The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje

  • Senate to reconvene April 24 for 2019 budget

    The much awaited report of the 2019 Appropriation bill was laid in the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday.

    The Appropriation Committees of the two chambers submitted a harmonized budget report for the consideration and adoption.

    In the Senate Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje submitted the report while the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mustapha Dawaki did the same.

    Both chambers did not consider the report of the N8.83 trillion budget proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2019 fiscal year.

    READ ALSO: Senate aborts bill to phase out petrol vehicles in 2035

    Findings showed that the lawmakers who have proceeded on the Easter break would reconvene on April Wednesday 24, 2019 to pass the budget.

    The House also adjourned plenary to enable members observe the Easter celebration, would reconvene on Tuesday April 23, 2019 to pass the budget.

    It is not clear whether there were major changes and additions made in the money bill as proposed by President Buhari.

     had mandated sub-committees to adopt the Executive submission of the budget in place of any ministry, department or agency that failed to turn up to defend their budgets.

  • ‘Police returns 2017 budget carted away from Senator’s home’

    ‘Police returns 2017 budget carted away from Senator’s home’

    Less than 24 hours after the Senate demanded the immediate return of budget documents allegedly carted away from the home of Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, the police high command has complied.

    The Office of the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, disclosed on Thursday that the police have returned all the documents, cash and laptop they took away from the house of Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Goje.

    Senator Goje had, on Wednesday, told the Senate that police operatives who raided his house on April 20th, 2017 took away sensitive documents connected to the process of the 2017 budget.

    The Gombe Central lawmaker informed his colleagues in plenary that apart from carting away 18 files, his personal laptop where information on the 2017 budget was stored, was also taken away by the police.
    He said that N18 million, $19,000 and 4,000 Saudi Riyadh were also taken away from his house by the police raiders.

    The Senate resolved to ask the police return the documents to enable the consideration and passage of the 2017 budget.

    Senate President also demanded an explanation of what informed the raid and an unreserved apology by the police high command.

    He constituted a seven-man committee to unravel the circumstances that led to the raid.

    The Special Assistant to the Senate President on New Media, Bankole Omisore, informed that the police have returned everything they took from Goje’s Abuja home.

    He said that the police claimed that they acted based on wrong information by a whistleblower.

    Omisore twitted: “Nigerian police this morning returned everything they took from Senator Goje’s house including cash and documents relating to the 2017 Budget.house including cash and documents relating to the 2017 Budget.

    They claim the raid was based on wrong information from a whistleblower

    Also the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang, in a statement entitled “Resolution of issues: Re Nigerian Police Force and Senator Danjuma Goje “ confirmed the items taken away from Goje’s home by the police have been returned.

    Enang in a four-paragraph statement said: “Further to the visit of the Nigeria Police Force to the residence of His Excellency. Senator Danjuma Goje. CON in the course of routine duties wherefrom certain items was taken by the Police, and issues subsequently arising.

    “I am to inform all that all the items taken in the course of routine Police duties have been returned to the Distinguished Senator at his house by the Nigeria Police.

    “Further, to state that all other issues relating to the subject matter are being addressed with a view to a positive resolution.

    “Meanwhile, we sincerely appreciate the Senate and the House of Representatives for the enormous work that they have put in to ensure timely passage of the 2017 Appropriation Bill.”

    A competent source close to Senator Goje told our reporter that “a deputy police commissioner in the company some plain clothes police officers returned the items in the early hours of yesterday.

    The source said that Goje and some members of his committee would peruse the items to ensure that they were not tampered with by those who took them away.

  • 2016 budget expires May 5, says Senate

    2016 budget expires May 5, says Senate

    The 2016 budget will expire midnight May 5, 2017, it was learnt yesterday. Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, made this known yesterday in Abuja.

    Senator Goje who quoted from the Appropriation Act, said: “In line with the provision of Section 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) the bill (2016 Appropriation Bill) will run for a course of 12 months starting from the date it is assented into law.”

    He said since the2016 Appropriation Bill was assented to on May 6th 2016, it would expire at midnight May 5th, 2017.

    He said the clarification became necessary following questions about the status of the 2016 budget.

    He noted that the National Assembly carefully created the clause to foreclose any unnecessary anxiety about the duration of the 2016 budget.

    Senator Goje said, “As far as the Bill that was signed into law by Mr. President is concerned, there will be no mop up on 31st March 2017 since the validity period for the 2016 budget is midnight May 5th, 2017.

    “If that is done, it will be a violation of the Act. We carefully created the clause that made provision for May 5,th 2017. The Act says that the 2016 budget will run for 12 months starting from the date the bill was assented to and it was assented to on May 6th 2016.

    The lawmaker assured that before the life of the 2016 budget expires, the 2017 budget would have been passed by the National Assembly.

    He said, “It is necessary for Nigerians to know that there should be no anxiety about mop up of funds by March 31st. We do not have to extend the 2016 budget. If May comes and there is need to extend, thn we can do otherwise. I believe before that date the 2017 budget must have been passed. We don’t have to do any extension because we have taken care of that. Therefore no anxiety, no mopping up of funds before 12 months period.

  • 2016 budget expires May 5, says Senate

    2016 budget expires May 5, says Senate

    The 2016 budget will expire midnight May 5, 2017, it was learnt Monday.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, made the clarification to reporters in Abuja.

    Senator Goje who quoted from the Appropriation Act noted that “In line with the provision of Section 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) the bill (2016 Appropriation Bill) will run for a course of 12 months starting from the date it is assented into law.”

    The Gombe Central lawmaker said that since the 2016 Appropriation Bill was assented to on May 6th 2016, it would expire at midnight May 5th, 2017.

    He said that the clarification became necessary following questions about the status of the 2016 budget.

    He noted that the National Assembly carefully created the clause to foreclose any unnecessary anxiety about the duration of the 2016 budget.

    Senator Goje said, “As far as the bill that was signed into law by Mr. President is concerned, there will be no mop up on 31st March 2017 since the validity period for the 2016 budget is midnight May 5th, 2017. If that is done, it will be a violation of the Act. We carefully created the clause that made provision for May 5,th 2017. The Act says that the 2016 budget will run for 12 months starting from the date the bill was assented to and it was assented to on May 6th 2016.

    The lawmaker assured that before the life of the 2016 budget expires, the 2017 budget would have been passed by the National Assembly.

    He said, “It is necessary for Nigerians to know that there should be no anxiety about mop up of funds by March 31st. We do not have to extend the 2016 budget. If May comes and there is need to extend, then we can do otherwise. I believe before that date the 2017 budget must have been passed. We don’t have to do any extension because we have taken care of that. Therefore no anxiety, no mopping up of funds before 12 months period.”

     

  • Nigeria recorded N1.1tr IGR shortfall in 2016, says DG budget

    Nigeria recorded N1.1tr IGR shortfall in 2016, says DG budget

    …CBN director walked out of session

     

    Nigeria recorded a shortfall of N1.1 trillion in projected Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2016 fiscal year, Director General, Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, told the National Assembly Thursday.

    Akabueze who gave the figure at a joint session of the Appropriation Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, said that the country was only able to realise N398.335 billion out of projected N1.506 trillion IGR.

    He explained that the huge shortfall of N1.1trillion which should have been part of the funding cost accounted for the low 55 per cent capital release.

    The sum of N1.58 trillion was ear marked for capital budget in 2016.

    Akabueze also put statutory transfers fully cash-backed at N361 billion.

    The N1.3 trillion budgeted for debt serving was released, cash-backed and paid in full.

    Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, said that the session became necessary for relevant officials, including the Minister of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Accountant General of the Federation, DG Budget Office to brief Nigerians on the actual performance of the 2016 budget

    Senator Goje noted that the officials should specifically tell Nigerians what was appropriated, what was approved by the National Assembly, what was released and how much was cash-backed.

    The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Ahmed Idris, on his own put total capital releases at N870.55 billion while personnel cost was N239.68 trillion.

    Senator Goje demanded the percentage releases otherwise the figures given would be misleading.

    The committee said that not only the percentage releases but the amount cash-backed should be disclosed.

    On why the country recorded low level of 55 per cent capital release, Akabueze said that funding of the capital component of the 2016 budget was affected by low inflow of fund including fall in oil revenue.

    The DG budget office parried the question on whether loans collected by the country were used to finance personnel cost and overhead.

    Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, told the committee that though there were financial challenges, the highest releases went to infrastructure MDAs in line with the priority of government.

    She added that the target of government was that by the end of the fiscal year in May, a minimum of N1trillion would have been spent on capital budget.

    A mild drama had ensued at the beginning of the session when the committee walked out the representative of the CBN Governor, Mohammed El-Yakubu, an acting director in the apex bank.

    Before El-Yakubu was asked to leave the venue Senator Goje said: “We want to put it on record that we put aside other things we had to do for this session because of its importance to Nigerians. We invited the CBN Governor but he is not here.

    “The CBN Governor has no reason not to be here. He did not send any deputy governor to represent him. I don’t think the acting director here has the capacity to represent the CBN Governor. The Minister of Budget and National Planning called me directly to say that he would accompany the Acting President to Akwa Ibom State.”

  • Senate assures on passage of implementable 2017 budget

    Senate assures on passage of implementable 2017 budget

    The Senate Wednesday assured Nigerians that the National Assembly is working to produce implementable 2017 budget.

    Chairman, Senate Appropriation Committee, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, stated this at the end of a three day national public hearing on the 2017 budget.

    Goje who said that 44 stakeholders made submissions at the hearing noted that the 2017 special budget hearing was perhaps the first of its kind in the history of parliamentary/legislative practice in the National Assembly.

    He said that the level of excitement and enthusiasm shown by stakeholders especially Civil Society Organisations was quite unprecedented and encouraging.

    Goje said that a number of issues that came up will be critically analyzed and addressed

    He noted that pension, health, education and agricultural sectors came up and were given serious emphasis as the areas the country should pay more attention.

    The Gombe central lawmaker said that the challenge in the areas of pension payment, administration and general matters of non-performance was so clear and must be accorded urgent and effective attention.

    He added that the point was repeatedly made that the National Assembly must reassert itself as the possessor of the power of appropriation in order to produce the budget of the people at all times.

    Goje assured that “all proceedings we took have been properly documented and will be presented and considered by the joint committee to enable the National Assembly produce implementable budget for Nigeria and Nigerians.”

  • Senate receives 2016 budget, AGF audit reports

    Senate receives 2016 budget, AGF audit reports

    The Senate on Monday received the 2016 budget and the 2014 Auditor-General of the Federation audit reports.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, presented the 2016 budget report marked “2016 Appropriation Bill, 2016 (SB.212).

    The report was not debated and no date was assigned for its debate and passage into law.

    Insiders however said that the budget is likely to be passed Wednesday.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Babajide Omoworare, had assured on Monday that the controversial 2016 budget report would be laid on Tuesday.

    The Osun East lawmaker said that the report blights in the fiscal document had been cleaned up by the National Assembly.

    Also, the Senate received the annual report of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

    Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume presented the report entitled “Accounts of the Federation of Nigeria.”

    Ndume asked the Senate to “receive the Annual  Report of the Auditor-General for the Federation on the accounts of the Federation of Nigeria for the year ended 31st December, 2014 in accordance with section 85(2) and (5) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

    The weighty report, submitted to the National Assembly by the Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, indicted several ministries, departments and agencies including the National Assembly management.

    The report claimed that more than N3.3 trillion was misappropriated by the MDAs and the National Assembly.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, had assured that the Senate will investigate every bit of the audit report.

    Abdullahi told reporters in Abuja that consideration of the audit report is part of the statutory function of the parliament.

    He said that the exposures in the audit report are queries raised by the Auditor General which cannot be conclusively classified as fraudulent acts until proven by investigation.

    He added that the queries raised in the report by the Auditor General are not necessarily indictment.

    The Senate Committee on Public Account, he said, would dig into the report, invite those queried to ask for clarification before coming to conclusion.

    He said that the Eight Senate had elected to make the difference by painstakingly considering the report to establish the veracity of the report.

    He asked Nigerians to wait and see what the Senate would make out of the audit report.

    He said: “The Eight Senate has chosen to be different as we have stated severally since we came on board and for which we came up with our legislative agenda to make us different from the past because we are in the season and period of change and we want to seriously key in to that.

    “Along that line, you could see the courage that we have to make some differences from what has obtained in the past and to this note, we have passed reports of some committees like the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which is a classical example.

    “Through that exercise, we were able to save the country, N7billion. There are similar works that has been done.

    “We want to say that since we have chosen to be different, we urge Nigerians to wait and see what we will make out of the investigation.

    “Without holding forth for the past assemblies, I want to say that it is not as if they did not do anything about the past Audit Reports.

    “But perhaps they have not taken their action up to the scale that would have made a huge impact that people want to see. If that is what the Auditor – General means, I agree with him.

    “The Auditor – General is raising a query, it is not an indictment. So when he raises his queries, the essence of the Public Accounts Committee is to invite those parties involved in the query and through the instruments of their own work, investigate all the issues by seeking for clarification and at the end of the day, where they have infractions, or infringement on certain procedures, they met out appropriate sanctions as stipulated by extant rules and regulations.

    “When there is a process and someone has done one part, until we conclusively finish that process, it will be wrong to accuse anyone of being guilty.

    “These are administrative procedures and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has made it clear that we would take oversight functions far more serious than what it used to be in the past.

    “If oversight functions are carried out properly, some of these queries that we talk about will begin to reduce because the essence is to see infractions before they happen.

    “We as lawmakers will stop it before another institution discovers the anomalies and bring them to our notice.

    “These are the powers of the National Assembly through oversight functions. We are committed to ensuring that a thorough job is done this time.

    “We have demonstrated our capacity to match our words with our actions. Wait and see, it is a promise and we have four years to prove that we mean business.”

    Also on Tuesday the Senate received report of the conference committee on Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator John Owan Enoh prayed the Senate to receive the report of the conference committee on the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).

    The consideration and adoption of the MTEF and FSP pave the way for the passage of the Appropriation Bill.

    After the receipt of the reports, the Senate adjourned plenary in honour of a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Musa Baba Onwana, Nasarawa/Toro Federal Constituency, Nasarawa State, who died last week.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” tag=”Budget” count=”6″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]