2nd February, 2014
EROMOSELE EBHOMELE
A Nigerian senator representing one of the districts of Kwara state has attributed the impunity with which the Federal Government and its agencies disobey the stipulations of Appropriation Acts to the improper scrutiny and oversight functions of the National Assembly.
Dr. Bukola Saraki, who is a former governor, further said the do-nothing posture of the senate was responsible for the way President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and its agencies carry out extra-budgetary spending without recourse to due process.
Wondering the usefulness of the National Assembly in issues relating to the Appropriation Act especially in Nigeria, Senator Saraki said, for the last time in the current dispensation, the senate must do what its members were elected to do—ensure proper scrutiny of the 2014 budget proposal which is filled with inconsistencies.
In a very lengthy analysis of the 2014 budget proposal submitted to the senate by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala weeks ago, Saraki declared: “let’s be frank and admit that our budget process has been inadequate. And a lot of the failure of the budgets in the past cannot be completely ascribed to the executive alone.
“We too have a low pass mark on the budget ourselves, as we have not guarded our budget process effectively and have shielded away from vesting it with the right integrity assurance value it deserves. Today, we have a situation where even civil servants find no hesitation in abusing the provisions of the budget with impunity.
“This 2014 budget may be our last opportunity to redeem ourselves and correct this budget anomaly. If we don’t seize this opportunity and put things right, soon it may begin to appear that National Assembly budget no longer matter.”
As posted in his website, abubakarbukolasaraki.com, the senator noted that in recent years Nigerians have witnessed a growing trend where the budget is scorned and hardly executed above 50 percent while the level of unauthorised extra-budgetary expenditure in the system has continued to rise.
“How do we explain the expenditure of N700m daily on kerosene, even when there was no line item on the budget for kerosene subsidy in the 2013 budget? Again, the waste this exposes the budget to is not just as to the amount involved, but also the fact that the product is not available to Nigerians.
“How is it that this barefaced fleecing of the country and an unapologetic violation of the budget of this magnitude continue without any response from the National Assembly?
“Another example is the parallel government called NNPC. Yes, it has become a parallel government. Otherwise how do you explain this – NNPC has openly told us that they had spent the missing $10bn (this is after questions were asked about unexplained shortfalls in remittances) of public revenue without appropriation?
“This is an amount far in excess of the national capital expenditure for 2014…Indeed, it is fair to say that what we have today are two parallel government budgets, one that is authorized by the National Assembly and another running as extra-budget expenditures.
“No matter how you look at it, a situation where an agency of government can, without qualms and bare-facedly, claim to spend in extra-budgetary discretion the sum of $10 billion, an amount far greater than the entire federal capital budget for all government agencies and programmes including education, health, roads, aviation, power, for the year in a manner that the National Assembly has no say about, calls to question the relevance of the National Assembly in the revenue and expenditure process of our governance and more so whether our 1999 Constitution is the source of all authority in Nigeria,” he said listing areas of the constitution where the National Assembly derives its powers to regulate government spending as well as advising that it is the duty of the National Assembly to rein in public expenditure and ensure probity through budgeting and oversight.
He also lamented situations where chairmen of committees of the National Assembly hardly understand the budget process while some are only particular about the budget as it relates to the ministries and agencies under their committees as this, he said, was responsible for the many fraudulent items injected into the budget.
“This budget, even without much work, reveals far too many costly inconsistencies…Take for example the purchase of desktops where a unit is listed for N2 million under the budget of the Ministry of Education, while the market reality will show that N200, 000 will be efficiently utilised to purchase a unit. On the same budget for Works, desktop were listed to cost N1 million per unit.
“There is no desktop computer costing over N500,000 naira in the open market. In fact since most of these will be bulk purchases, the cost is expected to come down. More importantly, there is no suggestion that what is needed is the highest end of desktop computers.
“A peep into the budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brings its own excitement. For instance, there is plan to spend money for the maintenance of plants and generators in several of our foreign missions, including the one in London.
The Foreign Ministry’s headquarters would part with N201.7 million for fumigation and cleaning services during the year; construction of a VIP Wing at the State House Clinic: N705 million; total Capital Budget for Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital: N328 million; total capital budget for University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital: N310 million; total Capital Budget for NOMA Children Hospital, Sokoto: N89; total Capital Budget for The Institute of Child Health, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, and Benin City: Nil.
“It is clear from the foregoing that to the formulators of the budget, the VIP Wing at the State House Clinic is superior in terms of cost, priority and efficient allocation of resources to two teaching hospitals, a National Children’s Hospital and a Paediatric Research Institute combined,” he lamented in the analysis titled: My Submission on The 2014 Budget.
Saraki also questioned the huge discrepancy between where huge resources in the budget allocated to militants and Defence and security.
While the Federal Government is spending N23.6 billion for stipends and allowances to 30,000 Niger Delta Militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme, it is also spending N35.4 billion on reintegration of transformed ex-militants.
But the same government allocated N4.8 billion as total capital budget for the Nigerian Army and a total capital budget for the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Army, Navy and Air Force at N34.2 billion
Also, the total capital budget for all Police formations and commands is N6 billion.
“The budget proposal rewards banditry and encourages militancy at the expense of the fighting men and women of the Nigerian military,” Saraki said while noting many ‘discretionary spending’ in the budget.
For example, as also seen in many other areas in the budget, there is the phrase ‘Welfare packages’, which will gulp as much as N40.4 million in the headquarters of the Ministry of Water Resources.
“Other heads of interest demanding explanation include ‘Cleaning and fumigation services’ (for which the headquarters of the Foreign Affairs Ministry would spend N201.7m and the Niger Delta Ministry will spend N25m on) and ‘Anniversaries and celebrations (for which the Ministry of Women Affairs will spend N71.6m).
“There are also budgetary heads for ‘Printing of security documents’; ‘Printing of non-security documents’; ‘Field and camping materials supplies’ (N4.39m in the Ministry of Women Affairs); ‘Uniforms and other clothing’; ‘Refreshments and meals’ (N16.7m in the Ministry of Women Affairs); ‘Honorarium and sitting allowance’ and ‘consultancy services for budget preparation’.
“In the State House Headquarters there is a line item to purchase an embalming machine at the cost of N1.65m and a hydraulic post-mortem table at N4m. General maintenance in the State House will cost N1.19b of which N138.9m will go for motor vehicle and transport equipment maintenance; N907m will be spent for office and residential building maintenance; N17.4m for office furniture maintenance and N40m for maintain office and IT equipment.”
“Also, in the Foreign Affairs Ministry budget, there are plans to spend N834.4m to purchase and freight 40 ‘representational cars’ to 40 of our foreign missions. This translates to N20.86m as average cost for the cars. Wouldn’t this cost be reduced if these cars were bought in the locations they are to be used?
“In other cases, items are included that are not measurable or executable, eg. the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution will be spending N9m for ‘building democracy as an instrument of peace’.
“There are however a few noticeable exceptions which are to be commended where capital expenditures were more or less efficiently appropriated. These include agriculture and rural development that allocates N35.1b to capital and N31.4b to recurrent respectively; water resources, N30.6b and N7.7b; power N59b and N3.3b; transport, N29.3b and N8.1b; works, N100.1b and N28.5b; lands and housing, N12.8b and N5.6 and aviation N26.1b and N6.1b.
“The rest of the 42 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) will spend more on their recurrent than on capital and in some instances the difference is so huge. Here are a few cases: the Ministry of Interior is expected to spend N144.7b in recurrent and just N6.29b on capital; Police formation and commands, N285.5b and N6.79b; Education including UBEC, N443.9b and N49.5b and Health, N216.4b and N46.3b,” he said while warning his colleagues to be mindful of these facts while scrutinising the budget for passage.