TheNewsGuru

Tag: 2018 budget

  • 2018 Budget delay: NASS not responsible – APC lawmaker

    2018 Budget delay: NASS not responsible – APC lawmaker

    A member of House of Representatives, Mr Nicholas Ossai (Delta-APC), on Wednesday urged Nigerians to hold the Executive accountable for the delay in the passage of 2018 Appropriation Bill.

    He told News Agency of Nigeria Abuja that apart the Bill being late November, 2017, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had refused to go before relevant committees of the legislature to defend their budgets.

    Ossai, therefore, said that it was unfair for the Executive to blame the lawmakers for delay in passing the budget, insisting that it could not be approved without MDAs defending their needs as contained in it.

    According to him, the National Assembly cannot address issues regarding the Appropriation Bill in a hasty manner, particularly when the Executive that made the inputs in the budget are reluctant to come and defend them.

    On the intended January – December fiscal year, the lawmaker said “I don’t really agree with the executive’s assertion, whether budget year or not budget year.

    “The most critical issue is that the budget was brought late November, and so there was no way the National Assembly could have addressed the matters in the Bill in one month.

    “January to December is not supposed to be an issue but bringing the private sector to bear when budgeting is the issue.

    “This is because the economy is run not only from the public sector but also the private sector.

    “The executive ought to bring the budget in the first week of October to give three months for the legislature to address the issues critically, looking at the books and performance of preceding budget.’’

    “Sometimes you blame the executive because you invite them to come and expatiate on the budget items and they find it very difficult. I don’t know what they are hiding from the legislature.

    “The Constitution has given us power to be able to look at the Bill; we are representatives of the people and the executive is to implement what the people have prescribed.

    “I think to some extent, the National Assembly has been dutiful enough to its job by creating value for money because without scrutinizing, you won’t be able to see value for money,” Ossai added.

    According to him, if certain amount is budgeted, it is also necessary to know how it is utilised based on the prescription of the national assembly.

    “If you are the executive and have budgeted a sub-head of N10, you should be able to feed us that the N10 we gave you last time, you used it and to what extent.

    “If you can defend that very effectively, then there is no reason why the National Assembly cannot prescribe further N10 or even give more depending on what you have presented.

    “But, in a situation where the executive budget performance is eight per cent or sometimes, 20 per cent and you are bringing a higher figure in a new budget, the National Assembly will ask questions.

    “Those are the reasons why our constituencies want to know why most of the budgets are not well implemented, especially when revenue generating agencies have met their target according to approval.

    “So, these are the issues we want to know and critically examine so Nigerians can get value for money,” he said.

    Ossai said that though implementation of 2017 budget was quite low at the end of the year, it had gone up to about 50 per cent due to queries by the legislature.

    “Today, I can tell you that over 50 per cent of the 2017 budget has been implemented.

    “This is because of the critical assertion by the House of Representatives in particular; the executive had to rush and hasten implementation of the budget.

    “You can see that the representation of the people counts a lot in a democracy; without being critical about the last year’s budget, there was no way the executive would have implemented it.

    “So, Nigerians should be patient with the National Assembly; we are trying to create value for money,” he said.

     

  • No date for passage of 2018 budget yet – Senate

    The Senate on Tuesday said there was no date yet for the passage of the 2018 Budget.

    Senate’s spokesperson, Sen. Sa’abi Abdullahi, said this while addressing newsmen in Abuja.

    He said: “The budget process is on and I can’t tell you this is the specific date it is going to end.

    “We are working very hard on it and we want to assure Nigerians that at the end of the day, we will have a budget that will serve the purpose of Nigerians.”

    On the upper chamber’s resolution to lift embargo on confirmation of presidential nominees, the lawmaker said “there was an existing impasse between the Executive and the Legislature with respect to confirmation hearing of appointees of the Executive.

    “We had a resolution that since the executive is claiming we don’t have the powers to make those confirmations we are not going to consider the nominees they are forwarding to us. This happened since last year”.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Senate, after a Point of Order by Sen. Rafiu Ibrahim (APC-Kwara), lifted the embargo.

    According to Abdullahi, the Senate made the resolution “not that they have any iron to grind with anybody.

    “But because we believe we must defend the sanctity of democracy and ensure the institutions of democracy, for which the Senate is the apex, must be respected and we believe in doing so, it is in the overall interest of the people”.

    He further explained that the upper chamber resolved that it would consider the confirmation of members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

    “We will also consider the nomination of the two deputy governors of Central Bank (CBN) who are also members of the MPC so that the Nigerian economy will receive the necessary technical input to ensure that we sustain the growth of our economy.

    ” And to also ensure we support the executive in walking the economy out of recession.

    “We are definitely going to do the confirmation to enable those confirmed to attend the next MPC meeting,” Abdullahi said.

    The MPC meeting is scheduled to hold on March 19 and 20.

  • Senate orders 63 FG agencies to submit 2018 budget details in 7 days

    As part of moves to fast-track the final passage of the 2018 budget, the Senate on Wednesday asked 63 agencies and parastatals under the Federal Government to submit details of their proposed 2018 budgets within one week or risk sanctions.

    The Senate at the plenary on Wednesday said while President Muhammadu Buhari had complied with the law by laying the 2018 Appropriation Bill along with details of estimates before the lawmakers, agencies of the government had disregarded the law.

    Raising a point of order, the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, said only one out of 64 agencies had submitted its budget details.

    Lawan said, “I came on this particular order because of the budgets of agencies of the Federal Government.

    “Mr. President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria submitted the national budget as well as the summary of the budgets of the agencies. By so doing, he has completed his work.

    “What is required of the agencies is for them to present the details of their agencies.

    “My office has been working closely with the Office of (Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters — Senate) Senator Ita Enang.

    “We have insisted that the details of the budgets of the agencies must be presented to the Senate so that we can consider them together with the main budget.

    “We believe that the 2018 budgets, either for the ministries or the agencies, should be passed as quickly as we can, and together.”

    The Majority Leader made reference to a newspaper advertisement sponsored by Enang on February 7, 2018, in which the presidential aide called the attention of all the 64 agencies that they must submit the details of their budgets to him (Enang) for onward transmission to this Senate.

    Lawan said, “So far, only one (of them) has submitted. I want this Senate to recognise that the Nigerian Communications Commission presented and submitted what was required. It is a very good example of what we are asking for.

    “I want this Senate to give an ultimatum of one week to all the remaining agencies within which to submit the details of their budgets for our committees to consider the appropriations for 2018. I believe that it is possible and it not supposed to be difficult.”

    In his ruling, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, condemned the agencies for their non-cooperation with the lawmakers.

    He said the parliament would be forced to move against the bodies if they failed to meet up with the deadline.

    Saraki said, “This has been a matter that we’ve been talking about for a very long time and these agencies continue to have total disregard for due process.

    “I really find it difficult to understand where the head of the Executive arm, Mr. President, is doing things properly, and agencies underneath just do things in the wrong way.

    “The SA to the President has even gone far to put an advert in the paper. So, I think it is very clear that we give them the mandate; we give to them one week.

    “It is not that we don’t know what to do. Some of our cooperation should not be misread as weakness or not knowing what to do, because definitely we can mandate the Ministry of Finance to ensure that they do not make further releases because they (the agencies) are breaking the law.

    “We will give them one week and after that one week, if they don’t comply, then we will take the necessary actions to show that they need to comply with the law that guides them.”

  • No provision for minimum wage increment in 2018 budget – FG tells NLC

    The Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, says the 2018 budget, at present, cannot accommodate the minimum wage as proposed by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

    He said the Federal Government might go for a supplementary budget to implement the new minimum wage if approved by the law.

    Akabueze disclosed this at the Media and CSOs Dialogue on the 2018 budget on Wednesday in Abuja.

    “When an agreement is reached, the financial implication would be quantified and if need be, there would be a supplementary budget.

    “The only provision that exists is what we call public service wage adjustment, but that is barely over N40bn provided on that line, and that may not be enough to cater for any adjustments that may be necessary.’’

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that President Muhammadu Buhari, in November 2017, inaugurated a 30-man Tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee, calling on the members to come up with a fair and decent wage for Nigerian workers.

    Buhari said the re-negotiation of a new national minimum wage had become imperative because the existing minimum wage instrument had since expired.

    “We all know that the last minimum wage instrument has expired.

    “It is in recognition of the need to ensure a fair and decent living wage that the Federal Government put in motion necessary mechanisms so that we can, today, inaugurate this large committee with a big task ahead of you.

    “You are all aware that during the period following the increase in petrol pump price in May 2016, a technical committee was established to examine and make recommendations to government.’’

    Buhari, at the time, said the measures to be adopted would cushion the envisaged painful effects of the increase on workers and the Nigerian populace at large.

  • Nobody can pad 2018 budget, FG assures Nigerians

    The Federal Government on Wednesday assured Nigerians that the 2018 budget cannot be padded.

    The assurance was given by the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), Mr Ben Akabueze.

    Akabueze said this at a session on “Enhancing media and CSO’s understanding of current budget issues and reform efforts” on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He said budget padding, as insertion of unauthorised items in the 2018 budget, could not arise because MDA’s took direct responsibility or uploaded their budgets on the GIFMIS.

    Akabueze revealed that MDA’s Accounting Office and chief executives also signed to confirm the budget proposals before submission to the National Assembly.

    “If there are issues, the MDA’s concerned are informed and made aware of any amendment of the budget.

    “In recent years, the Federal Government budget attracts a lot of attention from media, CSO’s and the general public which is gladdening, because the budget seems to be an annual ritual.”

    Akabueze said it was desirable that the budget attracted significant public attention.

    He noted that the Federal Government was open to receive questions on how the budget was allocated.

     

  • 2018 budget: CSO tells NASS to avoid another budget padding scandal

    Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has called on the National Assembly to diligently scrutinise the 2018 Budget to avoid another budget padding scandal in the country.

    Legal Adviser of the organization, Mr Adesina Oke, made the call while addressing newsmen in Abuja and said that it was imperative to eliminate frivolous and wasteful allocations in the budget.

    Oke said that the poor level of implementation of the 2017 budget was lamentable.

    He said that apart from the delay in the passage of budgets, implementation level of less than 20 per cent called for serious concerns.

    “It is bad enough that capital allocations are usually inadequate and frivolous, wasteful provisions, poor disbursement and utilization only create economic uncertainties and negative impacts on the welfare of citizens.

    “As at this day, the 2018 budget is not close to being passed and the month of April is being projected for its passage.

    “For a pre-election year, this is a recipe for economic crisis and avenue for corruption and unapproved spending which could be diverted for political party or selfish uses by various MDAs.

    “We must overhaul our budget making process to make it more open, transparent and result –oriented,’’ he said.

    Oke also urged the National Assembly to follow through with the confirmation of all outstanding executive appointments by carrying out constructive and objective scrutiny of appointees without prejudice and political sentiments.

    He called on the National Assembly to ensure effective oversight of the MDAs to avoid wastages, abuse and misuse of public funds for any purposes other than serving the interest of Nigerians.

    On his part, Mr Vanccan Prusa, Manager Anti-Corruption, CISLAC, urged the government and security agencies to render the highest level of protection and unconditional political state support to anti-corruption agencies.

    Prusa said that international commitments stipulated during the anti-corruption summit in London anchored on open government partnership should be fulfilled if international community would be convinced about the seriousness of Nigeria to fight corruption.

    He said that whistle blowers should be provided legal provision and assurances from the highest political level that their lives were protected and their actions glorified while exposing corruption.

    Prusa also advised that immediate appointment and prompt inauguration of National Procurement Council as provided in the Public Procurement Act should be accelerated to curb continued systemic corruption in the nation’s procurement process.

     

  • FG denies smuggling suspicious items in 2018 budget

    The Federal Government on Wednesday denied including strange items in the 2018 budget as widely circulated in some quarters.

    Debunking the claim, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning said there were no expenditure items in the fiscal document that were wasteful in nature.

    Recall that there have been suggestions that some line items and projects in the budget are wasteful and unclear, and as such, do not have any developmental impact on the people

    But responding to the allegations, the ministry in a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media to the minister, Mr. Akpandem James, explained that the items in the budget were well conceived and provided for by the respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

    It said allocations such as N10bn for settlement of liabilities to contractors; N22.6bn for research and development; and N308.42bn for procurement of riot control equipment for police formations, among others, that were claimed to be suspicious were genuine provisions that had been explained by the relevant government agencies.

    The statement read in part, “It is common knowledge that the Federal Government owes many contractors for certified works dating back as far as 10 years.

    “Thus, provisions are made in the annual budgets to offset some of these contractor liabilities. A good portion of these debts is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, and so the ministry made a provision of N10bn in the 2018 budget proposal for settlement of liabilities.

    “In the Government Integrated Finance and Management Information System, research and development is a programme description that encapsulates various projects.

    “In this case, a check of the budget of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment will show that this includes the N19.3bn for the Export Expansion Grant.”

    It added, “For several years, the EEG scheme was suspended on account of its dubious outcomes. However, in its bid to incentivise non-oil exports, the FGN reformed and reinstated the scheme with effect from 2017.

    “The budgetary provision for this scheme will therefore be recurrent, year after year. Indeed, as the non-oil sector picks up, the amount of provision is expected to increase.”

  • 43 per cent of capital projects in 2018 budget have no impact on Nigerians – BudgiT

    A civil society group, BudgIT on Tuesday said about N744.5 billion, or 42.9 per cent of a total N2.65 trillion provision for capital projects in the 2018 Appropriation Bill currently before the National Assembly for approval may have no direct impact on the average Nigerian.

    The group argued that of the total 9,331 projects included in the proposed budget as capital line items, allocation of about N1.72 trillion, or about 20 per cent of the N8.612 trillion budget outlay went to one administrative service or the other that hardly impacted directly on Nigerian lives.

    Of this number, about 2,136 projects received total allocation of N11.5 billion, 3,797 received allocation of N101.8 billion; 1, 193 for N90.5 billion; 1,715 for N383 billion and 490 for a total N1.13 trillion, it explained.

    The group said about 95 per cent of the total number of capital projects attracted allocations of N500 million or below, and were “accompanied with vague descriptions that will prove difficult to monitor or track in physical and auditing terms.”

    Further analysis, the group noted, showed that only 26 per cent of capital allocations to the ministries have direct links to the written, medium-term aspirations of the government as highlighted in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP.

    Such allocations that could be tracked by civil society groups and other budget monitoring agencies were highlighted under the Ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture, Transportation, Niger Delta, Water resources, Science, Works, Power and Housing.

    Throughout the budget provisions, BudgIT said, a significant amount of capital allocation fell under certain generic names as “Welfare packages”, “Sporting activities”, “Drugs and Medical Supplies”, “Medical expenses”, “Software acquisition”, “Monitoring & Evaluation”, “Budget Preparation”, “Access to Credit”, “Food & Agricultural policies”, “Budget Preparation” and “International Training”, etc. without detailed descriptions on the number of beneficiaries.

    Some of the administrative items included procurement of exotic official cars, reconstruction and rehabilitation of government offices, staff training, consultancy services, purchase of furniture for office and residential quarters and acquisition of computer software and hardware by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.

    “Given that funds marked for capital expenditure will be largely borrowed (as highlighted in the proposed 2018 budget), it is disheartening to discover that most line items therein show a great disconnect from the developmental goals of government, as stated in its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

    In a pre-election year, the group said it expected that capital projects would be devoted solely to projects with direct developmental impact on the larger Nigerian population.

    He said given the country’s tight fiscal condition and meagre economic growth at the moment, its review revealed that there were several items in the capital budget that should have been excluded, particularly administrative capital items that would benefit only politicians and civil servants, who constitute less than one per cent of the Nigerian population.

    The group said its findings also showed that the scope of the country’s needs in terms of developmental capital projects include the acquisition, upgrading, construction and maintaining of physical assets, namely hospital, schools, roads, railways, power plants, street lights, boreholes among others.

    It said administrative capital items that cannot be easily accessed by the Nigerian public, or have little or no developmental impact on the people, have been allowed to flood the budget.

    The group, which decried attempts by MDAS to mask several administrative items under a bloated capital component of the draft appropriation, said the budgeting system, which allowed “one-liners” without details, gives room for financial indiscretion and the potential abuse of funds.

    “It is antithetical to what the government continually professes to stand for,” BudgIT said. “Most crucial is that the Federal Government is yet to come out plainly on the amounts spent on Capital items in the 2016 and 2017 financial years.

    “While the Ministry of Finance repeatedly claims about N1.2 trillion has been released, the Budget Implementation Reports released by the Budget Office of the Federation show otherwise.”

    The group said despite several letters sent seeking clarification on details of the projects funded, the Ministry of Finance is yet to respond with the details.

  • Wike holding Rivers hostage by refusing to make 2018 budget public – APC

    The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Friday challenged the state Governor, Nyesom Wike to make the public the state’s 2018 budget.

    The party gave the call while warning that it won’t accept a repeat of what happened in the past two years where Wike refused to make public the state’s budgets.

    Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Chris Finebone in a statement made available to TheNewsGuru.com, said Wike’s refusal to make the state’s budget public clearly “suggests that he will continue ignoring the people and keep holding the state budgets hostage.”

    The statement reads, “Again, the Rivers State governor, Barr. Nyesom Wike has presented a budget of N510 billion to the Rivers State House of Assembly Thursday with the usual fanfare. Expectedly, so he did for 2016 and 2017.

    However, presentation of the budget proposals remains the last Rivers citizens see of their actual budgets thereafter. All attempts to compel the governor to make public the final appropriation laws (budgets) have met the brick wall. This is at variance with what obtains in all other states of Nigeria and the federal government where budgets are easily placed in the public domain for everyone to access at will.

    “The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, will not accept a repeat of what happened in the past two years where the governor vehemently refused to make public the state’s budgets. We are pleased to know that a coalition of civil society groups is already in court to compel the Rivers State governor to make public the previous state’s budgets. As a party, we will not refrain from lending a strong voice to the clamour to give the public access to the state’s budgets.

    “At the risk of sounding pessimistic, early signs already indicate that Rivers people should not expect any cheery news from the present budget proposal presented by Gov. Nyesom Wike last Thursday.

    “In his budget proposal presentation speech, nothing suggested that the budget will be placed in public space this time around as the governor made no comments on the clamour by the people to be given access to their budgets. His refusal to react to that clamour clearly suggests that he will continue ignoring the people and keep holding the state budgets hostage.

    “As a political party, the APC team of budget experts is carefully studying the appropriation bill presented to the Rivers State House of Assembly. However, we note that the actual kernel of a budget which the team will be evaluating is whether all the processes the House should put the bill through are conformed with because that is largely what will legitimise the final outcome or invalidate it . Another is whether this time around the final budget will be placed in public space just as all other states in Nigeria including the federal government do.

    “Meanwhile we will continue to ask why the present government has refused to follow in the footsteps of all previous administrations in Rivers State especially that of the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (in which the present governor served as Chief of Staff) by placing the state budgets in public space so that Rivers people and other critical stakeholders can access them. Gov. Nyesom Wike needs to provide an answer except if there is none and that will confirm our worst fears.”

  • Lagos Assembly to pass 2018 budget in January

    The Lagos State House of Assembly is to pass the state’s 2018 Budget Bill before the end of January.

    The Acting Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Strategy and Publicity, Mr Tunde Braimoh, gave the assurance in an interview in Lagos on Monday.

    “We are working round the clock; we have denied ourselves holidays, even weekends, to see that we bring to bear our impact on the budget for quick passage.

    “We are, however, embarking on careful scrutiny, consideration, repositioning and re-aligning of the budget where necessary.

    “We want to see that we consider every kobo in the budget for the benefit of Lagos residents.

    “We are going to be assiduous, meticulous and circumspect to ensure that the budget is adapted for the betterment of Lagosians,’’ he said.

    The lawmaker also said that the assembly would break new grounds in 2018 to bring more dividends of democracy to Lagos residents.

    He said that the House would show greater understanding with the execute arm to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

    Reports say that the House had on Dec.18 set up a seven-man committee to scrutinize the state’s N1.046 trillion budget proposal.

    Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode presented the proposed `Budget of Progress and Development’ to the Assembly on December 11.

    The budget size, which represents a 28.67 per cent increase over the state’s 2017 Budget of N812 billion, had a capital expenditure of N699 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N347billion.