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Tag: budget

The budget brouhaha

It is almost a year since we had a change of government and yet we do not have a budget. This is simply embarrassing and totally uncalled for. In any civilized country, the minister of budget and national planning should have resigned long ago when it was discovered that what our president was made to present was poorly prepared and was not vetted before the president was told the budget was ready for submission to parliament. Ministers and heads of departments one after the other disowned the figures and projects in their departmental and ministries budget. The public was told that some people, presumably bureaucrats, had deliberately smuggled items and heads of expenditure without the knowledge of government. This is an act of sabotage and some people should be held responsible. This was also an act done to ridicule a president who means well for the country and who is doing everything to rescue the country from the abyss of stinking corruption the previous regime left us. I cannot imagine that anybody would have the kind of courage and audacity to frontally confront the president and his government in this way. This is why something must be done publicly to punish the culprits.

The budget fiasco raises several points in my mind. I think people are trying to test the resolve of President Muhammadu Buhari. They are hiding under the pretext that we are in a democratic regime and Buhari dares not act as a military man and that if he does they will enlist the support of their bevy of lawyers to challenge him. We may yet borrow from the book of late Justice Kalu Anya who said in the 1980s that a time may come in this country when a defence counsel may be jailed along with the accused in cases bordering on national political or economic security. It seems the president’s hands are being tied and he seems to be going along with his traducers. If this goes on indefinitely without the president wielding the enormous powers of his office, people will lose interest in his reformist agenda and he will be perceived as a toothless bulldog or a bedraggled old soldier full of sound and fury signifying nothing. This apparent refusal to use the power of his office for the good of the silent majority has led to the National Assembly and particularly the Senate with its corrupt and compromised leadership blocking the moves of the president at every turn without consequences. Many people have suggested that there is a need to have special anti-corruption tribunals to try the innumerable cases of corruption being daily exposed. If this is not done, the culprits would use their loot to hire lawyers who will collude with the apparently compromised judges to delay the cases by issuing one injunction after another to frustrate the cause of justice as they have been doing since 2007. The result is that this crowd of treasury looters would come back next election and buy themselves seats in the Senate and the House. They will continue to rule us and award humongous salaries and perks to themselves. In the meantime, the work of government is being held hostage and poor people in the cities and rural areas are beginning to take laws into their hands by attacking ordinary people doing their own businesses or minding their own affairs.

I just do not understand how members of the Senate would abandon discussing and passing the budget and troop down to the court where their so-called president has been arraigned for corruption. They say it is political persecution. Is the Nigerian government also involved in the Panama papers where the same money guzzler has been mentioned? We of course know what is going on. It is not that they love Bukola Saraki; what they are trying to prevent is so that the example of Saraki is not used as a template for their own treatment when the time comes. I wish these people know how angry the masses are with their shenanigans and irresponsibility.

The president must not be seen to surrender to the evil forces in the land without a fight. There must be some emergency powers the president can invoke to prevent a civilian coup d’etat against his government. This is what the inability to pass a budget in a year is.

The serious economic problem the country faces is being compounded by this inertia on the part of the legislative branch which instead of doing what is right for the people is nevertheless going on spending spree, buying jeeps whose prices are inflated by 100 percent and forging standing rules to permit all kinds of illegalities and untoward actions unbefitting of the status of the hallowed assemblies they temporarily occupy. The mistake Buhari made was allowing renegades take over parliament without the party whip. Once the leadership that emerged without party control was ensconced in office, the president lost all influence in parliament. If the president does not fight back, all will be lost and it will be goodbye to good governance. Instead of being sorry for their misdeeds, operatives of the regime that brought us to this economic pass are boasting that they will be back in 2019. If nothing is done quickly, their prophesy may just come true. The campaign is on. Imagine the man responsible for the Boko Haram insurgency not only being appointed party chairman but also presumably gunning for the presidency itself! They are already blaming Buhari for the crash of oil price. The uninformed and even those who should know are saying things were better under the previous regime. They dishonestly give the impression that Buhari is wickedly withholding release of money to reflate a depressed economy. The myriad of problems arising from the collapse of the oil market does not allow President Buhari the luxury of being nice to those who want to bring down his government. He must confront them headlong. We did not elect him because of his democratic credentials or gentlemanly disposition to opponents, in fact we elected him because we want him to be tough to those who will sabotage the present and the future of Nigerians. We know one cannot make omelette without breaking eggs. What this country needs is not a pussy-footing leadership but a strong leader with clear conscience, incorruptible credential with the constitution in one hand and a whip in the other. Sometimes in strategy, it is not the actual use of force that does the trick but the threat of it.

President Muhammadu Buhari stand up to be recognized, sir.

April 28, 2016
’Budget ready for Buhari’s assent next week’

President Muhammadu Buhari last night met with the leadership of the National Assembly led by the Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Budget will be ready for the President’s assent next week, it weas learnt.

The closed door meeting, which was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, started about 9.20 pm and ended at 9.30 pm at the First Lady’s Conference Room.

House Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Speaker of the House, Yusuf Lasun also attended the meeting.

Others include the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio; House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila and other leaders of the National Assembly.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang and Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Samaila Kawu, were at the meeting.

Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Saraki said the executive and legislature agreed on the way forward to tackle the 2016 Budget crisis.

According to him, the grey areas will be ironed out in a matter of days and the budget will be ready for President’s assent next week.

He said: “We just finished a meeting with the president and vice president, we came to let them know some of the solutions that we found in moving the budget process forward and we are happy to say that we have agreed on the way forward and we believe that this process will be completed in a matter of days rather than weeks.

“So it is good for Nigerians and all of us, we have found a way forward and in a matter of days the budget will be ready for president’s assent.

Asked to throw light on the way forward, he said: “We have committees that have been set up on our side and also on the executive side, we will engage over the next few days, to just tidy up a few loose ends and here and there and the outcome will be satisfactory to everybody.”

On whether the budget will be signed this week, Saraki said: “ I said it is a matter of days and not weeks, so you can start counting the days which means that between now and Monday or Tuesday, I’m hopeful that the budget will be signed.”

Udo Udoma said: “We have agreed to work together to resolve all issues in the next few days and we have also agreed on the modalities of doing so. So, it was a very good meeting, very positive and within the next few days all issues will be resolved.

April 27, 2016
National Assembly soft pedals on budget

The chairman of the Appropriation committee of the Senate, Senator Danjuma Goje and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, have appealed to their colleagues in the National Assembly to reopen discussion on the 2016 budget.

President Muhammadu Buhari, last week sent his observations and requests on the Appropriation Bill, as passed by the National Assembly, to the lawmakers.

In a jointly signed statement yesterday, Goje and Jibrin, said: “Given the foregoing, and all factors considered, we hereby state that we have had enough controversy over the 2016 budget.

“What is needful right now is a resolution of the differences and to that end, we call on our colleagues in the National Assembly to accede to the request by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, to have a second look at the details and make the necessary adjustments so that he can assent. This, in our opinion, should not go beyond this week.”

The committee chairmen regretted what they described as a deluge of misinformation, misrepresentation and innuendoes about the roles played by the appropriation committees in the two legislative chambers in the course of passing the controversial budget.

“Even though most of the allegations, especially those specifically levelled against the two of us, as chairmen of the committee, are unfounded, we intend to respond to them at the appropriate time.”

The statement went on: “For now, what we consider important is to resolve the impasse around the budget and get it assented to so that its implementation can begin in the interest of all Nigerians.

“However, we must put it on record that the details aggregated and transmitted to the executive are largely the inputs we received from the standing committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.”

The two lawmakers said consultations were already ongoing between the executive and the legislature on the document returned by President Buhari.

“A debate about who is right or wrong is unhelpful in the circumstance; and in any case, does not advance the cause of our country men and women whose interest we have been elected to serve.

“Nevertheless, we must commend President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the entire members of the National Assembly, members of the Federal Executive Council, the minister of Budget and the budget team for their cooperation even as we assure all Nigerians that we will do everything to protect and defend their interest, at all times,” the statement added.

April 25, 2016
APC: Nigerians back govt’s desire for a realistic budget

All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary Alhaji Maimala Buni has said the support Nigerians are giving President Muhammadu Buhari in his quest for a realistic budget reflect the people’s faith in the administration.

Maimala, who spoke in Damaturu, said Nigerians understood the desire of government to have a workable document, which implementation would improve their lives.

“It is evident that there is trust in government now and, Nigeria’s image has greatly improved before the international community, with an increased interest by foreign investors to invest in the country.

“Every country is looking forward to doing business with Nigeria because we now have a President, who is transparent, committed, incorruptible and trusted by Nigerians and the international community,” he said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The party secretary said Nigerians’ belief in the APC government was further demonstrated by the large turnout of voters in the Saturday by-election in Yobe.

Maimala said: “The large turnout in yesterday’s election and APC’s victory at the polls has consolidated the people’s faith in the party and President Buhari to improve their lives.

“In spite of the hardships suffered by the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), they came out massively to elect APC because of their strong faith in the party and the leadership.”

The secretary hailed the President for supporting the security forces in the fight against insurgency.

He added that the security situation in the Northeast had improved significantly.

April 25, 2016
Budget palaver

With about a year into the life of the administration of President Muham-madu Buhari, the expected turnaround in the country’s poor profile has been hinged on the implementation of the 2016 Budget.

The executive believes that its 2016 budgetary proposal to the National Assembly will start to turn around the fortunes of the Nigeria economy when implemented.

Based on its conviction, it also declared that its main achievements should be measured from the first budget it will implement, which is the 2016 Budget.

But the fate of the 2016 Budget is now hanging in the balance as massive grey areas between the executive proposal and the figure passed by the National Assembly is working against its assent.

Beside the removal of N17 billion by the National Assembly from the N6.08 trillion proposal presented by President Buhari on 22nd of December, 2015, the Presidency is grossed that the legislature introduced other projects which were against its core infrastructural development targets.

Some of the problems the executive uncovered in the budget passed by the legislature included National Assembly’s removal of N60 billion counterpart fund for Coastal Railway project, the Calabar – Lagos rail line project, and reduction of allocation for Idu-Kaduna rail project by N8.7 billion.

While it reduced allocations for the completion of major road projects in the country, National Assembly was also said to have introduced new road projects whose studies have not been conducted.

It was also said to have dropped proposals for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns like Polio and AIDS, cancelled and reduced, in some cases, some allocations for diversification projects under Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.

Funds for rural health facilities and boreholes were also said to have been diverted by the National Assembly to other projects.

There is no doubt that the National Assembly is not barred by the constitution from looking at the budgetary proposal from the executive and amending it the way it deems fit.

Even when there is no need for amendment in a particular budget proposal, the National Assembly may not want to pass the exact figures from the executive in order not to be seen as the rubber stamp of the executive.

But for executive and legislative harmony and for the interest of the nation, the grey areas in any proposal and any appropriation bill passed by the NASS ought to be minimal.

The executive now believes that what has been passed by the National Assembly as the 2016 budget has mutilated the executive budget proposal beyond recognition and now impossible to implement.

With the possible adverse effects delay in implementing the budget will have on Nigerians, it will not be out of place here to dwell a bit on the possible factors that could have led to the wide difference in the President’s budget proposal and what was passed by the National Assembly.

The reasons for the wide difference might be found in the following posers.

Has the wide difference got anything to do with the earlier allegation of budget ‘padding’ believed to have been carried out by some civil servants between the period of the President’s presentation of the budget proposal and when National Assembly resumed from its Christmas and New Year’s break to begin work on the budget?

Knowing that the National Assembly had raised alarm that a different version of the budget proposal was what it saw before starting work on it, is it possible that it actually worked with a wrong version which introduced the new projects in contention and removed key projects listed in the President’s proposal presented to the National Assembly?

President Buhari, while addressing the Nigerian Community in Saudi Arabia on the 23rd of February 2016 had vowed to deal with civil servants involved in the budget padding.

Buhari had said: “The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a military governor, petroleum minister, military Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund. Never had I heard the words budget padding. Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team.

“The Minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad it.

“What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished.” He stated

But it is not clear whether those involved in the budget padding then have been identified and silently dealth with by the Presidency or they are still doing what they know how best to do in the system.

Another possible factor that would have gone a long way to reduce the grey areas in the budget is the issue of lobbying in the preparation of the budget.

Was the National Assembly properly lobbied and carried along in the preparation of the 2016 budget.

If that was properly done, it would have made the legislature see things more from the view point of the executive and reduce or totally eliminate grey areas in the two versions.

The earlier the problems with the 2016 budget are urgently tackled, the better for the country.

Many Nigerians are already improvised and continued delay in executing projects that will touch their lives and turn around the economy definitely will not be in the interest of the nation.

Shifting the goal post

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has shifted its position thrice within a month on when fuel queues will disappear in the country.

Firstly, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu briefed State House correspondents on Wednesday 23rd of March, 2016, telling them that he could not perform magic to end the fuel scarcity in the country and that the earliest time for queues to disappear would be early May.

On the same day, Kachikwu ate his words when the heat became unbearable on him. He immediately blamed State House correspondents for misrepresentation.

Barely a week after, precisely Tuesday 29th of March, Kachikwu, again told the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) that the fuel queues will ease off on or before the 7th of April.

That day has come and gone, but Kachikwu was still not able to keep his words as fuel scarcity as at last Friday still persisted across the country.

As if tired of facing the Nigerian public over the issue, Kachikwu on Wednesday 13th of April, directed NNPC management team led by its Chief Executive Officer (Upstream), Bello Rabiu, to brief State House correspondents on the fuel scarcity.

And his message to Nigerians was that the few scarcity will end in the next few days.

It is hoped that the ‘few days’ will not extend to May 2016 otherwise it will mean that what Kachikwu first told State House correspondents, which he later denied, was the reality and everything said after it was to deceive Nigerians who continued to suffer and sleep at petrol stations.

The three different messages within a month appeared like shifting the goal posts in a football match.

This, definitely, is not good for the image of the Corporation as it gives the public the impression that those in charge could not even properly assess the situation on ground let alone providing a solution.

April 19, 2016
Budget: NASS to override Buhari

The National Assembly has threatened to override the President Muhamadu Buhari at the end of 30 days if he fails to accent to the 2016 Appropriation bill which was passed by the legislature.

The member representing Afikpo North/South constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, Idu Igariwey stated this yesterday.

The Lawmaker who chided those blaming the National Assembly for making changes to the bill said the lawmakers should not be crucified for doing there constitutional duties.

He said, “Truth of the matter is that the budget came with a lot of difficulties. The budget came almost like a stillborn baby and so it needed the legislators to put life to it. Either because it came in a hurry, was hurriedly conceived and poorly digested before it came to us. Maybe those were the reasons. But at the end of the day, the NASS had to do due diligence to the budget by looking at the various figures and the various areas of allocation of resources”.

“For instance, let us look at the budget for the Works Ministry. If you saw the analysis that was made, you will discover that most parts of the budget were supposed to go to one part of the country. A state like Ebonyi had nothing to do with that budget as it concerns federal roads! And this is a budget that ran into over # 300 billion, I think the only thing that came to Ebonyi state was only # 28 million out of that whooping amount which was maybe to provide shoulder for the Abakaliki-Enugu Road already being completed”.

“And we are only talking about 36 states in this country and so how can you assign #28million out of #300 billion to Ebonyi? And this also happened in other states of the south East. And we as legislators from the East you don’t expect us not to kick against such unequal distribution of our common wealth. So, it was now our duty to ensure that this budget did not go back the way it was conceived by the Minister for Works. We now made sure that some of the items also went to the South East by way of roads”.

“And that is what the constitution empowers us to do. That is why the constitution gave us the power of appropriation and that is why the document comes to us. There is no legislature in this world where the budget proposal goes to the legislatives and it goes back the same”.

“Then why did you even bring it to the legislature? If there is no need for us to make inputs into it, then the constitution should have conceived a system where the executive will formulate, appropriate, implement and maybe also oversight”.

The lawmaker while recognizing the right of the President to withhold accent noted that the National Assembly also has the right to override him and pass the budget into law”.

“The constitution clearly has made previsions for Mr. President to withdraw his assent as regards any bill, not just the money bill, but the same constitution has given us power within 30 days to override him”.

“These things were all contemplated by the constitution. So, if Mr. President is withholding his assent, then it is still within his constitutional powers. But he should also expect us as expected by the constitution to also exercise our rights as also provided for by the constitution which is to override his withholding of his assent and when we do, that budget which is the money bill will become law. It’s as simple as he withholds his assent, then we override him”.

April 18, 2016
2016 Budget: Ogbeh, others discover ‘strange’ 386 projects in Agric ministry’s votes

The budget row is far from being over. Agriculture Minister Audu Ogbeh and his team have discovered 386 “strange” projects worth N12.6billion in the ministry’s proposals. They were reportedly inserted by the National Assembly.

The projects were smuggled into the ministry’s plan after its N40.918 billion budget proposalý had been reduced to N31.618billion.

There were strong indications last night that the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma might brief President Muhammadu Buhari today.

It was also learnt yesterday that Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir David Lawal may today meet with ministers over the impasse.

Ogbeh and his team were shocked by the mutilation of the ministry’s budget, a source said.

There were fears that the insertion of the strange projects might affect Buhari’s plans to diversify the economy.

About three projects unconnected with the agriculture sector have been included in the ministry’s projects.

These border on erosion control in Federal University, Kashere, Kwadon and Garin Alhaji at N200 million, N100 million and N45 million.

A top source said: ‘’In the Agric sector, 386 projects were inserted, which totalled about N12.6 billion.

‘“While N5.3 billion of the main ministry’s budget is taken away, about N7.2 billion is infused into almost 40 agencies and parastatals of the agric ministry.”

Other smuggled projects are provision of 58 boreholes for 29 rural communities and an additional 50 for 50 rural communities in the sum of N175 million and N150.4 million. “Curiously, the communities are not named”, the source said, adding:

“Similarly, of the N90 million allocated to the Cocoa Research Institute in Ibadan, various sums are allotted the following ýof the seven sub-heads: provision of rubber seeds and seedling in Igbotako, Okitipupa, (N5m), training and empowerment of youths in poultry farming in Oluyole, Ibadan(N20m) and provision of cassava processing plant in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State(N10m)

“Of the four sub-heads under the Rubber Research Institute, Benin, two areas are equally outside the focus of rubber. These are training and empowerment of youth and women in fish farming in Ndokwa, Delta State as well as fabrication and installation of cassava processing machines in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State at N10m and N20m.

“ Also, N1 billion was allocated to two projects in Kwara South Senatorial District, including the construction of rural roads for N700 million as well as empowerment of women and youths in agricultural products for N300 million.”

A member of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee said the 386 projects were injected without the knowledge of the committee’s ,members.

‘’We are happy that ýthe Speaker hinted that the issue of the budget will be revisited this week. But what some of us want is the understanding of Nigerians on this matter.

‘’The issue of this controversial budget has to be carefully done this time around because some persons who think they were smarter had already led the entire parliament into collisioný with the executive and indeed Nigerians.

‘’They have done this by inserting projects without the knowledge of others either in the appropriation or relevant sectoral committees and presenting same as the collective decision of the house or the entire parliament.

‘’To the best of my knowledge, as a member of both the appropriation and agriculture committees in the House of Representatives, I did know that we reduced the ministry’s N40.9 billion proposal by about N9.3 billion.

‘’But the surprise here is that while a decision was not taken where to infuse the reduced sum, some of us were surprised to see that so many projects were passed on to the President for assent, which he declined.

‘’The implication is that if the President did not insist on details, most National Assembly members would not have had the opportunity to know what went behind them.”

There were strong indications yesterday that the Minister of Budget and National Planning might brief President Buhari today.

A top source said: “I know that Udoma will meet with the President today as part of a debriefing session on the 2016 budget.

“Also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, may meet with ministers on Monday over the impasse.

“All these consultations will guide the President on what he should do. The options are to return the budget to the National Assembly for a review of the details with a new timeline; withholding of assent; and to sign the budget into law with a Supplementary Budget later to fill in the gaps.”

April 18, 2016
Budget impasse an indictment on Nigerians, says NECA

Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) Director-General Segun Oshinowo has said the impasse over the 2016 Appropriation Bill is an indictment on Nigerians.

Speaking when the acting Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Ismail Agaka visited him, Oshinowo said it was a shame that the budget was still not out four months into the year.

He said: “The inability of the National Assembly and executive to produce the 2016 budget is saying something silently loud about our country. I think it is shameful that there is no budget four months into the year. What kind of image are we painting of our country outside?

We need to urgently address our mind to a situation where our budget for the current year is unusually delayed. What stops us from getting our budget to be passed before the commencement of the budget year and then address those issues that have served as encumbrance to passing the budget annually?”

Speaking on the Employees Compensation Scheme, Oshinowo expressed satisfaction over the decision of the NSITF to adopt social dialogue in the implementation of the Scheme, saying: “I am happy that NSITF is relying on social dialogue approach rather than on the law that establishes Employees Compensation Scheme to collect remittances.

“There are so many things that officialdom may lack the capacity to resolve. We can always meet outside of official capacities to share information, strategize and plan on what is to be done to resolve thorny issues for the benefit of the country.

“This strategy has gone a long way in helping the NSITF over the last few years. I want to assure NSITF that we have not changed, we remain of who are and are ready to cooperate with NSITF to ensure success of its programmes.”

He expressed the support of the organised private sector for the institutionalisation of corporate governance by the Acting-managing director into the operations of the NSITF and called for early convocation of the interactive aspect of the Safe Workplace Intervention Programme (SWIP) to enable employers who have complaints about the implementation of the ECA to put them forward for speedy resolution.

He said: “I think it is better to have the interactive session around July because delaying in order to have the whole SWIP will deny employers that want to ventilate their complaints.

“Since the interactive session addresses the quality of service that is rendered, if NSITF is unable to address the contributors, that might affect inflow of contribution. Meeting the Lagos group because a lot is happening there that will be interesting to the operations of the ECA.”

In his remarks, the Acting Managing Director of NSITF, Ismail Agaka said the fund was institutionalizing corporate governance structures to boost its operations and expressed confidence that corporate governance would, clearly spells out procedures and processes of NSITF.

According to him, “Corporate governance is a system, methods, processes and procedures that governs organizational businesses. Where there is a breakdown in the procedure, there would be negative impact not only on the organisation, but also on other stakeholders who relate with the organisation.

“It is no secret that not only NSITF, but also the public sector over the years has witnessed this dysfunctional corporate governance. What we are therefore doing at the NSITF is in tandem with the change mantra of the present administration.”

April 18, 2016
Budget, authority and leadership deficits

A writer in an Economist of London’s publication some years back identified what he called Authority deficit in global politics leaving a security vacuum being filled by Islamic militancy. Having been used to budget deficit in economic scenarios and analysis, I found the terminology fascinating and it has fired my imagination for the topic of today. I will therefore shed more light on the notion of authority deficit before going into the more familiar budget deficit of Economic Planning. I will   then plough back the two into the arena of leadership deficit as both fall under the purview of political leaders both local and global who take decisions on them and are thus to be held responsible for the consequences of their actions and inactions, as the buck stops on their powerful tables – as the saying goes.

The Economist Analyst spoke then about a decline of world order since the end of the Cold War   and the hope of the civilized world   that order will prevail and be sustained in a Unipolar world   led   by the US   after   the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Unfortunately America’s moral authority took a fatal blow from the invasion of Iraq on the false premise   of   the existence of weapons of mass destruction and human rights violation at Guatanamo   Bay. In addition the analyst wondered at the justice of a world order and global authority based on a UN Security Council   made up of winners of a World War which ended in 1945 and which pointedly left out Emerging world players and new powerful    world markets like Brazil and India who are part of the BRIC nations namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and S.Africa. This perception of an unjust world order has therefore led to a global lack of respect for an unfairly constituted global authority.

Thus creating the authority deficit which Islamic Militancy has exploited and this too has led to the emergence of ruthless terrorists groups like Al Quada, Taliban, ISIS and Boko Haram which are trying to create borderless caliphates in a world castrated by an authority deficit crassly unable   to check and bring them to order.

This analysis was written in 2007 a year before George Bush the 33rd US President and the scapegoat of the 2003 Iraqi invasion with British PM at the time, left office. America’s loss of moral authority which created the authority deficit we are talking about now, created the political and electoral climate that made present US President   Barak Obama the next and 34th president of the US   in the 2008 presidential    elections. This week   in 2016 as the presidential   election campaigns to elect his successor takes steam   US President Barak    boldly if not naively lamented that the worst mistake of his administration in foreign policy was in not planning for the aftermath of the overthrow of the Muammar Gaddafi, the former ruler of Libya. He went on to say that because the US and its allies have blocked or chased ISIS out of Syria and   Iraq, ISIS fighters are now regrouping in Libya and that is responsible for the present state of anarchy that Libya is experiencing. That to me is very brilliant and candid analysis by the US President. But it is also an admission of responsibility by the leader responsible for the best illustration of the notion   and   existence of authority deficit in our time.

The Obama lamentation on Libya can be appraised from a troika of perspectives, all of which confirm his vintage credentials as an exponent of authority deficit in foreign policy and none of which is pleasant for him, his legacy, his political party and the world at large. This is not difficult to see and that is why the lamentation was so difficult to believe that he was the one saying it and not someone else and I will clearly show this.

Let me start by looking at the impact of the Obama Libya lamentation on the ongoing US presidential election campaigns especially with the chances of Hillary Clinton, the front runner for Obama’s party, the Democratic Party. Of course there is no need to imagine what Donald Trump, the Republican Party front runner would make of the lamentation as he would certainly take Obama, who he once called a security risk to the cleaners on that. With regard to the Democratic Party which   Vice President Biden literally asked to campaign on the Obama legacy when he stepped down from contesting for the presidency to succeed Obama, lamentation has become a political albatross or hemlock for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the two front runners for the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination. This is because a policy of mistakes on foreign policy is hardly a good sales pitch to sell a presidential candidate not to talk of a candidate of the party of the outgoing president making an admission of failure or mistake in that regard. In addition the timing seems calculated to harm the nomination chances of Hillary Clinton as she was the Secretary of State with Obama at the time Gaddafi was deposed and Barak Obama has hailed that as the high point of her foreign policy achievements.

Definitely the president’s   Libya   lamentation has given her achievements a kick in the ass out of the window and made her a sitting duck for wicked jokes of lack of leadership qualities and judgement from, first Bernie Sanders her opponent in her party and most dangerously from the Republican’s Donald Trump. But then as Hillary’s presidential ambitions take a turn for the worse her boss too must accept responsibility for the authority and leadership deficit so much on display in this Libya lamentation. This is because after Hillary left as Obama’s Secretary of State Obama made a worse mistake in Syria than the one he is now lamenting on Libya, on Syria by drawing a red line for that nation to cross on the possession and use of chemical weapons on Syrians by their own President Bashar Assad. The Syrians crossed Obama’s red line amply illustrated by the famous – We know – speeches by Hillary’s successor as Secretary of State, John Kerry who gave graphic accounts of the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian leader against his people and prepared the mind of the world and the Syrian rebels against air strikes against the Assad regime.

This however never happened against the observance of violations of American values going on in Syria because President Obama lost the stomach for the air strikes and that led unfortunately to the rise of ISIS, the destruction of Syria, the establishment of a Russian base in Syria, and the mass flow of Syrian refugees into the EU nations, which has become the huge humanitarian crisis of our time. Really the Obama Libyan lamentation is unbelievable but there   is no doubt on the real source of both the authority and leadership deficits and the attendant seen and unseen dire, tragic   diplomatic   and global consequences.

We go next to the Nigerian scene this week on the topic of the day. Two   issues strike my attention for comment and analysis. The first was   the President’s trip to China ostensibly to seek funds or loans to finance our budget deficit. The second was the statement credited to the president   in China that he would defeat pipeline vandals like he defeated Boko Haram.

Starting with the China deficit financing trip I think it is a step in the right direction and a welcome departure from IMF and World Bank loans whose repayment terms have ruined not only our economy but that of several African and developing nations. China has a growing economy and the largest population and consumers of goods and services in the world and needs minerals, oil and many products that we have for its population. It is in order for it to fund infrastructure loans to have access to the needs of its blooming population and we certainly need the money to grow our economy and provide jobs for our youths. In addition we are in the fight against corruption for which China has zero tolerance and has a penalty of the death sentence for corruption which it regards as economic sabotage. We should borrow a leaf there before China gets wise on that and makes it a loan conditionality. Looting of state funds needs to attract lethal deterrence certainly above media ridicule and mere opprobrium as we have now.

On the issue of defeating pipeline vandals like Boko Haram we should be more careful as comparisons can be odious and escalating where terrorism is concerned. Pipe line vandals are thieves and not terrorists we should not give them importance they don’t deserve so that it does not get into their heads. Boko Haram started with youths on motor bikes who should have been sorted out speedily by the appropriate security forces who looked the other way. Now Boko Haram has gone international and is threatening not only the Sahel but even Ghana. Pipeline vandals should be apprehended and dealt with pronto and effectively but should never be compared to Boko Haram, please. As at now the government has an authority deficit on Boko Haram if only because the   200 Chibok girls have not been found for two years now and this government   has been in power for almost a year now.

On the budget and leadership deficit as I have analysed the government has my kudos and is moving in the right direction. Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

April 16, 2016
The fireworks over 2016 budget

The ongoing friction between the executive and legislative arms of government over the 2016 budget has introduced a new twist into the executive-legislative face-off over appropriation.

There are several areas of friction on the appropriation bill as passed by the National Assembly. But the disagreement, ignited by the exclusion or non-inclusion of the Lagos-Calabar rail line in the Appropriation Bill, may have worsened the age-long acrimony between the two arms.

The National Assembly has continued to insist that the Lagos-Calabar rail line was omitted in the budgetary document submitted to the legislature by President Muhammadu Buhari late 2015. But the executive, through the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, countered that, indeed, the disputed aspect was part of the items presented to the legislature.

As the controversy raged, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation, Gbenga Ashafa, came forward to clarify issues surrounding the controversy. According to him, the Lagos-Calabar rail line did not feature in the document submitted by the executive. He, however, said that his committee forwarded a corrected version submitted by the Budget Ministry which contained details of the project to the Appropriation committee headed by Senator Danjuma Goje for inclusion in the main document.

The inference from Ashafa’s standpoint is that although there was indeed an error on the part of the executive, there was enough time for the legislature to effect correction. But, owing to reasons best known to the leadership of the legislature, the remedial attempts were ignored. This might as well be a reflection of the muffled disaffection between key leadership of the Senate and the Presidency, apparently occasioned by the ongoing corruption trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

But why would the Presidency omit a strategic project that took the President to far away China in pursuit of bilateral agreement relating to the funding of the Lagos-Calabar rail line? On the other hand, why would the legislature rebuff attempts by the Ashafa-led Transportation committee to accommodate the project before conclusion of legislative work on the budget? These are questions that only the two arms can answer.

For a way out of the impasse, the legislature had asked the executive to sign the budget as passed and thereafter forward a supplementary budget on the Lagos-Calabar rail line for consideration. Analysts are of the view that the spat over the rail project was uncalled for.

From the explanations offered by the two sides, both the executive and the legislature have a fair share of the blame. For instance, instead of submitting corrections on omitted items to the various legislative committees piecemeal, the executive ought to have constructively engaged the entire leadership of the legislature on the matter.

On the other hand, the leadership of the National Assembly should have accommodated the corrections, at least in the overall interest of the Nigerian people. The legislature could have exposed the laxity of the executive arm and managed to accommodate the corrections. With a clash of ego obviously fuelled by an existing acrimonious relationship, both sides seemed to ignore the fact that the destiny of the people they claim to serve is at stake.

By way of getting back at the lawmakers, the executive arm was quick to point out a number of projects not captured in the budget but which were inserted in the appropriation bill by the leadership of the two chambers. Extraneous items totaling N40 billion were said to have been added for various road, empowerment, rural electrification and constituency projects located in the constituencies of both leadership. The heads of the Appropriation committees are also said to stand to benefit from these unauthorised allocations.

In addition, some of these projects are said to have already been provided for in other areas of the budget. There are also no feasibility reports or engineering drawings for some of the projects so inserted. Besides, some items covering provisions for polio eradication, drugs for the teeming population of HIV-infected Nigerians and other healthcare items were said to have been yanked off by the lawmakers to accommodate cravings perceived as parochial.

If the allegations are confirmed, the Lawmakers would appear to promote interests at variance with the public good. That would be a breach of the social contract and the article of faith established between elected representatives and the voters that gave them the mandate. The defence mounted by the spokespersons of both chambers to the effect that the legislature held constitutional powers unnerved analysts. They wondered whether the powers also specified that such extraneous projects be located within the constituencies of principal officers of the legislative arm.

A deeper reflection on the entire brouhaha suggests attempts to go back to the old ways of running the country. Watchers of the National Assembly posit that the stand-off reflects the bribe-for-budget planning pact that defined the 16-year tenure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that ended on May 29, 2015. Now that the pact has been rendered inoperative by the realities, coupled with associated risks, the operators have devised other measures not entirely new to budgeting in the land.

The long and short of the matter, analysts said, is that the nation’s political leaders appear reluctant to learn the right lessons. But the people, who are the victims of the recurring cold war, may be losing patience. In the situation, wisdom dictates that all contentious areas in the budget, as passed by the legislature, should be removed for the President to sign the document into law. The executive can then iron out the areas of conflict by effecting the necessary corrections and re-presenting a clean copy to the legislature for consideration.

The disputed Lagos-Calabar rail project should also be included. It may come by way of supplementary budget, as requested by spokespersons of the two legislative chambers. That would not diminish the advertised sense of vanity of the two arms of government. With the present economic quagmire, failure on the part of the leadership to take appropriate decisions could be catastrophic.

The reality is that even if the budget is signed today, it would still take some time to get things to work. It may take as many as three more annual budgets to put the economy back on track. The earlier the leaderships of the two arms align their personal interests and vanities to the collective aspirations of the people, the better. For a country struggling to get its head above the water, toying with the destiny the citizenry can hardly be an option.

Political leaders anywhere in the world should be free to express themselves in public. Any disagreement arising from the divergence in opinion must not, however, be allowed to obstruct governance and the happiness of the greater majority.

April 16, 2016