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  • Kano Governor signs N274.3b budget

    Kano Governor signs N274.3b budget

    Kano State governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has signed into law, the state’s 2016 Appropriation Bill, assuring that its implementation would commence immediately.

    The budget, tagged ‘A Peoples Budget for Self Reliance,’ is in the tune of N274.3 billion, with 70 per cent of it devoted to capital expenditure, while 30 per cent was set aside for recurrent expenses.

    Shortly after signing the bill, the governor disclosed that “it reflects the vision of the administration for diversification of the state’s revenue, with a view to laying a solid foundation for the pursuit of its development objectives”.

    Governor Ganduje explained that although the budget is coming at a turbulent period in the governance of the state, the state Internal Revenue Service, with its technical partners have convinced the state executive and legislature that with political commitment, the set target would be achieved.

    The governor expressed delight that the budget was subjected to public hearing, pointing out that to date; no state in the federation has allowed the public to directly make input in its budget. However, he assured that the government would create an enabling environment for the state legislature to perform its oversight functions, while implementing the budget, stressing that the legislators are at liberty to visit any government Ministry or agency and monitor transactions for accountability and transparency.

    The Kano state House of Assembly Speaker, Alhaji. Kabiru Alasan Rurum, disclosed to the governor that the assembly conducted public hearing on the budget, so as to allow direct involvement of the people in governance.

    He therefore appealed to residents of the state to rally round the Ganduje led-administration to facilitate the significant execution of the budget, despite the prevailing harsh economic realities in the country.

  • Knocks, applause for 2016 budget at Senate debate

    Knocks, applause for 2016 budget at Senate debate

    • Reps begin debate

    The Senate yesterday began the debate of the general principles of the 2016 budget.

    While some Senators hailed the spirit and content of the budget. Others described the fiscal document as unimplementable and asked that it be reworked.

    The debate, which cut across party lines, with most All Progressives Party (APC) Senators who spoke insisting that the budget is an honest move to fix the economy of the country, while their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts, expressed skepticism about the workability of the fiscal policy.

    Some of the lawmakers cautioned the government to be mindful of excess borrowing to finance the budget as the measure might signal a wrong impression of economic affluence when the economy is actually undergoing recession.

    At a stage during the debate, there was shouting match on the floor of the Senate but the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, managed the situation to avoid out right rancor.

    Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, led the debate by outlining the objective assumptions of the budget.

    Ndume noted that the budget entitled “budget of change” is unique in so many ways.

    The preparation of the budget, he said, was based on Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) system which required all expenses on projects and programmes to be fully justified by MDAs.

    The Senate Leader who said that the budget is aimed at promoting inclusive growth including the poor and vulnerable noted that it would however be challenged by the decline in oil prices and slowdown in the global economy.

    Ndume said that the budget was designed to ensure that the country’s economy survived by stimulating economic activities, making it more competitive by focusing on infrastructural development as well as to create a number of jobs.

    He added that budget focuses on broadening the tax base and improving the effectiveness of revenue collection as well as diversifying the economy and moving it away from dependence on oil.

    He said that the 2016 budget of N6.08 trillion is a “framework that will consolidate and add impetus to the change agenda of this administration and will promote economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction and service delivery to all Nigerians.”

    Let me start by saying that indeed we have to fund part of this budget by borrowing because in the previous administration a huge chunk of our common patrimony our resources have been stolen.

    Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) in his contribution noted that the challenge of the economy is not the current price of oil in the world market.

    Lawan said that the challenge of the economy “is and has always been corruption, corruption. 55 privileged Nigerians in the last 16 years stole 1.34 trillion.”

    He added, “This is the 17th budget I am debating in the National Assembly and with the exception of 2005 Appropriation, there was never an implementation of more than 40%. Nigerians was shortchanged for 16 years.

    “The proposal before us is the first in the last 17 years that an allocation of 30% of the appropriation is given for capital expenditure and for the first time in a genuine, sincere, honest and transparent manner the executive arm of government as deem it necessary to give ordinary Nigerians something, some succour, some hope and genuine one for that matter that we have N500 billion allocated to the school feeding and social and the safety nets generally.

    “Mr. President 2015 budget when we debated it here the proposal was N500 billion for the entire capital budget and we said it and it came to pass that they were not going to implement even half of that.

    “In fact at that time I mentioned that Nigerians with over 179.9 million will have only about N200 billion in a budget of 4.9trillion.

    “Today, we have a budget that provides 30% in the first instance and so many other social safety nets that will be for disadvantage Nigerians, Nigerians that are most vulnerable that have little or no hope. This is again the first budget presented to the assembly in the last 17 years in which revenue from oil is not predominant and is not overwhelming.”

    Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) faulted the budget and urged the government to withdraw it so as to go back to the drawing board.

    He said, “I am going to quote copiously from the Senate Leader. He said this budget is unique and titled `Budget of Change’.

    “This budget is indeed unique, the first budget that has ever been sent out to the public of Nigeria and after the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done.

    “It is a budget of change, I agree but it is a change in the wrong direction. I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified.

    “A budget that increases spending up to 30% based solely on borrowing, in what way is it justified? That is the question we want to ask the people who brought this budget of change.

    “We ask a question: this budget has moved the 2015 budget from N4.45 trillion to N6.08 trillion and we felt that moving it on zero based budgeting should actually show how it is done.

    “Of course we get nothing; all we get is that we are going to borrow.

    “A budget that moves domestic spending within Aso Villa from N580 million to N1.7 billion cannot be a budget of change.

    “We were told that in the revised budget there was an adjustment due to error, we agree but what has happened is that the money up to N7 billion were moved from buying vehicles to being spread in offices.

    The House of Representatives began consideration of the 2016 Budget yesterday.

    The budget was laid by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 22nd of December 2015.

    The Majority leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila who presented an overview of the budget before the House allayed the fear of members.

    According to him, the 2016 budget is different from what obtained in the past.

    He said: “The 2016 budget is epic and historical not just because of its super mega size of N6trillion but for reasons that it touches the economic and social well being of the people of Nigeria.

    “It is a budget based n the internationally acclaimed zero based budgeting system where every kobo has been justified by the MDas.

    Gbajabiamila said the 2016 budget contained N6.077 trillion out of which N2.648 trillion would be for recurrent (non-debt); N1.845 trillion capital expenditure; N1.475 trillion for debt service and N351. 37 billion for statutory transfers.

    He said the budget “comes with N2.2 trillion deficit to be financed with domestic borrowing of N984 billion and foreign borrowing of N900 billion,” adding that its the first time  that domestic borrowing will be higher than foreign borrowing.

    He saint the domestic loans would be at a “highly concessionary terms with moratorium and single digit interest of about 3 percent.”

    Gbajabiamila said the borrowings would stimulate Nigeria’s economy, particularly the capital component, which makes up is about 30 percent of the budget.

    According to him, priority areas of government are: “ Works, Power and Housing with the allocation of N433.4 billion, Transport N202 billion, Defence N134.6 billion, Interior N53.1 billion.

    The lawmaker said Agriculture and Solid Minerals Reforms are also priority areas in the budget

    “I would like to state at this point that there is also a direct correlation between the government’s credibility and anti-corruption fight and the willingness of the World bank, IMF and even the domestic lenders to give this very concession rates.

    “They believe the monies borrowed will be properly channeled and utilized and their chances of getting paid back a lot higher and so have expressed a willingness to assist the government in financing its budget deficit through these loans.

    “The government also intends to reduce taxes whilst broadening the tax net and pursue a more aggressive revenue collection drive. It also intends to block leakages and waste thereby freeing up more funds for budget implementation. Reforms such as the Treasury Single Account are already yielding positive results.”

    He said the president has called the budget the budget of change and called for a speedy passage of the document.

    Members of the House who spoke yesterday were of the opinion that though the budget seem to be people-oriented, there is the need to be cautious based on the current economic situation in the country .

    Some of the main observation of members were the crashing oil prices which has dropped below $30 per barrel; the lack of adequate implementation of past budgets by the executive; need to move away from being an oil- based economy and the huge deficit in the budget.

    Budget performance should be between 75 or 80 percent at least so the 2016 budget would not go the way of previous budgets, the lawmakers said.

    A member, Jimoh Olajide expressed concern on the deficit of N2.2 trillion in the budget and wondered it it would not impact negatively on the budget

    Lawan Abubakar ( Adamawa) spoke on the strength of the dollar against the Naira saying its causing a disjunction in the Nigerian Economy? He opined that its necessary to stem oil heft and pipeline vandalization to enable the federal government implement the budget reasonably in the face of dwindling oil revenue.

    The Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara said members would be allowed to contribute to the debates on the budget from yesterday  Wednesday to Tuesday next week.

    Many members indicated their intention to contribute to the budget debate

    The debate continues today.

    “It also increases the spending that is due to renovations within the Villa; they are going to renovate the Villa with N3.9 billion.

    “What else do you want to renovate there that Nigerians will see in the Year 2016.

    “We know what is going on in the global economy; this budget is predicated on an oil benchmark of $38 per barrel and I can now say that with oil being $28 today, this budget is dead on arrival.

    “The job of the opposition is to help the government to get its priorities right so I want to please urge this government to withdraw this budget and go back to the drawing board.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator John Owan Enoh, (Cross River Central) took a critical view of the budget insisting that the budget has quite some fine points no doubt.

    Enoh said that the debate should dwell on some of the matters that will concern everyone.

    He said, “The budget seeks to stimulate the economy for example through economic diversification, import substitution, export expansion and promotion. This is good.

  • Ondo APC to Mimiko: present budget

    Ondo APC to Mimiko: present budget

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State yesterday took a swipe at Governor Olusegun Mimiko for failing to present the 2016 budget.

    The party in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Steve Otaloro, said by now, the execution of the budget ought to have started, with revenue and expenditure monitored to guard against deficit.

    APC lamented that instead the governor and his lieutenants were developing the 2017 budget.

    It noted that the 2015 budget was being audited to ensure that monies were properly spent and accounted for.

    The statement observed that the delay in the presentation of the 2016 Appropriation Bill by the governor might worsen the people’s standard of living.

    It said: “We feel strongly that with the delay, the level of corrupt practices in this government might increase owing to the late implementation of capital votes.

    “Surely, capital projects will suffer and when this happens, the standard of living will fall because capital projects are what impact on the standard of living of the people.

  • Senate adopts 2016 revised budget

    • House in rowdy session

    The Senate yesterday adopted the controversial revised version of the 2016 budget estimates.

    The adoption of the corrected version followed a memorandum by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki on the revised budget proposals. Saraki read the Presidential letter in plenary yesterday.

    The letter Personally signed by Buhari was dated 15 January, 2016 and entitled “2016 budget proposals.”

    President Buhari asked the Senate to work with the corrected version of the budget estimates

    Some Senators however spotted a fundamental error on the date of presentation of the Appropriation Bill quoted in the Presidential memo.

    But if was a different scenerio that played out at the House of Representatives following some objections raised by members.

    The letter from President Muhammadu Buhari to the House of Representatives  withdrawing the faulty details of the 2016 budget caused a furore in the Green Chamber yesterday.

    No sooner had the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara read the letter from the president than the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor opposed the content of the letter from the  President

    While quoting  Section 80(4) of the constitution and Order 91 of the House, he said the constitution said the budget must be submitted in a timely fashion and that the House Rule ( 84) permits Chairmen of committees to amend the budget in line with the needs and interests of Nigerians.

    Ogor further argued that there is therefore no need for the president to write a letter for the amendment of the appropriation bill.

    Quoting Rule 84 of the House, Ogor said: “Any committee to which the budget is commuted shall have the power to amend.

    “The issue of amendment is the responsibility of committees, not a situation where an amendment is being proposed with all the attendant crisis.

    “To avoid unnecessary complexity we should look at it at committee level and the Chairmen of committees should do the amendment, Instead of having two documents.”

    But the Speaker corrected Ogor saying the President is asking for a “ correction” not “amendment” and that only the President has the right to do such.

    “Communications from the President  are not to be debated. You’re talking of amendment, there is no where in the letter that the President talked of amendment. The president talked of correction.

  • ‘How to prepare council budget’

    ‘How to prepare council budget’

    EVERY council’s budget must reflect the policies and programmes of the state government,  Executive Secretary of Agege Local Government Area, Mr. Omofunmilewa Adejombo has said. It should also weave its expenditure around the expected income for the year. This is so because it is unlawful for any entity to spend more than it can earn.

    Mr Adejombo stated this while addressing residents of the council during a stakeholders’ meeting on preparation of the council’s budget.

    Highlighting the importance of the stakeholders’ meeting, the council chief said it was necessary that residents contribute to the preparation of the budget because it would be in line with government’s policy on Local Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS).

    According to the council chief, in the new budget system of the medium-term expenditure framework, stakeholders’ inputs are very important if the local government is to have a realistic budget that would impact meaningfully on the lives of the people.

    Mr. Adejombo noted that the stakeholders’ meeting which was aimed at allowing the people to tell government what is of paramount importance to their different communities is a sign of transparency and commitment on the part of government to improve people’s standard of living.

    He disclosed that the stakeholders’ meeting was a means of identifying ways to improve the standard of living of the people, reduce rate of unemployment, improve standard of education, youth and sports, rural infrastructure, provide good health facilities and enhance agricultural development.

    “We are gathered here to present to the council the various needs of your communities. You shall work with the officials of the council to prioritise the various needs of your communities.

    “Stakeholders’ meeting is a deliberate attempt to give room for grassroots participation in the decision-making process because we are all stakeholders in the process of building a virile society. We have duties and responsibilities to perform,” he said.

    Hinting that each local government has its own set objectives which it intends to carry out, he said this time around, it has to be in line with the specific needs of the communities because all the communities may not be in need of the same amenities at the same time.

    He further stated that gone were the days when government at all levels decided what development programmes particular areas would have without minding whether the communities need them or not.

    “This is a deliberate policy initiative by government to empower the people economically. It is a bottom-up approach as well as participatory form of governance. All suggestions and requests from the various communities will form components of the budget,” he said.

    He, however, stressed that residents should not be unmindful of the economic challenges confronting the nation while making demands of projects the council should execute for them.

    Mr. Adejombo said such challenges are in the areas of high inflation rate, decrease in crude oil prices at the international market, high exchange rate and so on are signals for all that we should prudently manage our resources and at the same time ensure service delivery in a more accountable, transparent, responsive and responsible way.

    The head of administration in the local government area, Mrs Mayowa Ikuforiji, urged all residents to assist the local government in performing its responsibilities through prompt payment of their bills and rates; as this would go a long way in ensuring availability of funds for the local government with which it would execute development projects for the people.

    Various communities and Wards used the opportunity to present to the council proposals for projects which are vital to the development of their communities which they want the council to budget for.

  • Senate adopts 2016 revised budget

    Senate adopts 2016 revised budget

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    The Senate on Tuesday adopted the revised version of the 2016 budget estimates.

    The adoption of the corrected version of the budget followed a letter by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on the revised budget proposals.

    Saraki read the Presidential letter in plenary on Tuesday.

    The letter personally signed by Buhari was dated January 15, 2016 and entitled: “2016 budget proposals.”

    President Buhari asked the Senate to work with the corrected version of the budget estimates

    Some Senators, however, spotted a fundamental error on the date of presentation of the Appropriation Bill quoted in the Presidential memo.

    The Senators said the memo stated that the budget was presented to a joint sitting of the National Assembly on Tuesday, December 22, 2016 instead of Tuesday, December 22, 2015.

    The memo reads in part, “It would be recalled that on Tuesday 22nd December, “2016” (2015) I presented my 2016 budget proposals to the joint sitting of the National Assembly.

    “I submitted a draft bill accompanied by schedule of details.

    “At the time of submission we indicated that because the details had just been produced we would have had to check to ensure that there were no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule.

    “That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted.

    “The National Assembly will therefore have the details as submitted on the 22nd and a copy containing the corrections submitted last week.

    “It appears that this had led to some confusion. In this regard, please find attached a corrected version.

    “This is the version the National Assembly should work with as my 2016 budget estimates.

    “The draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in any of the figures.”

    Details of the corrections made on the fiscal document were not disclosed.

    After reading the letter, Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, moved for the adoption of the letter so that the communication would formally become a document of the Senate.

    Ndume also moved that with the adoption of the communication, the Senate should consider the budget as amended.

    The two motions were endorsed by the Senate.

     

  • NSE ready to fund N1.8tr budget deficit

    NSE ready to fund N1.8tr budget deficit

    • Investors assured on outlook

    The capital market has the depth to finance the national budget deficit and drive investments in key national infrastructure, the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has said.

    Addressing journalists at the NSE in Lagos yesterday, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oscar Onyema said the sovereign debt market has been on the rise in spite of the current downtrend in the equities market.

    He said capital market has the capacity to fund the 2016 budget deficit, which is estimated at N1.8 trillion and to further support the realisation of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework of the government.

    While the equities market was in the red in 2015, the NSE bond market rose by a third. Market capitalization for the debt market jumped by 32.7 per cent to N7.14 trillion. The Federal and State Governments raised N76.5 billion and N35.8 billion in debt capital, respectively. Companies also took to the debt market to raise a total of N112 in seven new listings.

    According   to him, apart from the federal government raising debt capital directly from the market, other government agencies could be unbundled and made to access the capital market for funds so as to free some cash for the government to fund other areas of development.

    He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is already looking in that direction and urged others to consider the same option.

    “The capital market has an opportunity to effectively finance the FGN’s proposed budget deficit for 2016 and the implementation of its Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). With greater clarity on policy direction, we anticipate the return of investors who had remained on the sidelines throughout 2015,” Onyema said.

    He said the Exchange would continue its collaborative efforts with the Federal Government and other private sector players to create a framework for financing the nation’s infrastructure and capital requirements.

    “The NSE will focus on executing its strategy in order to continue to provide a credible platform for financing the economy. To this end, we intend to intensify our engagement with the Federal Government,” Onyema said.

  • Budget 2016 (3) Budget and monetary policy

    Budget 2016 (3) Budget and monetary policy

    Thanks to a pirrouette on foreign exchange, a cheerful prospect

    If the slump in global oil prices stood out year 2015 as one of reckoning for the economy, it was also a year of unprecedented activism by the apex bank. Several factors were to define the bank’s activism: First, was the need to preserve the foreign reserves in the face of severely constrained inflow of foreign earnings and the resultant pressure on the Naira. The second was increasing dollarisation of the economy; third was the mounting concerns about costs of funds; and lastly the liquidity crunch in the aftermath of the apex bank’s monetary policies.

    To address the first, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June, last year, removed 41 goods and services from the list of items valid for foreign exchange through the official window. Traders in the items were directed to source their foreign exchange requirements from autonomous sources to pay overseas suppliers. Happily, the Federal Government has reversed the order to its former state. This negates the order in August that banned the payment of cash into domiciliary accounts, although it claimed that the measure stemmed from the refusal by banks to accept payment of foreign currencies into domiciliary accounts. Those with foreign currency cash lodgements made prior to the date of announcement were availed the option of either to withdraw their foreign currency cash or to be paid the Naira equivalent. Happily again, this has also reverted to the old order.

    By November, the CBN announced a major shift in monetary policy with the reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 13 per cent to 11 per cent. It also slashed the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from 25 per cent to 20 per cent. Both measures were said to have been borne of the need to bolster the liquidity in the aftermath of palpable liquidity crunch in the economy while also seeking to ensure that more funds are channelled to priority sectors of the economy. CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele identified “the weakening fundamentals of the economy, particularly the low output growth, rising unemployment and the uncertainty of the global economic environment” as necessitating the measures.

    According to him, “the MPC was particularly concerned that the previous liquidity injections embarked upon through lowering of the CRR in the last MPC has not transmitted significantly to improved credit delivery to key growth and employment in sensitive sectors of the economy. Rather, more credit was given to sectors with low employment elasticity.”

    The above background obviously heightened expectations of matching fiscal policies in the current year. We are therefore not surprised that these broad issues constituted the broad thrust of Budget 2016 despite the severe constraints of revenue. By this, we do not just refer to the unprecedented N6.04 trillion budget outlay but the quantum leap in capital allocation. In this, we are particularly enthused that a considerable chunk of funds were allocated to Works, Power and Housing – N433.4 billion; Transport – N202 billion; Special Intervention Programmes – N200 billion and Defence – N134.6 billion – sectors that are critical to any prospects of the economy’s quick turnaround as well as to the administration’s quest to diversify the economy.

    Overall, we see the main challenge for the year as the real sector where activities remain at their lowest ebb. If Nigerians expected that the lowering of the MRR would moderate the cost of funds, the impact of the measure remains to be seen at this time. The same applies to the reduction of the CRR expected to boost lending to the so-called priority sectors. Although we must also admit that the situation has not been helped by the hitherto restrictive foreign exchange policies of the CBN which were generally adjudged to have hampered the operations of the real sector. To the extent that the challenge of making the real sector the pivot of the economy subsists, one of the major issues that the monetary and fiscal authorities would have to contend with is evolving a framework that balances the needs of the sector with the need to preserve the nation’s increasingly limited inflow into the foreign reserves.

    All said, it is heartwarming that the CBN has begun to hearken to the cries to liberalise access to foreign exchange.

     

  • Finance minister can’t approve NCC budget, says senator

    Finance minister can’t approve NCC budget, says senator

    THE senator representing Lagos West Solomon Adeola has faulted Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun’s call that the Nigeria Communications Commission’s (NCC) budget and those of other revenue generating agencies be submitted for approval.

    According to him, under the NCC Act, only the National Assembly could consider and approve the budget of NCC.

    The senator stressed that any attempt by the minister and the supervising minister to approve the budget of NCC would amount to a breach of the law and an encroachment on the function and power of the legislature.

    ”I am surprised that the minister included NCC among agencies to submit budgets for her and other supervising ministers to approve. As well-intentioned as this may seem in the effort to generate revenue and block leakages, it is a contravention of the NCC Act as well as usurping the power of the National Assembly to approve the budget of NCC,” he stated.

    The vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications referred the minister to Sections 17-21 of the NCC Act that dwelt on the financial provisions for commission, adding that the only fund NCC was mandated to pay to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation was  ”monies accruing from sale of spectrum” as contained in Section 17(3).

    Asserting that NCC was a semi-autonomous commission, Adeola said the Finance minister would only come in if the NCC wanted to borrow money.

    He said Section 25 (2) of the Act expressly forbids even the supervising minister from undue interference: “In execution of his functions and relationship with the commission, the minister shall, at all times, ensure that the independence of the commission, in regard to the discharge of its functions and operation under this Act, is protected and not compromised in any manner whatsoever”.

  • N8m budget crisis hits union

    N8m budget crisis hits union

    Leaders of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Students’ Union Government (SUG) are squabbling over how to disburse their N8million budget. The crisis has pitched the SUG president against the parliament. JAMES OJO (300-Level Mass Communication) reports.

    Eight million naira. This is the cause of the crisis rocking the Students Union Government (SUG) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in Enugu State. Since the union was deproscribed two years ago, its leaders have been embroiled in controversies.

    Barely four months to the expiration of their tenure, the union leaders are locked in a fresh crisis. Members of the executive and the parliament are quarrelling with the president, Peter Oji, over the union’s N8 million budget. The disagreement followed the parliament’s resolution on the funds’ disbursement.

    The money, approved last July to enable the SUG execute capital projects, was released last month, CAMPUSLIFE learnt. It was gathered that the parliament wants the money shared as allowances, but Peter disagrees. He is insisting that the fund be utilised on capital projects to promote the union’s image.

    Peter said: “They want us to share the N8 million without carrying out any tangible project for students. The school released the money last week after it was approved on July 31. Now, some people are saying the money should be used to pay members’ allowances. I don’t think this is right, because that is not what the money is meant for.

    “We have a lot of projects to carry out, because the union is just putting its foot on the ground after years of proscription. We don’t have basic amenities, such as bus to ease our activities. I said we should use part of the money to buy a bus and a quarter of it should go for allowances. They (parliament members) rejected the idea. They said I should share everything as allowances. I told them I am not sharing anything.”

    Peter said that the budget was ratified when he was suspended.

    He stated: “The budget was passed when I was illegally suspended. I don’t know where else that is done. Every item of the budget was about allowance. At the end, we have had no strategic project to execute. Even the ones approved in the budget were not carried out. Now, they want a situation where l would come and disburse the money for them to share.”

    Peter called on his colleagues to fight for group interest and not personal interest. He said his administration would embark on projects that would change the students’ lives.

    The SUG president blamed students for not taking interest in the union activities, thereby allowing leaders to do as they like.

    He said: “Students should be interested in what is happening in the SUG. Because of their nonchalant attitude, anybody comes up with anything and goes away with it.”

    The Speaker of parliament, Magnus Ogbu, denied that members wanted the money shared as allowance. He said the parliament is agitating for fulfilment of the promises “stipulated in our budget”.

    He said: “Some persons are trying to divert the money to items not stipulated in our budget. What the parliament said is that, the money should be directed to the purpose for which it is meant.”

    The parliament’s Information Committee chairman, David Okpe, said the crisis was fuelled by Peter’s insistence that the money be used for unspecified purposes.

    He said: “Before the money was released, the house already had a plan. But, when the money was remitted to the union, the president added other things, breaching the constitutional right of the House Appropriation Committee. And consequently, Peter’s decision to disburse the money on other unspecified purposes was frowned at by other arms of the union. This led to the disagreement.”

    On the president’s intention to buy a bus from the money, David said only the parliament could approve money for such capital project.

    He added: “Buying a bus is a welcome development. The union does not have a bus; so it is a good thinking to have one. But, there is no provision for that purpose in our budget, which has been ratified by the school authorities. We feel it is not logical to divert an allocation designated for a specific purpose for another purpose.”

    The union leaders, David said, must have “unity of purpose”,  adding that this is the only way to prevent disagreement.

    “When the executive and other arms of government are thinking in different directions, there will always be misunderstanding,” he said.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof Peter Akah, has intervened to resolve the crisis. It was gathered that parties had met with the Dean. A source said Prof Akah pleaded with the union leaders to allow the money to be used for what it is meant.