2014 budget: N’Delta militants get more than military, police

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bukola Saraki, has faulted several aspects of the 2014 Appropriation Bill, saying that the document failed to give priority to critical sectors and a blueprint for fiscal recklessness and leakages in government expenditure.

Of particular concern is the misplacement of prorities demonstrated in the allocation of N54bn to Niger Delta Militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme while the Military and Police got just N46bn in capital allocations.

He also noted the dangers of increased extra-budgetary spending and the impunity with which agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, spent public funds and serial breaches of budget implementation rules by civil servants.

Saraki, in a critical appraisal of the budget posted on his website, expressed regret that the budget process had become a mere procedural ritual designed to fulfil a legal condition rather than a scrutiny on efficient resource allocation and use for the welfare of the people.

For example, under the defence and security allocations, the lawmaker noted that N54bn was budgeted for stipends and allowances for 30,000 Niger Delta militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (N23.6bn) and Reintegration of Transformed Ex-Militants’ (N35.4bn), while the total capital budget for the Nigerian Army was N4.8bn and capital budget for the Ministry of Defence Headquarters – Army, Navy and Air Force – was N34.2bn.

“The budget proposal rewards banditry and encourages militancy at the expense of the fighting men and women of the Nigerian military,” he said.

He also noted that the budget proposals were skewed in favour of recurrent expenditure rather than capital votes

The senator, who noted instances where capital expenditures were more or less efficiently appropriated in the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development with N35.1bn allocation to capital and N31.4bn to recurrent; Water Resources, N30.6bn to capital and N7.7bn to recurrent; power, N59bn and N3.3bn to capital and recurrent expenditures respectively and a few others such as transport, works, aviation, lands and housing, added that some capital expenditure items were questionable at best.

Saraki, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, queried the proposal to purchase desktop computers for N2m each under the budget of the Ministry of Education, when the market prices to purchase a unit was N200,000. The Ministry of Works, he said, proposed to buy desktops at N1m per unit.

He described the 2014 budget process as the last opportunity for the National Assembly to rise up to its constitutional responsibility by critically looking into the Bill and ensure that avenues for fiscal recklessness were controlled.

The legislator specifically lamented low percentage of capital budget implementation even as the profile of extra-budgetary expenditures continued to rise, pointing out that the National Assembly needed to rein in public expenditure and ensure probity through budgeting and oversight.

The lawmaker listed 42 MDAs as having higher recurrent allocations than capital to include the Ministry of Interior, which is expected to spend N144.7bn in recurrent and just N6.29bn on capital; police formation and commands, N285.5bn on recurrent and N6.79bn capital; education, including UBEC, N443.9bn on recurrent and N49.5bn on capital and health, N216.4bn on recurrent and N46.3bn on capital expenditures.

According to him, “A cursory appraisal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated plans to spend money for the maintenance of plants and generators in several of our foreign missions, including the one in London, even as the headquarters would spend N201.7m for fumigation and cleaning services during the year.”

He identified some other provisions that illustrated misplaced priorities in the Appropriation Bill to include, construction of a VIP Wing at the State House Clinic at N705m while the total Capital Budget for Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital was N328m; University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital proposed (N310m), NOMA Children Hospital, Sokoto (N89m) and zero capital budget for the Institute of Child Health, University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

“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,” Saraki said.

The former governor of Kwara State bemoaned the increasing impunity with which agencies, including the NNPC, which he said was a “paralleled government”, spent public funds without authorisation.

He, however, blamed the executive and the legislature for lapses in budget implementation, particularly the lack of right integrity assurance value it deserves.

He said: “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. Why do I say so?

“In recent years we have seen a growing trend where the budget is scorned and hardly executed above 50 per cent. Take the 2012 and 2013 budgets for instance, the percentage of implementation of the 2012 and 2013 budget has continued to dwindle while the level of extra-budgetary expenditure in the system unauthorised either by the Appropriation Act or any other Act of the National Assembly has continued to rise.

“It is the duty of the National assembly to rein in public expenditure and ensure probity through budgeting and oversight. It is an open secret that the levels of public revenues expended through extra-budgetary means have continued to grow at a frightening dimension,” the lawmaker added.

Expatiating on what amounted to abuse of the budget process in the subsidy on kerosene, Saraki queried the expenditure of N700m daily on kerosene as well as the $10bn missing money, which NNPC claimed it had spent, even when there was no line item on the budget for kerosene subsidy in the 2013 budget.

“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?,” the lawmaker said.

Saraki described the unauthorised $10bn expenditure by the NNPC as spending of public revenue without appropriation and that the amount was far in excess of the national capital budget for the year 2014.

He added that no one would have known about the unauthorised expenditure and NNPC would not have bothered to explain if there was an enquiry over revenue shortfalls.

The ex-governor said: “Indeed, it is fair to say that what we have today is that we have two parallel government budgets, one that is authorised by the National Assembly and another running as extrabudget expenditures.

“Part of the problem in my view is the process of budgeting. Our budget process lacks thorough scrutiny and deliberation and there is no consequence for budget violation- a matter considered high crime in other countries.

“My attitude is this, if we the National Assembly, make the mistake of going into the 2014 the same way we have been doing we are doomed to fail. We must open our budget process a little further to allow for deliberation and scrutiny.”

According to him, it has now become the norm for third parties to infiltrate the budget process and inject things into the budget but it is happening and can happen again at any point of the budget process, either during passage or implementation.

He noted that a situation where an agency of government could, “without qualms and bare-facedly” claimed to spend in extrabudgetary discretion the sum of $10bn 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 the 1999 Constitution is the source of all authority in Nigeria

Saraki said while admitting that the Executive has a pivotal role to play, the Constitution recognises the danger of allowing such a very important and onerous duty to be performed only by the Executive and demanded rightfully that the National Assembly, the representative of the people, approve the budget.

 

$50m Technology City takes off in Osun

WEST Africa’s biggest ICT and phone manufacturing company, RLG, has commissioned a $50 million Technology City in Ilesha, Osun State.

  Called the “RLG/Adulawo Technology City,” the facility will be involved in the training of youths to assemble and repair various electronic devices as well as produce the items from its facility. In addition, it is expected to create over 10,000 jobs both directly and indirectly.

  Speaking at the official launch of the City, Mr. Roland Agambire, Group Chairman of RLG, noted that gone were the days where oil was the mainstay of the world economy. He pointed out that ICT was the new money spinner and the RLG/Adulawo Technology City was an ambitious project that would play a major role in the technology revolution that is sure to come to Nigeria.

  He noted that the dream of setting up such a facility was propelled  by the leadership and vision of the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, whom he stated supported the idea from the outset, especially because it has as its main goal the creation of jobs and the transfer of technology.

  He stated that although Africa is the wealthiest continent, it has not been able to maximise its potential. “RLG, as a Pan-African company, has the ambitious dream of creating wealth for African youths and leading them out of poverty through technology,” he said.

  Agambire disclosed that the company’s initial investment of $50 million was an expression of its commitment to the vision, adding that it would spend more because there was the need to expand into fabrication which would enable the facility handle more complicated electronic devices.

  He said that so far, 5,000 indigenes have been trained from RLG’s facility in Ghana but that the remaining 15,000 indigenes will be trained and equipped at the new technology city.

  While calling on everyone to see the RLG brand as Nigerian because its products will be made here in the country, he urged all to patronise the company’s products which include phones and computers in order to help create more jobs and wealth for fellow citizens.

  According to him, “RLG has the best warranty policy in the country and we are also very innovative, affordable and user-friendly.”

  Governor Aregbesola commended RLG for its decision to invest in the state and help create jobs.

  He stressed that the factory located in the Technology City will be producing mobile phones, tablets, television sets and computer systems, both desktops and laptops.

  “While in full production capacity, it will directly employ 800 people while over 15,000 indirect jobs will be created round the state through the enterprise from sales and repair points. It will impact the state’s economy through taxes, rates and levies, add to the state’s GDP, create wealth and bring development to the community where it operates.”

  Governor Aregbesola said that the City was also a demonstration of the government’s resolve to partner with the private sector through the creation of an enabling environment and providing adequate infrastructure for rapid industrialisation and job creation.

  Also speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Bambo Bashorun, ICT Expert and Project Director, commended the governor for keeping alive the quest to ensure the transformation of Osun through the use of ICT. He said the Technology City will become a hub that will impact positively on the ICT industry in Nigeria and by extension the whole of West Africa. 

  The RLG/Adulawo Technology City has a capacity to assemble 5,000 mobile phones, and 2,500 computers daily. It has fully equipped training centre called the RLG Institute of Technology, a Research & Development Laboratory complete with a Green Technology Bio-mass plant which will provide cooking gas for the staff quarters and generate 3KVA electricity.

Lagos begins issuance of electronic Certificate of Occupancy

 Certificates of Occupancy (e-C of O) to 55 property owners in the state.

Gov. Babatunde Fashola presented the documents to the benefi ciaries at a brief ceremony to offi cially kick-start the issuance of the e-certifi – cates. The fi rst sets of benefi – ciaries are property owners in the various government land schemes.

Presenting the documents, Fashola said that the migration from the paper title to electronic C of 0 was the state’s response to the problem of document counterfeiting.

According to him, the illegal printing of the “Yellow Paper” by some unscrupulous people has affected the reliability of the paper C of 0 as a legal title to properties in the state.

He said the new electronic title was to eliminate fraud in the system and ensure effi cient land administration in the state.

“This new electronic document is more secure as it is designed to eliminate cloning and issuance of documents that are not genuine.

“Those issued with this e-C of O can be sure they have bought land rather than law suits. The new document guarantees safety of properties,” the governor said.

Fashola said that the government would speed up the process of issuance of the new document to clear the backlog of applications.

He said those with authentic paper C of O had nothing to worry about as the old document still provided temporary legal cover on their properties.

The governor, however, stated that holders of the “Yellow paper” would soon be required to turn in their old document for the new e-C of 0.

Shedding more light on the new document, the Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Hakeem Muri- Okunola, said the issuance of the e-C of O was faster and less cumbersome.

According to the permanent secretary, applicants who fulfi l all necessary conditions will be issued the document within 45 days.

On why property owners in government land schemes were being issued the new document fi rst, Muri-Okunola said the step was purely for ease of administration.

“We are focusing on properties in government’s plans because we are just starting; very soon, we will extend it to private purchasers of land as well,’’ he said.

One of the benefi ciaries, Abimbola Akinyemi, commended the government for the initiative and noted that it would put the minds of property owners at rest.

“I feel so great getting this document and I want to commend the government for the idea.

“With this e-C of 0, property owners can now feel safe with their properties as it has eliminated the many problems with the old paper document.

“I applied online and within a short time, here I am with the document. This is unbelievable and it is really commendable,’’ she said.