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Tag: BudgIT Nigeria

  • Telecom sector contributed N8.6tn to Nigeria’s economy in 2017 – BudgIT

    The telecommunication sector contributed N8.6 trillion to the economy, a report released by a civic technology organization, BudgIT Nigeria, has revealed.

    The report titled: Operational and fund management analysis of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), showed that Nigeria’s e-commerce sector would grow by N15.5 trillion in the next ten years.

    The USPF was established by the Federal Government in 2006 to facilitate the achievement of national policy goals for universal access and universal service to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in rural, un-served and under-served areas in Nigeria.

    The Fund is being managed to facilitate the widest possible access to affordable telecommunications services for greater social equity and inclusion for Nigerians.

    According to the report, investments in the telecommunication sector had grown since it was liberalized in 2000 by the government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

    For example, the report noted that investments in the sector rose from $50million in 1999 to approximately $6bn in 2004.

    It added that the increased investment and the GSM revolution also impacted the internet subscription positively with 100.9 million Nigerians been active internet subscribers as at February 2018.

    The report reads: “The rapid expansion of the Nigerian mobile telecoms industry at the turn of the century, due to the proliferation of the internet, computers, smartphones, social media and advancement of digital censors technology, is pushing up the volume of data generated, and increasing the need for planning and decision making.

    “As at the end of 2017, the telecoms and information service sectors’ direct contribution to Africa’s largest economy was approximately 8.7% or N8.6tn.

    “After the full liberalisation of the telecommunications market in 2000 and the successful auctioning of the 2G Digital Mobile Licenses in January 2001- with a total of four GSM licenses issued – the sector effectively took off.

    “Investment in the sector more than tripled, rising from $50million in 1999 to approximately $6bn in 2004. As at 2017, Nigeria’s telephone penetration had 145 million subscribers, down from its historical peak of 154 million in 2016 but astronomical still when compared with 10.2 million subscribers in 2004.

    “The increased investment and the GSM revolution also impacted the internet subscription positively. As at February 2018, the total number of internet subscribers in Nigeria was 100.9 million. However, only 22% of internet subscribers enjoy broadband speeds.”

    BudgIT’s General Manager (Operations), Gabriel Okeowo, who spoke to reporters on the sideline of the 2018 Internet Freedom Forum in Abuja, said the telecom sector remained one of the sectors that is contributing hugely to Nigeria’s economy.

    “The telecom sector is a sector that is contributing hugely to the economy of Nigeria. That figure you quoted is considering the number of workforce, citizens the telecom industry is absorbing in to give them jobs.

    “It looks at how much Nigeria is expending on phone calls, how much Nigeria is expending on data services. All of that when you put it together, today, telecom is contributing that much to the country.”

    Also, its Program Manager for Tracka, Mr. Uadamen Ilevbaoje, noted that tracking ICT projects under the USPF remained a major challenge for the organization.

    According to him, most of the USPF projects are not specified while lawmakers hijack some of them.

    He called on the government to specify its ICT projects in order for Nigerians to track them.

    Mr. Ilevbaoje said: “By government not specifying the projects, lawmakers hijack it and exploit the project by appropriating the funds and USPF does not follow it up.”

  • Police brought me to Abuja in chains, handcuffed my hands -BudgIT staff

    Police brought me to Abuja in chains, handcuffed my hands -BudgIT staff

    A worker with civic technology organization, BudgIT Nigeria, Moses Motoni, on Wednesday narrated how he was chained, handcuffed and driven to Abuja by police officers.

    He was arrested by the police in Kaduna for sensitizing some Niger state residents on budget tracking.

    Motoni, who spoke to journalists in Abuja on his experience, explained that he was not informed about his crime or the complainant.

    According to him, the policemen simply said he was being arrested for “inciting the populace and trying to impeach the Emir of Bida.

    Motoni’s troubles began when he visited the Bida, Niger State last Friday to sensitize residents of the Niger South Senatorial District on the zonal intervention projects awarded to their constituency in the 2017 Budget.

    The exact project was the “installation of transformers and electrification of the following communities: Nowanya-Tawadzuru tiffin-Emitswachi-Tawadzuru Tako in Gbako LGA, Niger South Senatorial District, Niger State-N25m,” as stated in the 2017 Appropriation Act.

    Moroni was however arrested on Monday after he was tricked into visiting the DHL office at Markafi market, Kaduna to pick a parcel where he was forcefully taken into a vehicle and brought to Abuja by policemen who disguised as DHL personnel.

    The BudgIT worker explained that he simply enlightened the people about constituency projects in their communities and how to track the budget for it.

    Motoni said he was surprised by allegations that he wanted to incite the public and impeach the traditional ruler in Niger.

    He said: “I was arrested in Kaduna and being driven from there to Abuja was hell for me because I was handcuffed in both legs and my elbows were handcuffed to a chair which dislocated my joints.

    “I wasn’t actually sitting down, I squatted from Kaduna to Abuja which was a journey of about two and a half hours.

    “It was when I got to Abuja that I was properly debriefed about the reason for my arrest.”

    Motoni denied that his engagement with the Bida community would lead to a breach of the peace, noting that the idea of budget tracking was to encouraged the community members to engage their representatives at the National Assembly and ensure the budgeted projects  are implemented.

    “They (policemen) said they got a complaint that I was trying to incite the public, create a breach of trust and impeach the Emir. But this is not true, I went to the community to educate the people on how they can engage their representatives on the implementation of the projects,” he stated.

    He said he was not cowed by the police, noting that he would still visit Niger State to continue his advocacy work.

    “With my experience with the so far, I am still going to go to Niger State, because I love doing this job, I love encouraging the community about the projects because they go a long way in stardardising the community’s standards of living,” he noted.

    The Team Lead, BudgIT Nigeria, Oluseun Onigbinde explained that the budget tracking project was meant to simplify the budget and create citizens awareness about the fiscal document so they could demand accountability.

    He condemned Motoni’s arrest which he alleged was instigated by the National Assembly representatives from the area.

    He explained that Senator Sani Mohammed had put a phone call to Motoni, inviting him to a meeting in his house which he declined because BudgIT tracking personnel were not allowed to meet with public officials privately.

    Onigbinde said, “After this, we believe the senator reached out to the Nigeria police and accused Motoni of plotting to topple the Emir of Bida following which he was arrested, handcuffed and taken to SARS’ office in Abuja. We condemn this abuse of power by the police and we plan to take up the issue with President Buhari, the and the Senate President; We would also reach out to the United Nations and the United States on this issue.”

  • States owe N3.89tn internal, external debts – BudgIT

    States owe N3.89tn internal, external debts – BudgIT

    A civic technology organization, BudgIT Nigeria has said the total debt profile of states from both internal and external borrowing has increased from N3.03 trillion in 2015 to N3.89 trillion in 2016.

    BudgIT’s Lead Partner, Oluseun Onigbinde said this at the launch of the organization’s state of state report in Abuja, on Thursday.

    According to him, Lagos state has 24.2 percent of the total debt stock of state governments with N500.8 billion debt profile in 2015 to N734.7 billion in 2016.

    Onigbinde expressed worries over the increasing debt profile of states and their inabilities to generate revenues.

    He said the high debt profile had made it difficult for most states to meet their recurrent expenditure obligations.

    Onigbinde said: “Total debt profile of states in 2015 and 2016 was N3.03tn and N3.89tn respectively. Lagos state’s total debt stock rose from the 2014 level of N500.8bn to N734.7bn in 2016 – accounting for 24.2 percent of the total debt stock of the state governments.

    “Lagos debt is becoming really worrisome for us. Lagos debt is also entering some uncharted territory which needs to be watched carefully.

    “Many state governments are confronted by rapidly rising budget deficits as they struggle to pay salaries and meet contractual obligations and overheads due to a dip in oil price from its peak price of about $140 per barrel to about $56 per barrel.”

    He urged state governments to expand their internally generated revenue while cutting down on their debt accumulation.

    Onigbinde also called on the state governments to cut their “unreasonable” overheads bill while freeing up more spending for social infrastructure.

    He said: “Over the last few months, many state governments have been devising policy changes with a strong focus on improving internally generated revenue and reining in expenditure.

    “State governments need to tremendously embrace a high level of transparency and accountability, develop workable economic plans, take haircuts-especially on overheads-expand their internally generated revenue (IGR) base, and cut down on debt accumulation without a concrete repayment plan.

    “The states need to look beyond the rhetorics and commit to a reduction in its operating costs, including significantly slashing its unreasonable overheads bill while freeing up more spending for social infrastructure.

    “States will need to link future borrowing to sustainable projects, which can pay back the capital cost of its current loans and improve the overall income profile of the state.

    “Improve spending is also critical for value-added tax revenue, manufacturing, trade, logic and tourism abound across states but it seems states lack the rigour and foresight to explore them.

    Earlier in her remarks, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, Yewande Sadiku, said all states are competing for investment from the Federal Government, forgetting that what the government gets was insufficient for Nigeria’s economic development.

    According to her, if state governments consider investing in their states the rate of debt would drop.

    She said: “Our work at the federal level will not achieve anything if we don’t work along with the state governments

    “It is certain that if states governments work more on investing in their states, the rates of debts will drop.”

    She urged Nigerians to invest more in their country instead of going out to invest, noting that Nigeria’s economic potential would be converted to its economic wealth.

  • BudgIT seeks transparency in constituency projects

    BudgIT seeks transparency in constituency projects

    Civic technology organization, BudgIT Nigeria has urged the Federal Government to ensure transparency in the implementation of this year’s constituency projects.

    The organization said it observed that most of the challenges experienced in the tracking of 2015 projects are still present in someof this year’s constituency projects it had started tracking.

    BudgIT, which seeks transparency in governance and government projects, said this in a statement issued by its Program Manager for Tracka, Abiola Sosami, in Abuja on Tuesday.

    According to BudgIT, the problem of multiple provisions, lack of access to information about public projects and lack of transparency around project funds still surrounds the implementation of projects in Nigeria.
    The statement reads: “This year, there are multiple provisions labeled as empowerment program, which does not have a direct impact on thecitizens and by their very nature are also highly prone to fraud as the disbursement is at the discretion of officials.

    “A typical example is Gombe State, where advocacy, campaign and sensitization programs will gulp a whopping sum of over N225 million only. Possible duplication of a project is cited in Edo state, where the provision of equipment for women and children hospital in Otuo Owan East Local Government was captured in the Federal and State budgets for N200 million and N57 million respectively.

    “At BudgIT, we believe the lack of access to information about public projects such as the construction of roads, schools, and clinics, etc. hampers development in the various constituencies.

    “Even as we have commenced the tracking of the 2016 constituency projects, this exercise is intricate due to the lack of transparency around project funds. Although the FG has released about N 332 billion to various ministries; power, works, housing, defense and security and others for developmental projects, but the process still falls short of the requirements of open government which Nigeria recently joined.

    “The principle of open contracting must be prioritized to ensure public participation in contract awards.

    “As Nigeria operates its largest deficit in decades, the allocation of funds to public projects should remain cost viable. This project does not substantially address the destitution of the residents neither does it not reflect the present reality of our economic situation.

    “Transparency entails that Government gives a breakdown of the amount invested in each project, the full details of the Contractor, name, address with contact information, government budget benchmark, terms of the agreement, bill of quantity, etc.). All these must be made available in the public domain.”

    The organization urged the government to consider support in the community where such projects are to be sited in order to enable
    collective and socially inclusive growth.

    It stated that its 2015 report on constituency revealed that on 33 percent of such projects were implemented.

    The organization added that contract inflation, unspecified project locations, citizen’s lack of access to information about projects and over priced empowerment programs as some of the causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria.

    “BudgIT developed a comprehensive report based on the status of 2015 constituency projects in Nigeria; it revealed only 33% of the year’s budget got implemented.

    “A review of the provisions in Tracka focus states demonstrates the reoccurrence of some of the challenges stated in the 2015 report.

    “In 2016, the Federal Government has made provision of N100 billion for Constitutional projects across states in the federation. The distribution of this allocation corroborated the budget padding allegations raised against the Principal Officers in the National Assembly.

    “The unusual and over priced cost of construction in Nigeria hampers development and makes the contractors the biggest beneficiaries of the developmental projects, rather than the people,” the statement added.