The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Mo Abudu bags honourary award

EBONY TV CEO, Ms. Mo Abudu, was on Sunday June 1st, 2014, conferred with an honorary award of Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa).

She was accorded the honour by one of Nigeria’s private universities, Babcock University, at its 12th convocation ceremony.

Mo was awarded this enviable degree by the private Christian co-educational institution owned and run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria.

The other recipient was Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, who was awarded Doctor of Science in Global Economic Development (Honoris Causa).

Abudu, in her acceptance speech, said she felt honoured by the gesture. She added: “There are so many men and women deserving of this award today. I thank you for finding me worthy. Today marks another very important milestone in the exciting journey of this institution.

It is a moment of pride and glory for the school as much as it is for all graduands, parents, family members, friends, our nation and the continent at large.

June 8, 2014
Insurgency: An administration’s many flip-flops

There’s something very odd about the way the Federal Government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan has been handling the Boko Haram insurgency that has paralysed some parts of the northern region of the country.

Its positions shift with each new crisis. In most cases they appear to have been taken based on political expediency, only to be retracted not long after.

One of the most common criticisms about Jonathan’s handling of the war against the killer sect is that he seems incapable of making up his mind as to the approach to be used in tackling what is now an obvious menace.

Right from the very onset of the crisis it has been a tale of craven flip-flops. Here are some notable examples:

Handling Boko Haram

Flip: The Federal Government on April 27, 2014 speaking through the Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the Boko Haram insurgency could be contained and insisted the country was not facing a wider conflict as it heads for elections next year.

“There is no war … there is an insurgency. We are not in a Colombia situation,” she said.

Flop: Few days later on the 28th of April, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said the problem was beyond Nigeria and urgent assistance may be needed to handle it before it is too late.

“I think what we need is international cooperation from the French, from the French-speaking west African countries to work together to deal with this problem before it becomes a major problem for France, for western interests operating in west Africa,” he said.

Classifying Boko Haram

Flip: Early last year, the government loudly opposed a plan by the United States to classify Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). Campaigns about Nigeria not being a terrorist state in spite of the presence of Boko Haram on its soil were mounted by government agencies locally and internationally.

Flop: Last May 17, in far away France, President Goodluck Jonathan surprised many world leaders when he shifted his positions of many years and agreed with a point raised by French President François Hollande.

“This group is armed, with heavy weapons of an unimaginable sophistication and the ability to use them,” Hollande had said.

“Boko Haram is acting clearly as an al-Qaeda operation,” said Jonathan, who had only reluctantly accepted outside help after years of insisting the group was a local problem.

Negotiating with Boko Haram

Flip: President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the Federal Government is still open to constructive dialogue with the Boko Haram sect to end insurgency in the North East zone of the country.

Flop: President Jonathan barely a week later, during a two-day visit to Borno and Yobe States, the group’s hotbed, had ruled out dialoguing or meeting with the group, saying they are “faceless.” “We will not dialogue with ghosts,” he said.

Amnesty for Boko Haram

Flip: Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Boni Haruna, last Thursday revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan has announced amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect as part of his administration’s youths-friendly policies.

Flop: Barely 24 hours after the Minister gleefully announced the amnesty deal President Jonathan’s spokesman said there will be no amnesty for the fighters.

Given previous patterns we have definitely not heard the last about this matter.

June 1, 2014
Celebrating illusion of hope

As Nigeria celebrates 15 years of uninterrupted democratic rule tomorrow, stakeholders are lamenting the gap between expectation and reality, reports Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN.

On May 29, 1999, the expectation was high. But, 15 years after, the hopes appear to have been dashed.

Security of lives and property cannot be guaranteed. Job opportunities are elusive. The standard of living is low. Corruption has assumed an alarming proportion. Cravings for wealth among public officials appears to be the norm. Government has also failed to create a conducive environment for business and foreign investment.

It appears the government has been overwhelmed by the problems facing the country. Observers argue that the situation is even worse than it was before the advent of democracy.

On the economic front, the story is depressing. The World Bank has ranked Nigeria as the fifth poorest country in the world. About 75 per cent of the populace live on $1 per day. The irony of it is that Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world. The oil wealth has translated into mass poverty.

It seems the country is broke. The states’ monthly allocations from the Federation Account have been dropping. There is panic over the state of the economy. Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has attributed the shortfall in the national revenue to the oil theft in the Niger Delta, which has led to a grossly diminished accrual to the national treasury.

A university lecturer, Dr Adetunji Ogunyemi, described the situation whereby oil thieves have held the nation to ransom as shameful. He said the government seemed to have given up and accepted that oil theft is a way of life. He noted that the activities of these criminals have forced some states to go borrowing before they could pay civil servants.

In his reckoning, an economist, Henry Boyo, said the economy was trapped in a paradox of deepening poverty, despite the increasing export revenue. He said: “It is inexplicable that Nigeria became listed among the poorest nations of the world. A careful analysis of the process of infusion of our export earnings into the economy will show that this anomaly was made inevitable by the Central Bank’s practice of capturing export dollar revenue and substituting naira at its unilaterally determined rate of exchange before the payment of consolidated naira allocations to the three tiers of government.”

To Boyo, the monetary framework is faulty, and there is urgent need for its fundamental restructuring so that the economy can be rapidly transformed to induce vast expansion in industrial activity with single digit lending rates. If this is done, it will also increase employment opportunities and lower single digit of inflation and the exchange rate mechanism. He observed that the government’s efforts to achieve these parameters, reduce poverty, enhance the social welfare in the last 15 years have failed woefully.

Another economist, Dr Lanre Dada, said the lack of planning and respect for the budgetary process are apparent. He said successive governments are culpable. Dada said while the three regimes have applauded themselves for managing the economy very well, the economic indices tell a different story. He observed that Inflation has been skyrocketing, adding that the purchasing power has also fallen. He regretted that neither of these issues is being addressed by the government.

Dada said it was disheartening that billions of dollars could not be accounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). “For a nation that relies on earnings from the oil export to have failed to account for this huge amount speaks volume about the level of mismanagement in the oil sector,” he added.

The economist frowned at the Federal Government’s indifference to the oil theft in the Niger Delta on daily basis, noting that the activities of the criminals are affecting the economy, because the nation’s earnings from oil have dropped drastically. “What the states and local governments get from the Federation Account on monthly basis has dropped. They are short changed by the oil thieves,” he stressed.

Dada said the so-called rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the Federal government is celebrating is meaningless to the common man because it has not impacted positively on his standard of living. He asked: “If Nigerian economy is ranked the largest in Africa, what does this translate to for the economic indicators such as the industry? Will it result in the resuscitation of moribund industries? Will it result in the return of those who left the country because of harsh operating environment?” The economist warned that the emergence of Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa may not necessarily trigger financial inflows, unless there are good policies and prospects to woo foreign investors.

The fight against corruption by the government has not fared better. According to stakeholders, the anti-graft war is selective and is geared more towards dealing with perceived enemies of government. The high profile corruption cases include the Malabo oil deal, Halliburton contract scam, the fraud in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Communications Commission, particularly as it relates to an estimated N1 trillion debt owed the NITEL for telecom operators’ use of NITEL’s facilities at the inception of GSM, the fraudulent conversion of operators’ universal access license to a national carrier license.

To public affairs analyst, Mallam Aminu Abdullahi, the anti corruption war is not just dead; its remains have been interred. He said the President’s body language encourages and protects corruption. “Remember the case of Stella Oduah, former Minister of Aviation, and the use of over N250 million to buy two bullet-proof cars, which were not provided for in the budget. Besides, the amount was in excess of the market price. Despite the public outcry against her continued stay in office, it took President Jonathan several months to sack Oduah,” he said.

Abdullahi added: “Now, another minister has been alleged of misappropriation. Petroleum Resources Minister Mrs Deziani Alison-Madueke was alleged to have spent N10 billion on a private for her personal use. While the matter was still pending for investigation at the National Assembly, President Jonathan stoutly defended the minister by saying she is entitled to a private jet because of the nature of her work. The minister said she would appear before the House of Representatives Committee, if the President approves.

Upset by the President’s comment, Abdullahi said: “It appears our President doesn’t know that corruption is an impediment that stunts the growth of nations. No nation has ever developed or made any meaningful progress without tackling corruption head-long. I am not expecting any positive change or determined effort from Jonathan in the anti-graft war”.

Dada aligned himself with Abdullahi’s position. He said government has refused to arrest and punish corrupt officials, thereby promoting the lack of accountability in public life. Noting that transparency and accountability are fundamental to good governance, the economist urged the President to eradicate the rot in the oil and gas sector.

The 1999 Constitution states that the security and welfare of the people are the primary responsibility of government. It appears that government has failed in this respect. The security challenges are enormous. The Boko Haram insurgency, the armed robbery and kidnappings have overwhelmed the government.

A social critic, Charles Edebiri, is of the view that the Federal Government, which controls the Armed Forces, should guarantee an atmosphere of security, peace and tranquillity. He said a government that is popularly elected by the people, and still enjoys the currency of tenure, should handle security challenges because it is expected to have plan, vision and will power.

Edebiri said: “Instead, our President only talks and complains about terrorism without pro-active measures to contain the insurgence, robberies, kidnappings and other crimes. Though the Federal Government has declared a state of emergence in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and it has ordered a full scale military operation against the Boko Haram sect, the social critic raised some puzzles: Are we getting the desired results? Are the soldiers well equipped? Why has the Federal Government decided to seek the help of foreign countries to subdue the insurgents? “These questions must be addressed, in view of the army mutiny in Maiduguri recently and the protest staged by the wives of military personnel over the welfare of their husbands,” he added.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said over 50 per cent of Nigerian youths is jobless. The World Bank puts the figure at 56 per cent. Considering the country’s estimated population of about 160 million, the 80 million jobless Nigerians are endangered species. These are grim figures portend danger to economic growth and development. Experts have warned that 56 per cent unemployment rate is too high for comfort, alluding to the fact that the Arab Spring was triggered by a 25 per cent unemployment rate.

A lecturer in the Department of Economics, The Bell University, Ota, Ogun State, Oluwatosin Oyetayo, blamed the high rate of unemployment on government policies, infrastructural decay and the neglect of the manufacturing sector. She said that the economy is not viable, in terms of job creation. “Our production has reduced to almost zero level as a result of erratic power supply. The implication is job loss and Nigeria turning into a dumping ground of finished goods from foreign countries. The economic implication is that we are unable to manage our balance of payment. The social implication is that our youths are engaged in criminal activities”, Oyetayo added.

According to experts, the way out is for government to put in place an effective constitutional and procedural checks and balances on the exercise of state power. They also advise the government to pursue a dynamic and modern process of diversification of the national economy. This can be done by committing a reasonable fraction of the country’s earnings to the development and modernisation of its agriculture and solid minerals sectors so that the two areas can complement the oil and gas sector, which are the major sas foreign exchange earners.

May 28, 2014
I’m not tired of talking on abducted girls, says Okonjo-Iweala

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said she is not tired of talking about the abduction of the Chibok school girls.

A statement from her spokesman, Paul Nwabuikwu said: “The minister is certainly not tired of an issue which has been a nightmare to families involved and all Nigerians for the past one month. She urges that we all focus on the girls themselves and how we bring them back.”

Nwabuikwu said Mrs Okonjo-Iweala had also tweeted that “Our commitment to #BringBackOurGirls does not end with World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFAfrica). It’ll continue. It is our task. We must do it until we bring them back!”

He said the minister had previously stated during WEF that “as a mother of four children, including a daughter, I cannot imagine the agony the parents of these children must be experiencing. We understand the anger and sadness that is shared by Nigerians at home and abroad.”

Nwabuikwu said online claims that Okonjo-Iweala has said she was tired of talking about the abduction “is a distortion of her comments to a reporter from ABC News of the US. Such a distortion is contrary to numerous and consistent comments by the minister which underscore her pain and concern over the issue.”

May 13, 2014
Shutting down Abuja and Mrs Jonathan’s reckless statement

The federal government from all indications is bent on trumpeting Nigeria’s so called economic growth even when the reality on ground does not support the phantom optimism.

You recall the economic miracle performed by that female magician, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She called it rebasing and pronto, Nigeria’s economy jumped the queue and moved to the top position in Africa, even ahead of South Africa, not minding the fact that the two major indices used in arriving at this rebased economy-telecoms and the entertainment industries are driven by South Africa’s economy. Number one indeed.

So much has been written for and against Okonjo-Iweala’s rebased economy that it is better to leave it than risk constant headache in an attempt rationalize Madam Magician’s logic. But even at this the Federal Government would still like us and indeed the rest of the world to believe that things are looking up for our economy and the other facets of our lives. While it is not totally gloomy for Nigeria, the picture being painted by the Jonathan administration is not only deceptive but misleading.

To tell the world that all is well and to reassuring dispirited Nigerians that it is on top of the challenges facing our nation, the Federal Government is going ahead with the hosting of the World Economic Forum (for Africa) or what has been dubbed Africa’s Davos in Abuja, whereas common sense would have dictated otherwise considering the current state of the nation.

And to show its desperation to host this forum, the President has ordered all public offices and schools in Abuja to shut down during the period ostensibly to enhance its capacity to provide adequate security for participants at the forum. The decision which will not go unnoticed by the international community has instead of reassuring the world that Nigeria is safe as the government would want everyone to believe exposed the government’s impotence in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.

Sending the kids home on forced holiday and keeping civil servants away from their offices just to show the world that we can host international events even in the face of serious security challenges would no doubt gladden the hearts of Boko Haram insurgents and their leaders particularly Shekau. It should not be a surprise if in his next video clip he points at the shutting down of Abuja by the government as one of the achievements of his group so far signaling its capacity to drive terror and fear into the administration even without exploding any bomb.

I think the closure of schools and offices is just playing into the hands of the terrorists and the government might inadvertently have handed Boko Haram a propaganda tool in its recruitment drive. I agree that the government is between the devil and the deep blue sea in this matter as calling off the forum could hand a bigger propaganda tool to Boko Haram while keeping everything as normal while the forum is holding could also be too much to ask of our security agencies and unnecessarily expose the summiteers and the general public to danger in the event that Boko Haram decides to strike.

So what could we have done or can we do?

In asking to host the forum, the federal government surely knew that Boko Haram would still be a factor in our security challenge by the time the summit begins in Abuja and as such should have factored the renewed insurgency against the federal capital into its plans. Prior to now, especially in the run up to the Nyanya attacks, Boko Haram had warned of the imminence of terror attacks in and around the Federal Capital Territory. What measure(s) did the government take to prevent the Nyanya attacks? And if we couldn’t stop them from striking at Nyanya, in spite of the long notice, what guarantee do we have that the visitors coming for the forum can be adequately protected?

If the government intention in asking to host the forum as I suspect is to show the world that Nigeria is working, shutting down Abuja to ward off Boko Haram is not the best way to do it. I can’t see the US government shutting down New York every time the UN General Assembly meets. And the Assembly, drawing all world leaders does meet once a year. All we could have done is to step up security seen and unseen around Abuja while allowing live to continue as normal. We could ask for assistance from those who have experience in this type of thing-fighting terror and living normal life- instead of this resort to panic.

The argument in some circles is that asking for foreign assistance to fight this terror could be tantamount to surrendering our sovereignty. I disagree. If such assistance is sought in good faith and also given in good faith, the question of losing sovereignty would not arise.

We can’t have everything? Even the most developed countries in the world seek help in certain areas where they are deficient. What we could and should do is to seek strategic alliance in terms of security with countries that can help us overcome our security challenges and make our country safe. This is a long term thing. As an ad hoc measure, nothing stops us from seeking direct assistance from friendly countries during the Abuja forum even if it means having foreign boots on ground just to protect our visitors and our people throughout that period. There is no shame in this. After this we can no plan properly for the future how to fight Boko Haram and the likes.

And talking about fighting Boko Haram, one is at a loss over the meddlesome role being played by our First Lady Mrs Patience Jonathan over the abduction of the school girls in Chibok, Borno State by the terrorists. Calling the government of Borno State names is not the best way Madam Jonathan could help resolve this crisis. Not even her threat to march on Chibok and face Boko Haram bullets if need be would bring back our girls. Fiery speeches would not do it either.

I think the First Lady should leave the matter in the hands of her husband and the security forces instead of her inflammatory comments. If she has any idea on how to resolve the problem, she could pass it on to her husband in their bedroom instead of playing to the gallery under the guise of showing concern for the girls and their parents. We are all pained by the development, but we need sober heads to overcome this challenge and bring our girls home. If Madam Jonathan has nothing positive to contribute to the effort to rescue the girls, let her keep quiet.

May 6, 2014
Okonjo-Iweala: Govt has special development plan for Northeast

•Says Nigeria ‘not at war’

•IG: we’re at war

Nigeria is preparing a special development plan for its poor, violence-hit northeast and increasing spending to counter revolt there that could dent the growth in Africa’s No. one oil producer if it worsens, the finance minister said.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters that although the impact of the five-year Boko Haram insurgency had cut half a percentage point off Nigeria’s GDP last year, she believed it could be contained and insisted the country was not facing a wider conflict as it heads for elections next year.
“There is no war … there is an insurgency,” Okonjo-Iweala said in an interview conducted on Sunday in her car in Abuja as she headed to the airport to fly to New York, United States
“We are not in a Colombia situation,” she added, rejecting comparisons with the Latin American energy producer which has battled for decades with a major left-wing insurgency that often affected large swathes of its national territory.
Okonjo-Iweala said Boko Haram insurgents, who have raided schools, churches, government offices and security posts in their fight to carve out an Islamist enclave, mostly affected around 5 per cent of the nation’s territory, the northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
But she acknowledged Boko Haram had shown it could strike further south. A bombing at a bus station this month killed at least 75 people on the outskirts of the capital Abuja, which is hosting a World Economic Forum on Africa next week.
“The WEF is still going on,” Okonjo-Iweala said. To host the “African Davos”, which has previously been held in cities such as Cape Town and Addis Ababa, Nigeria was mounting the largest security operation it had ever staged for an international summit, deploying 6,000 soldiers and police.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s government had increased spending to tackle the Boko Haram threat, including more army recruitment, the minister said, without giving specific figures.
Okonjo-Iweala said it included a programme for the northeast aimed at lifting the area out of poverty and underdevelopment.
“We recognise that this is an inclusion problem … the fact that the human development indicators in that part of the country are among the lowest,” she said. The government was working to obtain backing from donors for the programme.
Boko Haram’s attacks have stopped farmers from growing crops. Several thousand people were killed in the insurgency last year and at that rate it could hurt Nigeria’s GDP in 2014, which is estimated to grow by nearly seven per cent.
“We think we can absorb it, but of course, if like last year, it continues, then we have to make an estimate of the impact,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
She added that investors looking more closely at Nigeria since a GDP rebasing last month made it the continent’s largest economy ahead of South Africa did not appear to be turned off by the security challenges.
“Nobody who is making an investment has so far said they will not make one, that we know of,” she said.
A mass abduction of teenage schoolgirls from a northeastern school by suspected Boko Haram gunmen on April 15 has outraged Nigerians and raised fears that the insurrection, coupled with persistent inter-communal violence in the Middle Belt, could strain Nigeria’s unity.
Okonjo-Iweala said Boko Haram was receiving “cross-border” backing from supporters in Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
“We need to look at the source of this financing,” she said, adding Jonathan was working to obtain regional cooperation to remove Boko Haram’s support from jihadi groups in the Sahel.
Okonjo-Iweala could not rule out that domestic political forces were also stoking the Boko Haram insurgency ahead of elections in February
“We tend to notice when the electoral cycle comes in, all these things heat up,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
But she said Nigeria had halted insurgencies before, such attacks against oil facilities by Niger Delta militants in the past decade, and that Boko Haram did not pose the same threat as the Biafran War that split the country from 1967-1970.
“What we are going through now is democracy in raw form, because people are fighting for power and they will use anything to get there … and to win the election,” she said.
She hoped politicians would heed the president’s appeal for unity made on Thursday when he met the governors.
“Everybody has now come together and said this is ridiculous, crazy, unacceptable, for our children to go to school and be sleeping in their bed at night and for some people to come and abduct them,” Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said, referring to the schoolgirls’ abduction in which dozens are still missing.
“Nigeria as a nation will overcome this,” she said
Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar said yesterday that Nigeria is at war.
Speaking at the police officers mess in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday at forum to discuss the country’s security situation, he said: “We are in a war situation and we need to mobilize. We want to urge all of you to be more security conscious,” he said.
The IG who was represented by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of ‘D’ Department (Investigations), Peter Gana, said Criminals including terrorists were spirits but human beings”You are our eyes in the community and you should give the Police information because we are always there for you.
“Everyone is supposed to Police whereever he lives .It is better to raise a false alarm than allow the worse to happen. We are happy with the Lagos State government that has highly mobilised the Police, so whenever you suspect anything ,contact the Police immediately.
He advised the hospitality industries to educate their staff on security issues.
His words: “The hotel management can help us police the state by reporting any suspicious customer. Private security operators and National Union of Road Transport workers (NURTW) can help us Police the state by giving us information.”
The DIG who was with the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG)zone 2,Mr Mamam Tsafe and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police Umar Manko, said the Police High Command was willing to take advise from the members of the Public.

April 29, 2014
2014 budget hangs in the balance

2014 budget implantation hangs in the balance with the coming elections, late passage of the budget and the new possibilities exposed by the rebasing exercise. Assistant Editor Nduka Chiejina looks at the challenges

After months of indecisiveness, the National Assembly finally passed the 2014 budget with a slight increase to the figure projected by the executive arm of government.

The directive by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to its legislators in the National Assembly to block the Appropriation Bill among other bills, threatened the early passage of the 2014 budget, but by April 14, both chambers of the National Assembly had passed N4.695 trillion budget as against the N4.642 trillion presented by the executive ready for the President’s accent.

Details of the additional N53 billion in the budget was not immediately made public by the legislators.

At the presentation of the 2014 budget to the National Assembly, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had stated the budget was formulated to create more jobs, provide more infrastructure and engender inclusive growth for the whole economy through a reduction in the cost of governance.

The baseline assumptions for the budget were predicated on the Benchmark Oil Price of $77.5pb; Budgeted Oil Production of 2.3883mbpd; Average Exchange Rate of N160/$, same as in 2013 and Real GDP Growth Rate of 6.75 per cent. All these assumptions were retained by the National Assembly.

The revenue projections for 2014 are have been pegged at: Gross Federally Collectible Revenue, N10.88 trillion; Gross Federally Collectible Oil and Gas Revenue, N7.16 trillion; Total deductions, including cost of crude oil production, subsidy payments, and domestic gas development is N2.15 trillion, same as in 2013; Subsidy payments were maintained at the 2013 level of N971.1 billion; Gross Federally Collectible Non-Oil Revenue, N3.29 trillion and Federal Government budget revenue of N3.73 trillion.

The expenditure projections for 2014 is also predicated on an aggregate expenditure (Net of SURE-P) of N4.642 trillion, with aggregate expenditure (Inclusive of SURE-P) put at N4.910 trillion. Statutory Transfers is put at N399.7 billion; INEC’s expenditure is to increase from the N32 billion provisioned in 2013 to N45 billion in 2014. “This is to enable the Commission intensify preparations towards the 2014 elections.”

National Assembly’s allocation remained at the 2013 level of N150 billion, while the provision for debt service increased to N712 billion from the 2013 level of N591.8 billion. Recurrent (non-debt) spending is projected at N2.43 trillion down from N2.80 trillion in 2013 while Personnel cost increased slightly from the 2013 amendment Budget provision of N1.718 trillion to N1.723 trillion for 2014.

Capital Expenditure for 2014 is projected at N1.100 trillion with the share of capital in total expenditure put at 27.29 per cent down from 31.9 per cent in 2013 which is said to reflect the increased allocation to pension as well as high wage bills.

The share of recurrent in total spending for 2014 is 72.71 per cent and the provision for SURE-P is budgeted at N268.37 billion.

In 2014, the fiscal balance is projected at N911.96 billion for Fiscal Deficit with a share of GDP of 1.90, while new borrowing requirement is expected to be N571 billion, a decrease from N577 billion in 2013.

According to President Goodluck Jonathan, in 2014, the economy needs “to grow even faster than 7 per cent per annum and we need growth in sectors such as agriculture, housing, and services that create the most jobs. Our growth must bring shared prosperity. An economy whose growth leaves wealth in the hands of a few cannot achieve its full potential.”

The major focus of the 2014 fiscal year projection will be the continuation “of prudent economic management in order to build on recent economic growth to support job creation and more infrastructure.”

But because “we are connected to a global economy that remains weak, we need to be prudent and proactive to avoid risks and dangers while creating more jobs and building more infrastructure” the government said for 2014.

Priorities for 2014 are: Power: with a continued focused implementation of Power Roadmap to consolidate the transformation of the power sector. Increased investments in transmission to ensure power generated is properly evacuated and distributed. Strengthening of regulation of the sector, and closely monitoring electricity delivery to increase this beyond 18 hours per day. To complete the privatisation of the NIPP projects, accelerate work on gas pipeline infrastructure and also continue to invest in hydro-electric power and clean energy as they monitor the effects of climate change on the economy.

On roads, government plans in 2014 to make considerable progress and the completion of some major projects including: the East-West road; dualisation of the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road; rehabilitation of the Ayingba-Otukpo road and the dualisation of the Kano-Maiduguri road. It also plans to increase the pace of work on important roads such as: the Lagos-Ibadan expressway; the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway; the second Niger Bridge, and the Loko-Oweto Bridge.

In aviation, 2014 plans to see the continuation of investment in upgrading air navigational and security systems to maintain safety in the skies. The completion of work on the remodeling of 11 airport terminals across the country, and the acceleration of construction work on the five new airport terminals and 13 perishable air cargo terminals across the country.

In agriculture, government

plans in 2014 to sustain its on

going agricultural transformation, with further investments in the sector through the provision of input subsidies to 5 million farmers nationwide using the e-wallet system. Ali it will target the self-employment initiative under the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), called the Nagropreneur programme to develop over 750,000 youth commercial farmers by 2015. Establish new agro-industrial clusters to complement the staple crop processing zones being developed across the country.

In 2014, in partnership with the private sector, the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN), a private equity fund to invest in agribusinesses across the country will be launched.

To strengthen the 17 million registered Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which employ over 32 million Nigerians and improve their job creation capacity in 2014, government says “there will be a stronger focus on implementing the Nigeria Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) to address the needs of small businesses. This will include helping SMEs with access to affordable finance, business development services, and youth training.”

To reinvigorate the housing and construction sector, the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has been launched in January 2014. NMRC is expected to increase liquidity in the housing sector, provide a secondary market for mortgages, and thereby increase the number of people able to purchase or build homes at an affordable price in the country. The programme will begin in 14 pilot states where the State Governors have agreed to provide fast-track land titles, foreclosure arrangements, and serviced plots. NMRC will help create over 200,000 mortgages over the next five years at affordable interest rates.

To provide for those at the lower end of the economic ladder, there will be an expansion of mass housing schemes through a re-structured Federal Mortgage Bank and other institutions to provide rent-to-own and lease-to-own options.

“This will help ensure more hardworking Nigerian families will be able to realize their dream of owning a home.”

To support the film and creative arts industry, 2014 will witness accelerated implementation of the Project Advancing Creativity and Technology (PACT) for programme for Nollywood with focus on tackling intellectual property and distribution challenges faced in the industry. The PACT is a ?3 billion grant programme for Nollywood set up in 2013. N1 billion of this Fund has gone to support capacity building and film production in the industry.

In the 2014 Budget, government says “there will be continued implementation of the Saving One Million Lives initiative to strengthen primary health care services.

This will involve scaled up interventions in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition, routine immunisation, HIV/AIDS, malaria elimination, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, and non-communicable diseases.”

There will also be stronger focus on implementation of the provision of universal health coverage, focused implementation of new initiatives such as the President’s comprehensive response plan for HIV/AIDS as President Goodluck Jonathan will Co-Chair the fourth replenishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria along with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon and other selected world leaders.

For education in 2014, there

will be focus on revitalising

tertiary institutions by increasing investments in infrastructure to upgrade hostels, laboratories, classrooms, and halls. Working with State Governments, the Federal Government plans to tackle the problem of the large numbers of out-of-school children in this country through investment in technical and vocational education to promote skills development for youth across the country.

Government has repeatedly admitted that lack of access to affordable medium to long term credit is one of the greatest problems facing Nigerian industrialists and entrepreneurs. To address this problem, it said “a new wholesale development finance institution will be established by end-2014 to provide medium-to long-term financing for Nigerian businesses.” To this end, government is working with partners such as the World Bank, the Africa Development Bank, the BNDES Bank in Brazil, and KfW in Germany, to realize this project, while the Bank of Agriculture and Bank of Industry will be re-structured as specialized institutions to retail financing from this new wholesale development bank.

In 2014, plans are afoot to reduce cost of governance and stem the tide of corruption and leakages. To curb fraud in the administration of the pension system, a Pensions Transition Arrangement Department (PTAD) under a new Director-General was set up I 2013. In 2014, this department will now ensure pensioners still under the old scheme receive their pensions and gratuities, and are not subjected to fraud. From 2014, all training for personnel of Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and parastatals must now take place in Nigeria. Foreign training programs will only be approved in exceptional cases, and will be based on guidelines to be developed by the Head of Service and the Director-General of the Budget Office.

Foreign travel by government personnel in all MDAs will be further curtailed. The strategy to curb leakages increasingly relies on introducing the right technologies such as biometrics and digitizing government payments. In 2014, the deployment of the three electronic platforms – the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) – which are all geared towards improving efficiency and transparency in the public finances will be completed.

Through these reforms, N126 billion in leaked funds have already been saved. After the presentation of the budget to the National Assembly and eventual release of the details of the budget, Citizens Wealth Platform (CWP) a non-government and faith based organisation called on the National Assembly to eliminate all “inappropriate, unclear and frivolous expenditure from the 2014 budget, a move that would see to the reduction of about N295.32 billion from the N4.64 trillion budget proposed by the Federal Government.

Convener of the CWP, Mr Eze Onyekpere, also called on the National Assembly to ensure proper alignment of the expenditure proposals with the tag of the budget as contained in the Presidents’ address.

“The 2014 federal budget is tagged a budget of job creation and inclusive growth. We seek to find a link between the proposals for expenditure, the policies and governmental actions and the tag of job creation and inclusive growth.”

He noted that in the past Ni

geria has had budgets of

consolidation, growth, hope and so on but nothing changed after the implementation of such budgets. “We are still searching and Nigeria wants to see the link. Poverty is deepening, inequality is the order of the day, unemployment is growing and spreading for the majority of the populace in the country,” he stated.

The CWP noted that N220.32 billion could be saved if the inappropriate, unclear and frivolous expenditures were expunged from the Line Items of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government, including the Presidency.

“Why is virtually every MDA asking for money for uniforms, welfare etc? Why would MDAs continue playing with words like “rehabilitation”, “maintenance”, and “repairs” and using them as different expenditure heads to get money out of the Treasury?”

The group also queried the provision of N1.5 billion for the purchase of a new Aircraft for the Presidential Fleet when there are already 10 planes within the fleet.

“Who needs a new presidential aircraft in the midst of popular despair? If the money is not stolen, who changes furniture, fittings, computers and software every year in his personal house from his hard earned money?” Onyekpere queried.

He also commented on the capital budget which at 23.7 per cent of the budget is very low. “I think it is wrong for the federal government to operate on a 74 per cent recurrent expenditure, but I think the minister of finance has explained that it was the wage increase that shot up the personnel bill. However, we are thinking that it is not just salary increases that are responsible for the overshot recurrent. Rather it is the perks of office for political office holders. Let us make a disaggregation of how much goes to the major civil servants and how much goes to political office holders. We have made an FOI request to madam minister and we are hoping to get a response and if we can’t get a response we go to court. Mind you even what you are calling capital expenditure, part of it is for the rehabilitation and repairs, money for the National Assembly to build a new building, cars, and all kinds of things that are more or less administrative expenses.”

“The core developmental capital like the money used to build roads, hospital, is not more 50 per cent of the capital fund. We are saying that developmental capita should be increased and not the money for computers and software and so on,” he stated.

With the 2015 elections very much around the corner, the National Assembly by delaying so much before passing the 2014 budget may have helped in what may result to the poor implementation of the 2014 budget. As the months and days to the elections draw nearer attention will shift away from the execution of the budget to the antics of politicians as they maneuver to retain or assume new political positions. Time that would have been spent to execute the budget will now be spent campaigning and it will well into 2015 before normalcy will return to budget implantation.

Coupled with this, is the expected huge spending to fund campaigns and very little questions are being asked as to where the funding for the campaigns and the always attendant inflation that accompanies election years will come from. The only mention of election funds in the 2014 budget is the fund earmarked for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), there is the unspoken yet widely believed assumption that those in government today will fund their campaigns from budgetary allocations to MDAs.

Also the rebasing of the country’s GDP was a spur of the moment event, it had been in the works for two to three years but no specific mention was made of government’s plan to key into the opportunities that the result of the rebasing exercise will throw up in 2014 and beyond. If the federal government genuinely plans to take advantage of the opportunities the result of the rebasing exercise has thrown up, then there is the possibility that there will supplementary budget proposals that will be pushed to the National Assembly along with other expenses that will surface as the elections approach thus increasing the budget deficit well and truly beyond what is currently projected.

April 22, 2014
Nigeria to lose billions to new import duty,tax waivers

The nineteen-member strong Nigerian Auto manufacturers Association of Nigeria, NAMA has written to the federal government asking it to cancel a new wave of import duty waivers granted to an unnamed businessmen to import cars into the country.

In a three separate letters written to the President, Dr. Jonathan Ebele Goodluck, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngizi Okonjo-Iweala as well as Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, signed by NAMA executive secretary, Arthur Madueke, the car manufacturers complained that the import waiver will sabotage the new automotive policy launched by the federal government and will also cause a loss of billions of Naira in government revenue. The new auto policy seeks to create employment for Nigerians through the local assembly and the manufacture of cars.

The letters titled: “Protest and request for cancellation of one-year duty waiver concession to import vehicles into Nigeria” sought to remind the government that barely six months ago, ”we rolled out the drums to congratulate the federal government on the monumental stride taken to advance industrialization in this great country when the Federal Executive Council announced the National Automotive Policy. Two months ago, the President and Commander in Chief , His Excellency President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan launched the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan and the National Enterprise Development Programme. These two projects represent the Federal Government’s initiatives to industrialize this country, diversify our economy and reduce the stranglehold of developed economies on our people. Huge resources to be channeled into this endeavor.”

NAMA regretted that “sadly though, certain elements in our society, in pursuit of personal wealth, are prepared to stop at nothing to scuttle our aspirations to develop as a nation.”

The car manufacturers recalled that their Association made a passionate plea to Government to demonstrate its commitment to the National Automotive Policy released six months ago, by patronizing automotive assembly companies that have demonstrated faith in this economy by investing in manufacturing facilities in Nigeria. They said “our members (19 in number and growing) made a representation to the Nigeria Economic Summit team handling the preparation for the World Economic forum to be hosted in Nigeria in May 2014. We undertook to supply vehicles to the summit at our expense and indicated our preparedness to pay duty as may be agreed by government for these vehicles. These letters we submitted to The World Economic summit group in January 2014. There was no constructive engagement or response to this offer.”

They therefore regretted that they had come to learn that the government has issued a letter of duty waiver valid for one year from February 2014 to certain auto importers, with no investment in the productive sector, to import 290 luxury vehicles for the purpose of the World Economic Summit taking place in May 2014. “This decision is to say the least retrogressive and outrightly scandalous. Our membership, who have taken a country risk of investing in production in Nigeria are having to face up to our greatest fear that well placed vested interest in the auto import trade will work to undermine this policy. A duty waiver valid for ONE YEAR for a one-week event taking place in May 2014 is open border to flood our markets with imported vehicles and destroy the domestic market for locally produced vehicles,” said the association.

NAMA then requested for the intervention of the President in getting the government to withdraw the said duty waiver letter immediately and cancel same. “We assure you that genuine capacity exist in NAMA to support the Federal Government in meeting the auto requirements of the World Economic Forum, without the request for a total duty waiver. Going ahead with this concession will undermine the investments in the productive sector. The issuance of an incentive operative for a period of one year to ship vehicles through our borders without a dime duty, tax or VAT payment promises to usher in another era of treasury looting, information that will not go down too well in the public domain in an election year. We reiterate the preparedness of our members to supply the vehicular requirements of the World economic Forum without request for ANY duty waiver.” NAMA assured that they believed in the transformational agenda of the a president and were prepared to stand behind him to thwart efforts aimed at sabotaging his vision and agenda for a prosperous country.

In compliance with the government directive on the waivers, the Comptroller( Import and Export) of the Nigeria Customs Service Jibrin, M. had, in a letter dated April 7th titled “ Re-Import Duty,VAT, and other taxes waiver Certificate” with reference number NCS/ADM/MGT/030/S.51/C/V.111 directed area controllers at the major sea ports to act on the “approval of the President and Commander-in-Chief…for a waiver of import duty,VAT and other taxes on the importation of 290 units of assorted vehicles.”

April 16, 2014
Okonjo-Iweala’s hour

Let’s celebrate our debasing; sorry rebasing

“A prophet is without honour in his own land.” This is true of our Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Some readers took me up on why I excluded the minister when two weeks ago I lambasted our legislators, particularly the House of Representatives, for always willing to ask every beautiful woman in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet to resign over (sometimes) flimsy reasons. I did not know how to respond to their queries. However, less than two weeks after, the answer came, even if somewhat fortuitously. I must have excluded the finance minister then because something bigger was in stock for her. In other words, her hour had not come when I wrote the piece, “Diezani here, Diezani there, wetin dis Diezani do”.

I deliberately avoided saying‘ her hour finally came last week Monday’ because the present glory could just be the beginning of the ‘positive reports’ that the finance minster would get, despite criticisms by Nigerians that we are not doing well economically. Whatever they meant by that. Anyway, the present ‘endorsement’ came through a six-letter word – rebasing – that is so innocuous and easy to pronounce, but has led to damning reactions since Monday when the report was made public.

I do not know why Nigerians are not happy with the rebasing report that is making waves in government circles. Are the reasons given for the achievement not convincing? With the rebasing, our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at 2013 is now estimated at N80.3trillion ($509.9billion). An elated Okonjo-Iweala noted; “Nigeria has moved to be the largest economy by GDP size in Africa and has moved to be the 26th largest economy in the world; it notched 10 points up. On a per capita basis, Nigeria is number 121 in the world, so we have the total GDP size of $2,688 per capita now and moved up from 135”. This has pushed us ahead of South Africa as the continent’s largest economy. Factors responsible for the new development include sectors like telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines and film production that we did not reckon with when last we did the rebasing.

And we say this is not worth celebrating? Even the president’s most unrepentant critics know that we have gone far in these previously neglected sectors between 1990 when we last did rebasing, and now. The icing on the cake for me is that we are even ahead of South Africa in terms of the size of our economy. For once, we are ahead of the South Africans in something good. Again, I ask, isn’t this worthy of celebration?

The man who made the glory known, Nigeria’s Statistician-General, Dr Yemi Kale of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said with the development, Nigeria is close to being in the league of the top 20 economies by 2020. This is one other good thing the rebasing has done. Auditor-general, we know; attorney-general, we know; accountant-general, we know. But I am convinced many Nigerians do not know our statistician-general. In spite of that, we are not even ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. May be this is because even though we have always known there is an agency called the NBS, we never knew by what title its head is known. But the bureau’s boss has been thrust into limelight, courtesy of this rebasing report. We used to take whatever statistics the then National Office of Statistics (NOS) released with a pinch of salt not necessarily because its men were inherently incompetent but because when we saw its equivalent in other countries and the state-of-the art equipment they paraded, we knew that our own NOS was just not there. It would seem Dr Kale realised we still nurse this fear and that was why he took the pain to explain to us that the bureau spent two years to complete the report, with the release date changed twice to get the numbers right. What the statistician-general is saying is that he is cock sure of the figures released by the bureau.

I can see critics of the Jonathan presidency trying to remind Dr Kale that even the Federal Government had before now doubted the possibility of our joining the first 20 economies in the world by the year 2020. So, the government must have been talking nonsense. With Dr Kale’s rosy picture, what we have been unable to achieve through deliberate planning is now to become reality by playing with figures (statistics). In which case President Jonathan can now go to sleep; rest assured that the country,on auto pilot, will arrive the 20-20-20 destination in one piece and in no time. If we can come this close to the top economically despite our epileptic power supply, Boko Haram and what have you, then why have critics been telling us all these years that we must fix power supply and address our other challenges, as if we cannot make progress even in darkness and with insecurity as our companion?

Critics of the rebasing say it does not put more money in the bank; that it does not put more food on the table or in their stomachs. Despite the rebasing, the people keep asking the same old questions about what some of them see as the latest ‘scandal’. All this while, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala has not been linked with any scandal. How come it is through a mere rebasing that some people will now be talking about scandal? Some others say the revision is ‘a vanity’; yet some say we are ‘a troubled giant’. As far as I am concerned, ‘troubled’ is an adjective; we remain a giant, troubled or untroubled, period. Some people are asking, why now? What political point do the minister and government want to make of it? And I say, why not now? Some others are saying the rebasing could lead to an increase in 2014 budget deficit by about N400billion, and that this is “very tempting to politicians in pre-election mood”. So what? Is election time not the only time our people have direct access to the pockets of politicians seeking votes here?

For once, our caring President Jonathan said he would not celebrate the feat even though it calls for celebration. I hope he is not pandering to critics, particularly the opposition, that have made up their minds not to see anything good in his government. Hear the president in a Facebook message: “…Our Gross Domestic Product was rebased to give an accurate picture of where we are as a nation … While this calls for celebration, I personally cannot celebrate until all Nigerians can feel the positive impact of our growth. There are still too many of our citizens living in poverty”. Says who, Mr. President? Isn’t this too a question of perception?

Come on, Mr. President, let’s celebrate this feat because it is not easy for a country to post this kind of statistics. Remember also Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s pedigree. The truth is, it is one thing for a country to post impressive figures, it is another for this to reflect on the people’s lives. They are two different things; so, we shouldn’t mix Genesis with Exodus, as one of my former lecturers would say. It is Nigerians who do not know what the mantra of the administration – transformation – is that are saying nonsense about the rebasing. The president should not be celebration-weary. After all, the hang-over of the centenary celebration is over now.

So, I hereby move that President Jonathan should cause a process to be put in motion to enable us ‘wash’ this rebasing. Those opposed to celebrating rebasing should pray for debasing as their portion. I can’t wait for the invitation because I am already salivating in anticipation of the new experience I am sure the bash, being a Nigerian affair, will always offer. Continental Dishes I have tasted; I am also fed up with Intercontinental Dish/es. As a matter of fact, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) men are so used to some of these intercontinental dishes like ‘kus-kus,’ ‘pok-pok’; not to talk of ‘shawarma’ that ‘Iya Shawarma’ takes to them at their duty posts daily to make their stay on the roads pleasurable. The only dish I have not tasted is this one that everybody talks about everyday – Satellite Dish. So, I won’t mind to have it for a change when the president sees the need to change his mind and allow us celebrate this major achievement. On the D-Day, I’ll take Satellite Dish. (It should not be an exclusive preserve of the rich). And wash it down with an exotic wine. We don’t have to reduce everything to bread and butter. We must roll out the drums and celebrate Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s fine hour. We need to vote billions for something again. Or what is the essence of our big economy?

April 13, 2014
Phantom statistics

•Finance minister boasts with fanciful facts about jobs that Jonathan administration created

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy during a meeting with delegates of the Arewa Youth Forum on issues of youth development in the northern part of the country, released a bombshell. She revealed that no fewer than 1.8 million graduates annually join the labour market in the land. She gleefully boasted that the data was generated by the National Bureau of Statistics ‘after two months of methodological work’, with the sole objective of availing the Federal Government the opportunity of establishing the level of youth unemployment and developing policies to check it.

We never believed that the serious issue of unemployment could be so trivialised until Okonjo-Iweala turned the matter into theatrics. She reeled out phantom figures of unemployed people and imaginary jobs. She laughably declared: “We have a pool of 5.3 million unemployed graduates that have been accumulating over the years. I am happy to tell you that last year we were able to create 1.6 million jobs. So, we are getting close to the 1.8 million that enter the job market. So our strategy is to come up with policies that will cover the number of entrants every year before taking care of the backlog.” The number of unemployed graduates per year is quite higher and sadly, we do not see visible official efforts to arrest the situation.

As if she knew that the public would doubt her figures, she further reeled out paper job opportunities created by government, to wit: “Through YouWin programme, we have had 3,600 winners, among whom 2,400 winners have created 27,000 jobs so far.. Through SURE-P, so far, we have created 120,000 jobs. While YouWin is geared towards graduates, the SURE-P is for those youths who may not have gone through school or did not complete their education … We are targeting 10,000 mortgages this year and for every house you build, you create five direct jobs and two and half indirect jobs, which can create another 75,000 jobs.” She equally boasted that more than 400,000 part-time jobs had been created and had become a source of good income for the youth in agriculture.

We are disappointed that someone of Okonjo-Iweala’s background/standing could lead the game of employment deceit against Nigerians by going about with unverifiable employment figures. Could she in all honesty come out and say that in all her years of being minister in the country, such high employment ratio has been generated by government? We would have expected her to come up with names of beneficiaries and those of agencies of government providing such employment. The minister wobbled in her futile efforts to post publicity stunts for her employer by not stating the quality of the so-called jobs created by the centre government.

We wonder whether the minister has not lost her coordinating grip over the economy. Otherwise, she would have realised that empirical and not phantom job creation could only convince Nigerians about the sincerity of this administration to solve the astronomically high unemployment rate in the country. The problems are mounting daily. Is the minister aware that the banks are hemorrhaging and as such downsizing at a ridiculous rate; that the industrial sector has been greatly eroded; that private enterprise has nearly vanished while access to loans has become an official publicity stunt with no commensurate impact on agricultural harvests in the land? More devastating is the fact that the government has failed to provide stable power and security that are central to industrialisation and by extension employment generation and general development of the country.

Minister Okonjo-Iweala should henceforth desist from playing politics with the debilitating unemployment situation in the nation.

April 9, 2014