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Tag: SURE-P

  • Abuja gets N5b from SURE-P in two years

    The FCT Administration has received a total allocation of N5,567,024,161.44 from the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) from May 2012 to October 2013.

    The FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed disclosed this while briefing the Senate Committee on SURE-P.

    Mohammed revealed that the sum of N309,278,350.52 was received on monthly basis from May 2012 to December 2012 totalling N2,474,226,804.16.

    He said that the FCT Administration also received the sum of N309,278,350.52 on monthly basis from January 2013 to October 2013 totalling N3,092,783,505.20.

    He explained that out of this amount, the sum of N500,000,000 and N140,916,347.38 have been expended on the, Abuja Taxi Cap Scheme and Public Mass Transit Scheme Phase II respectively.

    According to him, the Vice President, Architect Namadi Sambo recently commissioned 160 vehicles being the 1st Phase of the Abuja Taxi Cap Scheme, while the 2nd Phase with 180 vehicles on its fleet will soon be commissioned to improve the transportation network of the Federal Capital Territory and empower the less-privileged in the sector to own and operate vehicles of their own.

    The Minister said that the sum of N500,000,000 each had been set aside for the 2nd Phase of Abuja Taxi Cap Scheme and counterpart fund for additional 300 high capacity buses now being negotiated in China.

    He stated that the sum of N216,742,550.00 has been spent by the Health & Human Services Secretariat for Free Ante Natal Programme from the SURE-P fund.

    The Minister pointed out that so far N3,059,322,313.61 has been expended with N1,573,494,273.68 as committed funds; while N934,207,574.15 is the available balance as at October 30, 2013.

    The FCT Permanent Secretary, Engr. John Obinna Chukwu the FCT Coordinator of SURE-P, Mallam Nuhu Ahmed accompanied the Minister to the Public Hearing.

     

     

  • Persons with disability destroy Abia Sure-P office

    Persons with disability destroy Abia Sure-P office

    Angry members of Joint National Association of Persons with Disability [JNAPD] numbering over 200 have demonstrated at the federal government office of Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme [SURE-P] in Umuahia and destroying all the window blades, chairs and tables over alleged neglect by the office.

    Speaking with The Nation in Umuahia after their demonstration, the state chairman of JNAPD Stanley Onyemaechi said that the SURE-P was designed to accommodate people like them, but that they have been neglected by the members of the board in the state.

    Onyemaechi said that he attended a workshop in Calabar in the month of March this year, where they were told that their group are included in the SURE-P programme and that up till now that no member of the board of the programme in that state have gotten in touch with them.

    He said that all attempts to get in touch with the board chairman in the state, David Nwokocha have proved abortive and that they have not been paid any amount of money, saying that the board chairman said that their group is not recognised by the programme.

    The Abia JNAPD chairman said that he had visited the SURE-P office on several occasions, “Without anything to show to my colleagues and this has made them to think that he collects personal money from Nwokocha, which is why I told to come with me to fight for their right”.

    Onyemaechi then called on both the federal and state governments to involve them in the SURE-P programme, “We deserve to be involved in the programme as we are Nigerians and should be involved with any programme designed by the federal government”.

    He said that when President Goodluck Jonathan announced the programme that will take care of all categories of the people in the country, “We felt that our problems are over, as every segment of the society are expected to be involved in the programme, but we are disappointed with the things we are seeing now”.

    The JNAPD boss in Abia said that they are about 6170 persons with different forms of disability in the state and that most of them are graduates without jobs, “So we want the federal government through the SURE-P programme to include us, by teaching skills or empowering those of us with skills to establish ourselves”.

    Onyemaechi said that their colleagues in other states have benefitted from the SURE-P programme in their states and wondered why their own should be different when the federal government had already included them, saying that they are suspecting foul play in the activity of the programme in the state.

    However one of the members of the board of SURE-P in the state, Kingsley Ngunu said that the programme is handled by Community Service, Women and Youth Empowerment [CSWYE] and that he has heard their complaint which will be handled accordingly.

    Ngunu said that he is hearing about their group for the first time and urged them to come back on Thursday for a meeting with the board members, where their grievances will be handled and assured them that their problems will be taken care of.

    He said, “I am just a member of the board and I do not have the capacity to tell you what we are going to do, therefore I urge you to go home and come back on Thursday with about ten of your members for us to discuss on the way forward. I think you have a genuine case which we will look into during the meeting”.

  • Graduate training scheme coming

    The Federal Government will soon come out with a policy framework on Graduate Internship Scheme(GIS) to make it stronger and more enduring, the Project Director, Peter Papka has said.

    GIS is one of the programmes under the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme (SURE-P).

    Speaking to The Nation at the last phase of the sensitisation programme of the scheme in Lagos, Papka said the decision to provide policy for the scheme was borne out of the need to make it consistent with the government’s plans to check unemployment.

    He said when the policy comes out, the National Assembly will able to legislate on issues of graduate training and if possible backed it with a bill.

    He said the government may review the scheme to achieve its goals of improving productivity and enhance the employment prospects of graduates, if it found the need to do.

    Papka said the government had reviewed the monthly stipend paid interns from N18,000 to N25,000, following a report on people’s observations, comments and reservations on the scheme.The review, he said, was carried out through the involvement of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other members of SURE-P’s committee.

    He said: “The scheme may be reviewed because similar things have been done in the past. There was a time the monthly stipends paid interns was reviewed upwardly. We will submitting the comments and input of Nigerians on the scheme to the Minister of Finance. The SURE-P initiatives are the government way of providing safety net programmes for Nigerians. As far as I’m concerned, the SURE-P is spread over three years (2012-2015). We have the believe that the programme will exist up to 2015.

    ‘’As long as the Ministry of Finance exists, the project among others will continue to exist. The government does not want the GIS initiative to be one-off thing, hence the huge amount of money allocated to it. This is one of the reasons why the government is planning to issue a policy framework on the scheme.’’

    According to him, unemployment problems cannot be solved, but checked as evident by measures introduced by governments.

    ‘’Globally, no government has an antidote to the issue of unemployment. What governments are doing to is to put in place measures to reduce it. The scheme is part of government’s contributions to the issue of solving unemployment in the country. People should not expect the government to proffer total solution to unemployment.’’ he added.

  • FG empowers 3,500 youths, women in Oyo

    FG empowers 3,500 youths, women in Oyo

    THE Federal Government has empowered a total of 3,500 unemployed youth and women under the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) project in Oyo State.

    While launching the programme in Ibadan on Saturday, President Goodluck Jonathans who was represented by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, noted that those who benefited from the project comprised 1,982 males and 1,518 females.

    According to Jonathan, all the beneficiaries of the project are currently working in 144 service units spread across all the 33 local government areas of the state.

    He added that the beneficiaries had received a total of N246.8 million as stipends, while a total sum of N29.9million had been remitted to the state as running/management cost between February and September 2013.

    While receiving the minister on Saturday, the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi said, “When you look at a state with about 10 million population and we are saying only 1,000 or 2,000 people have benefited, to me, this is terribly low.”

    The governor advised that such a life-transforming programme should be done without any political consideration.

    Ajimobi said if the Peoples Democratic Party-led federal government discriminates against members of the other political parties in the management of SURE-P, its aims would be defeated.

    He therefore called for the setting up of a committee comprising representatives of both the federal government and state governments in each of the 36 states of the federation that would run the programme.

    When constituted, the committee, Ajimobi noted, would ensure synergy between the federal government and the state governments on the SURE-P scheme and other similar empowerment and poverty alleviation programmes of states government.

  • SURE-P raises hope on jobs for youths

    SURE-P raises hope on jobs for youths

    The subsidy Re-investment Empowerment Programme Fund (SURE-P) is being channelled into job creation for graduates under a special arrangement with companies. The initiative opens a window of opportunity for jobless graduates, AKINOLA AJIBADE reports.

    Can the Federal Government solve the unemployment problem? How far can its initiatives go in creating jobs and improving the economy? These are some of the posers to be unravelled in the battle to check unemployment.

    Last week, the government launched the ‘Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS),’ to address youth unemployment.

    A product of Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), the scheme is designed to build graduates’ skills by ensuring that they go for one-year internship programme in designated companies. Also, the companies are expected to employ the interns, once they are satisfied with their performance.

    Firms that have signed up to the programme include, Dangote Group, Dana Group, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Chi Pharmaceuticals, Heir Holdings, Lafarge Cement and West African Portland Cement (WAPCO). Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Keystone Nigeria Limited and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) are also involved in the scheme.

    Also within the SURE-P net are Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services, Community Services Scheme (CSS), Vocational Training Scheme, Community Services, Women and Youth Employment (CSWYE) and others.

    The GIS, however, remains the joker because of its capacity to help in tackling unemployment.

    At a media sensitisation workshop on the scheme in Lagos, the Project Director, GIS, Peter Papka, said its goal is to enhance the employability of at least 50,000 unemployed graduates in the 36 states including Abuja.

    Over 120,000 graduates, he said, had registered with the scheme so far, while 3,000 firms have agreed to take them for intership.

    Papka said: “Apart from a few large companies and organisations that have taken over the graduates for internship, most of our partners are Small and Medium Scale enterprises (SMEs). There is, therefore, the need to sensitise more companies to join the scheme so that more unemployed graduates can be gainfully engaged.

    “As part of the sensitisation efforts, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala has conducted an interactive session with captains of industry and chief executives of major local and international companies, advocacy visits were also paid to firms in major cities. Sensitisation events have been held in 27 states so far, with over 5,000 firms reached, many have been registered.”

    He said graduates were required to register online, stating their resume, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificates, age, referees, among other information.

    Also, the Convener, CSWYE, Audu Maikori, said the scheme was meant for graduates of between 18 and 40 in order to improve their job prospects.

    He said those within the 40 years age bracket were strong, productive, and could easily meet targets, hence the decision to peg the interns’ age at 40.

    Maikori said graduates would go for one year internship in companies partnering with the scheme, adding that the companies have the right to employ them or ask them to go upon completion of the internship.

    Graduates that are not employed after the programme, he said, would be advised to go for an entrepreneurship programme introduced by SURE-P.

    “Under the entrepreneurship project, graduates are allowed to choose and operate in areas of their competence. They would be taught how to start and grow businesses, bringing in new ideas, and improving on the old ones for growth,” he added.

    Another area where the graduates’ service would be needed, he said, was agriculture, noting that the sector contributes to the nation’s Gross Domestic roduct. He said the government would welcome ideas that are meaningful and capable of providing jobs for people.

    The Head of Operations, GIS, Akubo Adegbe, said the implementation of the scheme was in three stages of employer, graduate and Project Implementation Unit (PIU). Under the employer category are issues such as registration of companies, intern request, intern skills assessment/development, entrepreneurship plan and others.

    The graduate stage provides rooms for online registration of school leavers, verification and opening of accounts where his/her monthly stipend of N25,000 would be paid into and others. The PIU stage deals with employer verification, intern verification and account opening and monthly stipend of interns.

    He said companies interested in partnering with the scheme must register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and have the capacity to keep the graduates for one year. Distress companies, he added, would not be allowed to partner with the scheme. The distressed firms, he said, were known upon investigation by their profitability base, working conditions, and other indices.

    Companies that breached the law, he said, were required to withdraw from the scheme, adding that breaches can be in different forms.

    “For instance, if companies decide to take part of the N25,000 monthly stipend the government has agreed to pay the interns, such organisations would not be allowed to continue with the scheme. Some companies may be deducting, let’s say, N10,000 or more from their interns’ salary. Things like this can happen. When it happens, the firms would be delisted from the scheme However, we have not experienced things like this before.”

    He said companies whose names were delisted from the scheme stood the risk of losing the fiscal incentives promised them by the government.

    Companies in the GIS, he said, would enjoy tax waivers, among other incentives, adding that they have compensation package agreed with them by the government.

    He said the project was sustainable, stressing that the government has adopted measures, such as, tax incentives, good policy framework, and strong team to drive it.

    The project, he said, would not be like others which the government launched in the past without result. The government through the Ministry of Finance, he said, had taken it upon itself to fight unemployment.

    Some years ago, the government launched the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to check unemployment. The programme allows graduates to learn a vocation of their choice. Though it has created jobs for many, it has not reduced unempoyment.

    Will the GIS be better? Time will tell.

  • Outrageous variation

    Outrageous variation

    • Abuja-Lokoja road cost review from N42bn to N116bn is an example of how contracts are abused

    WE doubt whether the government can meet up with its developmental obligations the way it is going regarding contract variations. In a scandalous revelation before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), it was discovered that the Abuja-Lokoja highway contract initially awarded for N42 billion in 2006, has been re-valued to N116 billion, which translates to an unbelievable 170 per cent increase.

    The variation, ostensibly at the instance of the parties handling the project, has justifiably incurred the wrath of the committee that has promptly directed them to appear before it. The affected companies are: Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) Nigeria Limited, Dantata and Sawoe Nigeria Limited, Bulletin Construction Company and Gitto Construction Company Nigeria Limited. According to Abdul Ningi, the committee chairman, the firms must come forward to explain the “scandalous review of the Abuja-Lokoja road contract sum with over 170 per cent from 2006 to date.’’

    Also, Mike Onolememen, Minister of Works, after three summonses, and Gabriel Amuchi, Managing Director of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), reluctantly appeared before the committee citing ‘technical deficiencies’ as responsible for the outrageous variation. We wonder what technical deficiencies could warrant such bizarre increase. The alibi that consultant’s mistake of not initially coming up with the requisite designs of the contract necessitated the variation is untenable. Why would a road contract of such magnitude not come with design? And who is that consultant? Are there sanctions for such incompetence or negligence? If yes, has that consultant been sanctioned? This kind of immoral official padding of contract costs is unacceptable.

    We acknowledge that reasonable variations in awarded contracts, especially in an unstable economy like Nigeria’s, is globally acceptable. Intervening situations such as inflationary trend, delayed payment of contract fees, high interest rates and unforeseen circumstances, among others, could compel the need for contract variation. But such variations should not be done wantonly. Such opportunity should not be deployed, as the current trend seems to suggest, to fleece the nation of its hard-earned money.

    Among several shocking revelations unearthed by the committee is that FERMA spent N1.3 billion last year alone on operational and labour cost, out of the N4 billion it got from the SURE-P for road maintenance and rehabilitation. We consider this absurd and unfortunate, especially because the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity had already engaged the same youths that FERMA said it engaged, under the same SURE-P arrangement.

    FERMA was also caught in curious duplicity web when it claimed to have procured, this year, some equipment that were already catered for in its 2012 budget. This, in our view, is criminal project recycling and unwarranted waste of scarce public funds.

    SURE-P is fast becoming a conduit pipe for defrauding the state. More worrisome is that over N178 billion of the programme’s money released between 2012 and 2013 for the construction of the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road, Kano road, Maiduguri road, Enugu-Onitsha road, the Benin-Shagamu-Ore road, the Second Niger Bridge and the Oweto Bridge, linking Benue and Nasarawa states, has not yielded the desired results.

    The nation is fast becoming a territory of financial tittle-tattle. We decry the prevailing situation of indefensible contract variations and superfluous duplication of jobs by government agencies just to rip off the country. Any nation craving for infrastructural development cannot achieve that goal in the face of such scandalous project variations by seemingly uncontrollable overnment officials.

  • How $5b ECA cash was spent, by Okonjo-Iweala

    How $5b ECA cash was spent, by Okonjo-Iweala

    Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala explained yesterday how the Federal Government spent the $5billion excess crude cash declared “missing” by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).

    In a statement, the ministry described as false, allegations by Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi that $5 billion is missing from the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

    “Governor Amaechi cannot credibly deny knowledge of the status of the ECA. He has been closely involved and actively participated in making requests to the Presidency for the ECA to be shared for the purpose of augmenting the regular allocations from the Federation Account whenever there is a shortfall.”

    The statement added that the $5 billion in the ECA, which Governor Amaechi referred to, “has been shared to the three tiers of government to make up for the revenue shortfalls during the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee process.”

    The ministry said it “also went for SURE-P payments and the balance for subsidy payments to oil marketers”.

    The minister said Rivers State received N56.2 billion, the second highest share among the states, for January to September 2013 from the ECA.

    This amount, the ministry added, “includes N43 billion for shortfalls plus N12 billion released for SURE-P.”

    Okonjo-Iweala and her team added that “earlier this month (November 2013) Rivers State along with other states, benefitted from the sharing of $1 billion from the ECA to augment the allocations.”

    It then described as curious, claims by Governor Amaechi denying knowledge of the whereabouts of the N56.2 billion which Rivers State has received from the ECA this year.

    With regards to claims that Okonjo-Iweala has refused to sign the African Development Bank (ADB) loan for a water project in Port Harcourt. Again, the ministry denied the allegation as wrong.

    The loan in question the ministry said “has been appraised but it is yet to be negotiated. Before the minister can sign it, it has to go through the negotiation process and be considered and cleared by both the Board of the African Development Bank and the Federal Executive Council. So the issue of the minister refusing to sign it simply does not arise.”

  • SURE P receives N180 billion yearly, says Kolade

    SURE P receives N180 billion yearly, says Kolade

    THE Subsidy Re-Investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) receives N180 billion yearly for project execution, its chairman, Dr Christopher Kolade, stated yesterday.

    He said it is doing everything possible to secure the confidence of Nigerians in service delivery, assuring that the operation and utilisation of funds by the scheme is prudent and efficient.

    Kolade, who was represented by Prof. Kunle Wahab, at the road show organised by SURE-P at Nonwa in Tai local government of Rivers State, said the deplorable condition of the East-West road will soon be over.

    According to him: “Even though Nigerians have lost confidence in the ability of leaders to keep promises, SURE-P is about keeping the promises made to them despite the distrust.

    “We have received N180billion from the N15billion that comes into our account every month.

    “Should we fail at this point in winning back the confidence of Nigerians, our country will be on the brink. It is clear that the citizens are tired. This informed President Jonathan to step forward to take definite steps to keep the promises he made.”

     

  • Senate queries N8.9b SURE-P mass transit fund

    The Senate yesterday asked the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Infrastructure Bank (TIB), Abdulrazak Oyinloye, to explain the management of the N8.9 billion Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) for nationwide mass transit buses.

    Chairman, Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on SURE-P Abudul Ningi queried how 807 buses bought under the scheme were distributed and to whom.

    The money was given to TIB in July, last year, to acquire high capacity buses under SURE-P’s Public Mass Transit Revolving Fund Scheme (PMTF).

    Onyinloye told the lawmakers that N8.9billion was released to the TIB by SURE-P.

    He said: “TIB received this amount on July 26, last year, to pay for vehicles supplied since January, last year.

    “It is interesting to note that TIB as the fund manager judiciously utilised and recycled the N8.9billion and made disbursements in the form of vehicles worth over N9.06billion.”

    Oyinloye said the fund could not grow beyond the N8.9 billion because interest rate was zero per cent.

    Of the 807 buses, he said, ABC Transport Plc, representing Southeast, got 20 buses at N247million; Afenmai Line Transport Limited (Southsouth) 10 buses at N118.75million; Ajetunmobi Integrated Services Limited (Southwest) 20 buses at N205.936million; Ani B. Barak Nigeria Limited (Northeast) five buses at N42.54million and Annasai Nigeria Limited (FCT) five buses at N42.54million.

    Others were Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Limited (FCT) 200 buses at N2.47billion; Autostar Travels and Tourism Limited (Southeast) 32 buses at N373.44million; Dabo Motors Limited (Northwest) 25 buses at N302million; Mallam Madalla Enterprises (Northeast) 10 vehicles at N85million; Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO- Nationwide) 42 buses at N403million; LAGBUS Operators (Lagos) 100 buses at N1.235billion; Shaanxi Auto Limited (FCT) 20 buses at N247million and Abuja Transport Cooperative Society (ATCS -FCT) 20 buses at N247million.

    Also benefiting were National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW nationwide) 234 buses at N2.335billion; Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN Nationwide) 42 buses at N370.73million; Safetrip Limited (North Central) 13 buses at N227.62million; Dash Gold Nigeria Limited; A.M.D Nigeria Limited and Dabo Motors Limited, all in Northwest, three vehicles each at N35.625million.

    Oyinloye noted that the PMTF Scheme – Phase 1 was successful, with vehicles distributed across the six geo- political zones.

  • ‘Missing’ N500b…SURE-P in stormy waters

    ‘Missing’ N500b…SURE-P in stormy waters

    Who owns SURE-P? That is the question raised following the claim by the Senate that N500 billion SURE-P fund was missing. The Minister of Finance, Budget Office and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have all washed their hands of the programme initiated to utilise savings from the partial removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in 2012. Nduka Chiejina reports.

    One of the agenda of the Federal Government is the progressive deregulation of the petroleum industry, which gave birth to the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). It was established January last year by President Goodluck Jonathan after the subsidy from Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) was partially removed.

    The Occupy Nigeria protest took centre stage to protest the hike in pump price of fuel from N65 to over N141, before it was reduced to N97, after negotiation between the Organised Labour and the Federal Government.

    The SURE-P was set up as an interventionist committee to manage the proceeds from fuel subsidy removal. It is funded with the difference or the savings which would have used to subsidise PMS had there been full subsidy for the product. By implication, the difference between N65 per litre cost of PMS as full subsidy and N97 the price of PMS from partial withdrawal of subsidy is what the government uses to fund SURE-P. The money thus saved is shared among the three tiers of government.

    In order to ensure the proper management of the funds that would accrue to the Federal Government from the partial withdrawal of subsidy, the government decided to inaugurate a committee for the purpose.

    Accordingly, the President set up the SURE-P Committee, with Dr. Christopher Kolade as Chairman.

    The mandate from the President to the SURE-P Committee is to ‘deliver service with integrity’ and ‘restore people’s confidence in the government’. The terms of reference are as follows: Determine in liaison with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the subsidy savings estimates for each preceding month and ensure that such funds are transferred to the Funds’ Special Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria; approve the annual work plans and cash budgets of the various Project Implementation Units (PlUs) within the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and ensure orderly disbursement of funds by the PlUs in order to certify and execute projects; monitor and evaluate execution of the funded projects, including periodic Poverty and Social lmpact Analysis (PSIA); update the President regularly on the programme; Periodically brief the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the progress of the programme; appoint Consulting firms with international reputation to provide technical assistance to the Committee in financial and project management; appoint external auditors for the fund; and do such other things as are necessary or incidental to the objectives of the Fund or as maybe assigned by the Federal Government.

    The Committee is supported by a Secretariat that will also be responsible for communication and press briefings.

    Fund Management

    SURE-P, in carrying out the set mandate of reinvesting the Federal Government’s share, established a fund management structure. In the structure, the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation (Director-General, Budget Office) is designated as the Accounting officer for all SURE-P activities. The Account of the programme is, therefore, domiciled in the Office of the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation.

    After the Committee has approved payments for projects, the Chairman signs the approval, then the DG Budget Office, as Accounting Officer, processes the approvals, after which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) makes payments directly to beneficiaries.

    Programme Structure

    In line with the adopted operational structure, individual projects are managed by Project Implementation Units (PIUs) that are located within Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Projects and programmes oversight are managed by the SURE-P Committee working through its steering committee and seven subcommittees. This aspect of the SURE-P programme structure has been described as drain pipe of public funds as it is seen as a duplication of the duties and functions of MDAs with regards to project management.

    The subcommittees are extensions of the committee to provide direct supervision to the projects. The Committee also has a Secretariat that provides technical and administrative support to both the Committee and its subcommittees, and provides information to stakeholders and the general public.

    By the end of November 2012, N62, 423,351,736.58 had been expended on capital projects; N325,525,292.27 went into the committee’s running cost (secretariat services).

    The expenditure summary shows that maternal child health by federal ministry of health gulped N3,803,152,276.13; public works by FERMA used N4,000,000,000.00; mass transit by infrastructure bank, went away with N8,900,000,000.00; East-West Road by ministry of Niger Delta equally gulped N8,148,855,134.04; N28,296,238,063.10 was spent by federal ministry of Works on roads and bridges; Railway by federal ministry of Transport received N9,275,106,263.31 and N325,525,292.27 was spent on Secretariat services by SURE-P, bringing the total to N62,748,877,038.85.

    In 2014, N273.14 billion has been budgeted for extra capital under the SURE-P scheme to further complement the overall capital outlay in 2014. According to the 2014-2016 Medium Term Fiscal Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF and FSP) document, “the SURE-P budget is added to the outlay in the regular budget, the consolidated expenditure rises to N4.77 trillion, of which the consolidated capital budget in 2014 is N1.45 trillion (about 30.44 per cent of total expenditure).”

    N35,549,000,000 was shared from the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) by all the tiers of government so far, and as Nigeria’s gross monthly revenue continues to dwindle, state governments have advised the federal government to invest some of the Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) funds into petrochemical industries.

    The advice was given to the federal government following what the states called lack of proper and full harnessing of Nigeria’s resources.

    The Senate alleged last week that N500 billions missing from the SURE-P funds as only N300billion of the estimated accruals of N800 billion could be accounted for. This is not the first time SURE-P funds have been declared missing. The Plateau State House of Assembly recently said it discovered over N3 billion unspent SURE-P fund in the state since January 2012.

    The Chairman of the House Ad hoc Committee on the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, Mr Dalyop Mancha, said the committee discovered that both the State and Local Governments attracted fund from the SURE-P since January 2012, which the two tiers did not disburse to the beneficiaries.

    The state finance commissioner was said to have told state legislature that “the funds were intact and that the account have so far received the sum of over N3 billion arising from a monthly allocation of N218 million”.

    However, no government agency wants to own up to having control over SURE-P. Officials of the Budget Office of the Federation, the agency mandated to serve as the account hub of SURE-P said they could not speak concerning SURE-P citing civil service hierarchy and pointing squarely to the office of the minister of finance which supervises the office.

    But when Prof. Kame Okonjo was kidnapped, her daughter and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said “with regards to the case of SURE-P, there is a totally different process that I have no control over”.

    An official of the Budget Office told The Nation that they do not have up to 50 per cent of the purported N800 billion and accused the Senate of distracting the office from promptly preparing the 2014 budget prior to the President’s submission to the National Assembly with claims of the missing N500 billion. They refused to be dragged into the debate over the whereabouts of the N500 billion until they have concluded work on the 2014 budget.

    The officials of the office said they work with what the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) remits to it and any claims of missing funds should be directed to the NNPC. They also wondered if the N800 billion allegedly funneled to SURE-P was for the three tiers of government or for the Federal Government alone.

    As at September 2013, the Federal Government said it had paid out N25 billion to contractors handling the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme fund (SURE-P) projects.

    This disclosure was made by the SURE-P office in Abuja, which also revealed that the SURE-P committee has approved the appointment of workers supporting the programme on Maternal and Child Health in some states.

    The contractors, who benefited from the N25 billion pay out include Dantata and Sawoe construction company for handling the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road (Abuja-Sheda junction) and the 510 kilometre Kano-Maiduguri (Kano-Wudil-Shuarin) road dualisation scheme.

    Also paid was the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) for handling the rail project running from Idu-Kaduna and the Jebba-Kano rail line rehabilitation.

    Other companies paid for the SURE-P projects according to the programme’s office in Abuja were Messers Raynold Construction Co for work on the East-West road section 3 (Port Harcourt-Eket) and Benin-Ore-Shagamu section 1.

    Reserved West Africa was paid for the work on the Eastern rail line projects from PortHarcourt-Markurdi and Nigeria Construction Limited for the Enugu-Onitsha road dualisation.

    Costain West Africa was paid for work done on the railway rehabilitation from Jebba-Kano and Messers Gitto Construzioni for the work on the Abuja-Lokoja road.

    According to Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara, APC), a member of the SURE-P Senate committee, N800 billion had been generated so far from subsidy as against N300 billion claimed by SURE-P.

    Marafa said: “This committee wrote to the relevant organisations that benefit from this SURE-P when it was inaugurated. It was said that the subsidy regime was going to be N32 a litre and this committee wrote the NNPC to ascertain the quantity of fuel being imported from the time this subsidy programme started.

    “NNPC replied the committee that from January 2012 to December 2013, which if you calculate it will give about 21 months… they gave a breakdown of the quantity per month. When you put up everything, it comes to roughly 25 billion litres per month.

    “Now, if you multiply 25 billion by 32, you get about N800 billion, and what SURE-P told us when they came here when we invited them was that they collected about N300 billion at N15 billion flat rate per month. So if you multiply 21 by 15 billion, you will get about N315 billion. So what we are talking about is the amount involved, which is N500 billion, where is it? That is what we wanted NNPC to tell us.”

    The NNPC has absolved itself from the SURE-P allegations. The corporation described the allegation linking it to the Sure-P budget as a comprehensive falsehood, noting that the Corporation has no connection whatsoever with the disbursement and appropriation of funds to the Sure-P Committee.

    In a statement last Wednesday by the Acting Group General Manager, Tumini E. Green, the NNPC said Sure-P budget is managed by a Committee made up of eminent Nigerians.

    It said: “NNPC is neither a member of the Sure-P Committee nor does it pay any money into the Sure-P account for any reason whatsoever. The budget is the responsibility of other requisite statutory authority. The committee superintends over the disbursement and the execution of the various social welfare projects.”

    Not a few have also queried some SURE-P projects. Some of the programmes are considered not to have direct impact on the people. In a state, SURE-P fund is said to have been used to buy donkeys. “That is scandalous in this age”, said a source.

    In Niger State, has concluded move to partner with the Niger State Development Company (NSDC) to construct a Three Star Hotel at the cost of N436 million.

    The state SURE-P Director General, Alhaji Hassan Nuhu, said the effort was initiated to create employment for youths.

    He said contract for the hotel had been awarded to Fourth Dimension Limited, adding the project was expected to be completed in 10 months and handed to the state government.

    Nuhu said: “The contract has been awarded to a reputable firm that has track record of performance for the construction of a Three Star Hotel to add value to Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi Conference Centre.”

    Under the arrangement, the SURE-P will provide 70 per cent of the cost while the Niger State Development Company will provide 30 per cent balance of the cost of the project.

    He said: ” But we will not embark on any ground breaking ceremony, rather we have instructed the contractor to keep the work schedule so that the project is completed with the 10 months period effective from October 1, 2013 so that the July 2014 handover and inauguration date is achieved.”