the issues raised.

    “We have made those clarifications and would not want to draw any conclusion. Please let us not go too far by mentioning any office. Let it be that the two of us have appeared before the party

    “In all our years of legislative engagement , we are yet to find in the legislative lexicon the word ‘padding’. When the budget is presented before the legislature, the legislature is to consider the budget and pass it as they deem fit. So what the legislature pass becomes the appropriation upon assent. Therefore, any word which is yet to crystalise in legislative lexicon, you cannot hear us mention it”.

    Health Services Committee Chairman Chike Okafor yesterday alleged that Jibrin is determined to implicate every member who attempts to defend the House on the scandal.

    Okafor is one of the seven committee chairmen Jibrin accused of padding the budget with 2000 fictitious projects worth N284billion.

    Okafor said he was attacked because of his refusal to manipulate a N1billion cottage hospital project in favour of Bebeji/Kiru Federal constituency which Jibrin represents.

    Okafor said Jibrin’s inconsistency could be noticed from his failure to differentiate between the standing committees and their responsibilities.

    According to him, Jibrin probably, out of mischief failed to recognise that the house has three committees oversighting the Health sector.

    He also explained that Jibrin took on him for daring to go on national television to defend the House integrity on padding.

    Okafor said: “I want to believe that the reason I am being mentioned by Jibrin was because I refused his demand that a N1 billion cottage hospital be diverted from the police to his constituency.

    “He came to me saying that I should concede a N1billion project to his constituency. I out rightly refused, explaining to him that health allocation was inadequate in the first place.

    “To the suprise of our joint Committees, we found a N500m health project in Bebeji/Kiru Federal constituency that was not approved by us.

    “The allocation for that project should be of interest to Nigerians because Health allocation in the budget was not affected, so the question is where did he get the allocation for that project from”.

     

  • We are not aware of budget padding – Presidency

    We are not aware of budget padding – Presidency

    The budget padding controversy took a different turn on Tuesday as the Presidency denied knowledge of any padding in the budget presented to the President for his ascent.
    Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ismail Kawu told newsmen in Abuja that the budget signed by the President which is being implemented was not a padded budget.
    Senator Enang, who spoke after over three hours meeting with the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said in legislative palace, there was nothing like budget padding, pointing out that when the a budget is presented to the National Assembly, it is expected that they deliberate and pass it as they deem fit.
    The former Chairman of the House committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumini Jubrin, had accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara, his deputy and two other principal officers of being the brain behind the budget padding.
    However, while the controversy rages on, a group lawmakers which identified itself as Transparency Group had accused the executive arm of government of not free from the blame either on the issue.
    Enang however, refused to give details of their meeting with the APC leadership, pointing out that they have all been asked not to make further public comment on the issue as the party was handling it as a family affair.
    He said: “I am here on the invitation of the leadership of the APC with my colleague to bring answers to issues raised by the party on the 2016 Appropriation and we have been with the party for a little over three hours. We have given explanations to them on every issue and told them that there was nothing, to our knowledge, like padding of the budget.
    “The budget as assented to by Mr. President is the budget as passed by the National Assembly and that is the budget being executed.
    “But as of now, the party is handling it as a domestic issue, and all of us are enjoined not to make public comment on the details because the matter is still under consideration.
    “So, that is what we will want to say for now, we will not want to go into the details of it so that we will not breach the ethics of the party, the directives of the party or pre-empt anything or any outcome of the party investigation.”
    Asked whether the Presidency was giving the Leadership of the House of Representatives a clean bill over the issue, he said “I will want to say that we came here as persons who works as liaison officers on the budget because the party had questions for us and we came to make clarifications on the issues raised.
    “We have made those clarifications and would not want to draw any conclusion. Please let us not go too far by mentioning any office. Let it be that the two of us appeared before the party.
    “In all our years of legislative engagement, we are yet to find in the legislative lexicon the word ‘padding’. When the budget is presented before the legislature, the legislature is to consider the budget and pass as they deem fit. So what the legislature pass becomes the appropriation upon accent. Therefore, any word which is yet to crystallize in legislative lexicon, you cannot hear us mention it.”

  • Low revenue threatens Budget 2016, says govt

    Low revenue threatens Budget 2016, says govt

    Senators were yesterday told that the Federal Government cannot fully implement the N6.06 trillion 2015 budget as passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr. Babachir David Lawal, told a joint Senate committee on Appropriations, Finance and Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions that the government’s revenues had dropped by 50 to 60 per cent, contrary to projections.

    The SGF was invited by the Senate to explain his comment that the 2016 constituency projects as captured in the budget would not be implemented.

    He pointedly blamed the drop in revenue on attacks on oil facilities by militants in the Niger Delta.

    Lawal noted that the oil benchmark of $38 per barrel fixed by the Federal Government had been drastically dislocated.

    On whether he said that constituency projects would not be implemented, Lawal said: “The statement is correct. That is my statement; we cannot guarantee the implementation of constituency projects in the 2016 budget. As a government, constituency projects are championed by members of the National Assembly. Like the legislature, members of the executive are politicians who canvassed for votes.

    “Lawmakers are aware that oil barrels had dwindled to about 800,000 per day. This has led to the inability of government to finance the budget. It is the duty of government to prepare the minds of Nigerians ahead that there will be challenges in implementing the budget.”

    “Government based its principle on zero budgeting this year. Funds will be released to finance key projects in line with the implementation plans of the government. I will explain why it will be hard for the government to implement the budget.

    “I spoke with the Minister of Budget this morning (yesterday) and I asked him the revenue base of the government. We are now receiving about 50 to 60 (per cent) earnings from what we projected.”

    Lawal added: “Some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) might find it impossible to implement projects appropriated in their budgets. We have to re-prioritize. I like us to understand that this is the background upon which I made that statement. ”

    The SGF noted that he knew the comments might not be pleasant to the legislature or the citizenry.

    He insisted that MDAs are facing challenges in implementing the budget based on the funds available to them.

    The SGF complained that the invitation to him to appear before the committee was too short.

    He also expressed dissatisfaction with the wording of the invitation.

    The SGF claimed that it appeared that he was being threatened.

    He said: “I only saw this letter this morning. I thought it was going to be Wednesday next week. I wanted my permanent secretary to write to request for another date, knowing that Wednesdays are for Federal Executive Council meetings. You gave me very short time to prepare.

    “Taking together the lateness of the letter and the threat at the bottom of it shows that it was not done in good faith. We should respect each other and give each other the time to appear.”

    Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions Committee Chairman Senator Samuel Anyanwu replied him.

    He said: “This is a joint committee meeting. Our committee days are usually Wednesdays. The Senate is expected to go on recess next week Wednesday and because of the urgency of the issue, we had to send the letter. We want the aspect of that your statement withdrawn.”

    Committee on Finance Chairman Senator John Enoh also demanded a retraction of what the SGF said.

    Enoh said: “We take exception to the word ‘bad faith’. The comments imply that the Senate committee in extending an invitation to you acted in bad faith. If we sent the letter to you in bad faith, it means you are also here in bad faith.”

    But the SGF insisted: “The freedom of expression is a right. While I excuse your position, but I want you to note the threat in your letter. I want to put it on record that you forced me to withdraw my statement.”

    The Senate on Tuesday summoned the SGF to appear before its joint committees, following a motion moved by Senator Matthew Urhoghide.

  • Budget 2016: Saboteurs within?

    Budget 2016: Saboteurs within?

    The Muhamadu Buhari Presidency is alleging hideous “mutilation” of Budget 2016, just passed by the National Assembly.

    That is delaying the presidential assent to the Appropriation Bill; and the frenetic economic activity, with the probable money ease, expected to follow.

    The alleged “mutilations” affect key infrastructure proposals, including the coastal Calabar-Lagos standard gauge rail project.  Nigeria’s N60 billion counterpart funding, a crucial component of a proposed $2 billion (N400 billion) loan from China to implement the project, was allegedly expunged from the document.

    But that claim has drawn fierce legislative-executive  exchanges.  The National Assembly has riposted, through Abdulmumin Jibrin, House Approximation Committee chair, that the so-called Calabar-Lagos rail wasn’t originally part of the budget.  Ay, admitted the executive, but it was in the amended estimates the president re-submitted.

    According to a report in The Nation of Sunday of April 10, the parliament allegedly made a complete mess of estimates to complete crucial road arteries nationwide.  Instead of endorsing that spending plan, it shovelled funds for new roads, such that, at the end of the day, neither the old nor the new would have been completed.

    So did it make an alleged mess of the bulk of the health components of the social infrastructure the budget was designed to fund. Alleged over-provision for rural health facilities and boreholes, already provisioned for; and alleged scrapping of funds to buy drugs for major public health campaigns, like HIV/AIDS and Polio.

    But again here, the National Assembly balks.  The Health mix-up arose from the original padding, with the Health minister, it recalled, spectacularly disowning his ministry’s estimates.

    Now, after all the see-saw, what really is happening?

    Is this a case of a careless executive, pushing its fault on, and infernally scapegoating an already notorious National Assembly, which has not, for once, fired popular imagination?

    Or, internal sabotage, by an anti-development (if not outright anti-people) National Assembly, wilfully abusing its powers of budgetary oversight?

    Or just infantile politics by an errant ensemble, the supposed bastion of the people’s democratic dreams, hopes and aspirations, bent on turning all to a hideous nightmare?

    More worrisome: the news that the Lagos-Kano modern rail project was left intact but the Calabar-Lagos project was scrapped, introduced a noxious regional politics into the whole mix.

    If true, why would northern national legislators band together to pass the Lagos-Kano rail project but the southern ones, in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, conspire to let go of a key infrastructure thrust, that could change the face of the South East and South-South economies for good?

    For the South-South and South East representatives, could it be a case of mindless spite, the political equivalent of cutting your nose to spite your face?

    For the South West ones, a case of culpable indifference that damned the politically grumpy South East and South South to stew in their perceived spite?

    If that were true, wouldn’t the South-South, despite its huge oil resources, no thanks to its own lawmakers, make itself Nigeria’s political Tantalus?  Tantalus (from which came the English word “tantalize”) was the Greek wretch, fated to eternally gawk at choice fruits and sparkling water, but never tasting neither!

    Indeed, if South-South parliamentarians share the mentality of Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, who because of political differences with his predecessor would abandon the state’s monorail project, then they would have put the South-South in further developmental bind.

    And is the South East, due to nothing but bad politics, resigned to its perennial anthem of “marginalization”, when its representatives could make a huge difference by playing the politics of development, as opposed to politics of spite?

    But at the end of it all, isn’t everyone in a lose-lose situation, further  deepening the intolerable mass poverty and lack of opportunities in the land?

    O, could this “dummy” be why the National Assembly wanted to blind-sight the president into signing the bill without providing him with the detailed breakdown?

    That the president wouldn’t give the National Assembly the benefit of the doubt — doesn’t that raise a big question about the legislature’s trust quotient?

    Questions, questions, questions!  But at the end of the day, the answer lies in the National Assembly leadership.

    Since 1999, when President Olusegun Obasanjo roasted the National Assembly in the furnace of the controversial furniture allowance, the national legislature has never really recovered its image.  So, should there be any controversy, not a few would rather pronounce it guilty, before it proves its innocence!

    With the current 8th National Assembly, that perceived integrity gap even got worse.

    To start with, the rule by which the Bukola Saraki-led leadership in the Senate emerged was a forgery.  The Police already investigated and established that forgery.  But somehow, the Federal Attorney-General, for curious reasons, would not press a charge, as required under the law.

    Then, there are the many troubles of Senate President Saraki, all hinged on alleged lack of basic integrity in government and scant regard for public morality.

    The ongoing Code of Conduct Tribunal trials and the newly brewing Panama papers scandals have cast a serious pall on the corporate integrity of the legislature — if the fish’s head is rotten, isn’t the body dead? — and its leadership’s likely temptation to fudge and block, just to have one back on the executive, allegedly orchestrating the CCT trials.

    The putative motive to stall even gets starker, when the subject is political nitty-gritty.  The trade-off to make Saraki senate president changed the power calculus. Rebel APC legislators banding with the PDP, which strategic interest is seeing the APC government fail, further points in the direction of plausible sabotage of the budget, to settle political scores.

    Is Budget 2016, programmed to reflate the economy and give Nigerians a new lease of economic life, a victim of political war gaming?  No conclusive proof.  But there appears a disturbing pointer.

    That is why Nigerians must rise and rally against any such negative manifestation.  With the current pains in the land, this budget is too important to be left to the whims and caprices of degenerate politicians.

    So, the executive and legislature must make a success — and fast — of their ongoing palaver to sort out the mess.

    As for probable saboteurs, that is a grand betrayal of sacred trust.  A legislator is to make laws for the good of his polity, not to play politics to inflict more pains on his electors.

    That is why the electors, betrayed and hurt, must take specific notices of such errant and irresponsible behaviour; and punish hard, whoever is culpable, at the next electoral cycle.

  • Budget 2016: Fed Govt votes N154.3b for retirees

    Budget 2016: Fed Govt votes N154.3b for retirees

    A total of N154.3 billion has been earmarked for pension payments of Federal Government retirees, including monthly pensions, arrears of gratuities and Group Life Insurance Policy.

    This was shown in the 2016 Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly on March 23, 2016. Out of this amount, the pension industry would receive N139.73 billion on pension payments, including monthly pensions, arrears and gratuities.

    The insurance industry on its part would receive N14.69 billion earmarked for Group life for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, including Department of State Security Service (DSS), Insurance of Sensitive Assets and Corpers.

    A breakdown of the budget showed that the military alone would receive N59.8 billion for payment of pensions and gratuities. It also showed that N7.41 billion was earmarked for Police Pension, while Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension got N8.42 billion. Al;location to Department of State Security Service including arrears, got (N7.64 billion), Nigeria Intelligence Agency Pensions and dependants benefits receiced (N3.7 billion).

    Meanwhile, N26.75 billion was budgeted for Parastatals Pension and Railway Pensions, while pre-1996 Nigeria Railway Corporation Pension got N2.25 billion.

    The budget showed that N3.52 billion was earmarked for expected retirees in 2016, while N4.3 billion was earmarked for death benefits and N14.34 billion for Universities’ Pensions, including Arrears.

    Office of the Head of the Civil Service (Civilian Pension), received N28.39 billion for Pensions and N2.3 billion for Gratuities, while benefits of Retired Heads of the Civil Service of the Federation and Federal Permanent Secretaries stand at N2.59 billion.

    Under the Service-Wide votes, N3 billion was earmarked for payment of Arrears of PAYG Pension DPR, N27.4 billion for payment of Arrears of 33 per cent increase in Pension Rates and N500 million for payment of outstanding Death Benefit to Civil.

    In the same vein, payment into the Redemption Fund at five per cent of total Personnel Cost including Arrears of 2014 and 2015 stands at N50.19 while arrears of Police Death Benefits between 2004-2010 is N3.75 billion.

    Public Service Reforms including payment of Severance Benefits of Civil Servants stood at N1.5 billion.

  • Budget 2016 for passage March 17

    Budget 2016 for passage March 17

    • Reps to meet Finance, Budget & Planning Ministers today

    The National Assembly has said  the 2016 Appropriation Bill will be passed into law on  March 17.

    The Chairmen, Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Hon. Jibrin Abdulmu, in in a joint press briefing yesterday, that  reports from both chambers would be laid on March 16. On the 17th, the reports will be considered and passed.

    Senator Goje said the two chambers have interacted with the various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), adding that a lot of  work has been put into the 2016 budget proposals.

    He said: “The various sub committees of the two chambers have interacted with their various respective MDAs. The Committees have produced their reports and all the Committees of the two chambers have fully submitted their reports.

    “We have been working  round the clock at the same time and at the weekends and we will continue to do that until we finish the compilation of our reports,” adding that the essence of the press conference is to give Nigerians a progress report.

    Senator  Jibrin said the reports from the various sub committees will align with the National Assembly guidelines.

    He said: “After all consultation with the leadership of the House and Senate, we can confirm to you that all things being equal, we should be able to lay our report of the 2016 Appropriation bill before the House and the Senate on the 16th of March and the consideration, hopefully should be done on the 17th.

    “So it is safe for us to conclude that the 2016 Appropriation Bill will be passed on the 17th of March 2016.

    “We are going to open in the next few days consultation with the relevant stakeholders in this process, most especially the executive arm of government.

    “ Particularly in the case of the House, we are going to engage the Minister of Budget and Planning, Minister of Finance, DG Budget Office. Most importantly, we are working hand in hand with the Senate and things are looking up; we are putting in our best on a daily basis.”

    The Budget passage was previously postponed by the National Assembly because of various discrepancies in the appropriation document by the two chambers.

  • Budget 2016: How bureaucracy shot its own foot

    SIR: Old habits, as they say, die hard. This saying played itself out recently between President Muhammadu Buhari on one hand and the civil servants on the other hand.

    Before he announced his cabinet five months after his inauguration in November 2015, President Buhari spent months trying to take stock of the structure of the bureaucracy and positioning of the civil service as the real engine of government with political appointees whom he described as “noise makers” as mere extension of patronage. To Buhari, the bureaucrats are mere victims in the hand of the political class who needed to be strengthened and empowered to stand on their feet through a thorough restructuring and series of reorientation seminars. I am one of those who naively agreed with him on this score hoping that once the beat changes, the dance steps of the civil servants will follow suit.

    Most unfortunately for the president and a host of us who have vague knowledge of the systemic rot in Nigeria’s civil service, the bureaucrats failed the first major test with the 2016 budget.

    Corruption for the civil servants has become a way of life. The chorus down the ladder is “wait for your own time” and they spare no religious ritual to take a shot at the coveted seat of advantage to loot at the miraculous right time. The fact is that the only obvious thing the civil service does very well today is padding the budget year in year out while the rest of us bear the burden. Whilst their top echelon shared the contracts among their companies and cronies’, those down the ladder calculated on how many bidding forms the ministry will sell to undiscerning public for contracts that has been shared and allotted long before advertising the contract.

    This is the bureaucracy inherited by President Buhari in his second coming and I doubt if he ever rightly estimated their savagery. His phobia is really for the politicians who are not better though but  the politicians by nature are more amenable to leadership vision and set goals at least if only for the sake of continued relevance.

    The Nigerian politicians under good leadership can win medals like our soldiers or even our police when they go on foreign missions but not so for the bureaucrats. They were there from the very beginning and they have grown to become the real cancer cells Nigeria must stop from growing. They have seen the inglorious exit of so many well-meaning but inexperienced politicians who ran into their booby traps. Our bureaucrats have become the envy of all professionals because according to the parlance, “they make things happen” through padding of the budget and their perennial errors of commission which our grandchildren will yet pay for.

    Reforming and weaning the civil service from the forbidden fruit of corruption is the mother of all battles President Buhari has to fight and under-estimating the challenge can make overcoming it very difficult if not impossible. There must be a dedicated war against indiscipline, indolence and corruption in the civil service first before the government can stop being a laughing stock before Nigerians and the international community.

     

    • Afolabi Ige,

    Abuja.

  • Budget 2016: Committees get one week to submit report

    The Senate yesterday gave its standing committees one week to submit all 2016 budget reports.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, told the Senate in plenary that the committee is ready to receive reports of the standing committees on the budget.

    Goje said the time table for submission of the reports by various committees had been distributed to enable committee chairmen know when to turn in their reports.

    He said early submission of the reports would enable the Appropriation Committee to consider and turn clean copy of the budget to the Senate for passage into law.

    Goje said the submission would end next week Tuesday, adding that the committee would sit between 8am and 6pm every day to receive the reports.

    He added that the committee was prepared to spot all errors, padding and inconsistencies in the submissions in order to produce a clean copy of the budget.

  • Budget 2016 not zero-based, says Auditor- General

    The Auditor- General of the Federation (AGF), Samuel Ukura yesterday shocked the Senate when he faulted the assertion that the 2016 budget is zero-based budgeting.

    Ukura specifically contradicted the Presidency on template adopted for details of the N6.08trillion budget estimates.

    He noted that the template used for the budget proposal before the National Assembly remained enveloped based budgeting and not zero based as claimed by the Budget and National Planning Office.

    Ukura made the clarification when he appeared before Senate Committee on Public Accounts for the budget defence session of his Office in Abuja.

    He noted that though the earlier intention of the government was to adopt zero-based budgeting template, realities on the ground later forced it to adopt the usual enveloped based budgeting system.

    Ukura said the N2.9billion budget proposal for his office  was not arrived at through zero budgeting but handed over to his office as an envelope by the Ministry of Finance.

    He said: “Budgets of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government this year are all enveloped based and not zero-based as it has been the case over the years, including that of my office, which is even largely done for us by the supervising ministry.”

    Reminded by Senators Akpan Albert Bassey (Akwa Ibom Northeast) and Foster Ogola (Bayelsa West),that his submission on the 2016 budget template ran contrary to what President Muhammadu Buhari told a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22 last year,  the AGF insisted that the budget remained envelope based.

    He said: “It is envelope. The zero-based budgeting, they wanted to introduce was not adhered to at the end of the day.

    “In zero-based budgeting, it is assumed that such expenditure does not exist, you start from zero and justify why that expenditure must be used.

    “ So, it is a system which is good and which would have also helped to set targets, but that wasn’t applied at the end of the day, perhaps  because it was hurriedly being introduced.

    “Budget proposal and by extension, defence,  is not about fighting but discussing on what is made available for one to work with because what they want, they give.”

    On why his office has not deemed it fit to audit the account of Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR) for always budgeting N32billion for recurrent expenditure  of the staff strength of about 1,400 the same staff strength of the AGF’s office with N1.8billion votes for recurrent expenditure, he declined to answer the question.

    Members of the committee expressed dissatisfaction with the presentation and performance of the AGF in office.

    The lawmakers were specifically shocked that not a single audit query was raised from his office in the face of a series of corruption cases being carried out in various government offices including unbridled budget padding under recurrent and overhead votes to outright stealing.