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Tag: 2021 Budget

  • Works, Finance Ministries inflated our 2021 budget by N11bn, FERMA boss tells Reps

    Works, Finance Ministries inflated our 2021 budget by N11bn, FERMA boss tells Reps

    The Managing Director of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency FERMA, Mr. Nurudeen Rafindadi on Thursday shocked members of the House of Representatives Committee on FERMA, headed by Rep. Richard Femi Bamise (APC Ekiti) that the Ministries of Finance and Works and Housing inflated their 2021 budget by over N11 billion.

    A member of the committee, Yusuf Gadgi had asked the FERMA boss why their budget had a sudden increase of over N11 billion.

    He said: “Earlier to this moment, we’re privileged to know your budget proposal to the ministry which before getting to National Assembly the proposal changed from twenty something billion, to thirty something billion.

    ” I will respectfully want you to address that aspect. Are you in charge of FERMA, how come before the proposal got to National Assembly, it was increased upwards?

    “If it was increased, confirm to us now, if it was not increased confirm to us. And if it was increased, who is responsible for the increment with what you defended during your inter ministerial defence; and coming to National Assembly, and amount of over N11 billion was increased in the proposal you have earlier submitted. We want that confirmation from you.”

    The FERMA boss, while answering the question said: “Our proposal of budget as it is today is submitted to the federal ministry of works. And the reason is that FERMA is an agency under the supervision of the federal ministry of works. We’re represented at the cabinet by the honourable minister of works.

    “Our budget is in the envelope of the ministry so the ministry is asked to submit their budget within that envelope and it includes budgets of agencies under the ministry of which FERMA is one . So we get instructions to submit our budget through the ministry of works, we submitted to them.

    “And yes it is true, we submit our budget to the ministry, what happens after is between the ministry, then ministry of Finance, budget and National planning until subsequently it reaches the House of Representatives. We only know what was in our budget after submission. We’ve since gotten the budget of FERMA as submitted to National Assembly and we’ve been analyzing the differences between the two budget like you said.”

    Earlier, members of the committee had disallowed the agency from presenting its 2021 budget over lack of execution of the 2020 budget

    The decision of if or not to allow the presentation of the 2021 budget tore members of the committee apart resulting in a prolonged argument amongst members.

    The Managing Director of the Agency, Mr. Nurudeen Rafindadi and his Management team were ordered out of the session as members deliberated amongst themselves on salient issues.

    Members while arguing said the agency has been irresponsible and unresponsive to its core mandate.

    Some of the members said they had called the Managing Director to alert him on the sorry state of some roads and he refused to pick their calls.

    Besides, they said strange items regarding COVID-19 palliatives were seen in the FERMA budget making members to wonder what those have to do with road maintenance.

    Also, the committee members said the relevant budget documents were submitted in the morning, a few hours to the sitting, depriving members of the opportunity to review the budget of the agency.

    Efforts by the Chairman of the committee to prevail on the members on the excuse that time was short and the budget has to be passed in a timely fashion was rebuffed by member, causing the committee to go into a closed door session on the next line of action.

    Eventually the FERMA boss and his team were called in. But the lawmakers agreed that the budget hearing be moved to next week so that a thorough consideration be done.

  • Gov. Ayade presents 2021 budget of N277.7bn

    Gov. Ayade presents 2021 budget of N277.7bn

    Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River on Thursday in Calabar presented the 2021 budget of N277.7billion to the State House of Assembly.

    Ayade, who tagged the budget as “Budget of Blush and Bliss’’, said it was aimed at improving the welfare of residents of the state.

    While giving a breakdown the budget, the governor explained that “Of the figure N277.7billion, a sum of N192billion represents the recurrent expenditure which represents 69 per cent of the budget.

    “31 per cent of the budget is now being reduced and left for basic expenditure which is the sum of N85.1billion.

    “The 31 per cent is to deal with infrastructure, water resources, foreign relationship, information system, climate change and also strengthen our social media unit’’.

    According to him, the budget will also focus on efforts to diminish hunger and poverty, increase youths’ employment and enhance security and rural development.

    He noted that the outgoing year was characterised by the Covid-19 pandemic and the EndSARS, with negative impacts on the economy.

    The governor disclosed that few days ago, the state got the final registration for CallyAir, a state-owned commercial airline to commence operations soon.

    Earlier, Speaker of the House, Mr Eteng Jonah-Williams, said that the current year would go down in history as “the year of ups and down”, calling for strategic actions and deep thinking.

    He, however, noted that in spite of the year’s challenges, the house worked overtime to see that the 2020 budget was passed, paving way for economic growth and socio political transformation in the state.

    He commended the state governor for giving approval for the employment of 20,000 workers into the state civil service and the indefinite suspension of tuition fees by indigenes of the state in Cross River State University of Technology.

  • 2021 budget: Reps threaten to delete NERC’s N2bn request for office furniture

    2021 budget: Reps threaten to delete NERC’s N2bn request for office furniture

    …say it lacks contractual details

    The House of Representatives on Wednesday threatened to delete Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC), N2 billion request in the 2021 budget, to partition and furnish its headquarters in Abuja.

    Chairman of the Commission, James Momoh disclosed this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Power, to defend the Commission’s 2021 budget proposal.

    Momoh said the partitioning and furnishing of the eight-floor headquarters building became necessary to make the building befitting and habitable after it was acquired.

    According to him, works on the building has been ongoing, which made the Commission to propose fundings for it in the 2020 and 2021 budges.

    He told the Committee that the Commission was unable to spend all the money released to it for the project in the 2020 budget because of the COVID–19 pandemic.

    The committee therefore demanded to know the total contract sum to complete the partitioning and furnishing of the office, but the Commission was unable to provide same.

    The committee therefore expressed worries that the Commission was seeking N2billion to partition and furnish office, in 2021 budget, but could not say what the contract sum was.

    Consequently, Aliyu Magaji, Chairman of the Committee, threatened to delete the request from the 2021 budget proposal.

    Magaji said: “If you don’t have the contract sum we will delete it from the budget. You have only one line item and you came unprepared. So you should go back and bring the total contract sum.”

  • INEC to begin another round of voter registration early 2021

    INEC to begin another round of voter registration early 2021

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it will begin another round of voter registration in the first quarter of 2021.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, told newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday after appearing before the Senate Committee on INEC to defend the Commission’s 2021 budget.

    He said the voter registration exercise will run till six months before the 2023 general elections.

    “We will resume voter registration in the first quarter of 2021. And once we resume, it will be continuous for one and half years, at least until six months to the next general election.

    He also revealed that the commission is currently involved in about 1,700 pre-election and post-election court cases from 2019 general elections.

    He, however, said the Commission is not paying huge legal fees but applying Federal Ministry of Justice scale of fees.

    “For instance, if we have a case for governorship election before the Supreme Court, it is a maximum of N4.5 million, but because of the number of cases, we are almost getting close to 1,700 pre-election and post-election cases in 2019 alone.

    “Every day you hear people going to court and joining INEC, but we will continue to do what we can within available resources,” he said.

    Earlier at the budget defence, Yakubu said the Commission plans to withdraw N5.2 billion from its N10 billion fund to augment its 2020 budget.

    He said the commission had not spent from the fund since it was established in 2010, noting that the withdrawal is occasioned by the reduction in its 2020 budget.

    “What has happened now is, our budget for 2020 dropped to N40 billion from N45.5 billion in 2019.

    “As a result of the 10 per cent COVID-19 cut, it further dropped to N36 billion in the middle of the year when we had already made preparations for expenditure.

    “Therefore, since that fund is made for the rainy days, I informed the committee that the rainy day has come

    “So we are taking part of the fund to balance our budget for this year,” he said.

    On diaspora voting, he said the Commission is desirous to give Nigerians abroad the right to vote, noting that the actualisation requires amendment to the constitution and the Electoral Act.

    “We have already worked out the document, once the law is amended, we can roll out.

    “We are ready, we have had several meetings with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) but we can’t go beyond what the law provides,” he said.

  • Budget defence: Drama as Reps INEC C’ttee Chairman bars commissioners

    Budget defence: Drama as Reps INEC C’ttee Chairman bars commissioners

    …disagrees With Members, Holds Defence Behind Closed Doors

    It was confusion galore on Wednesday during the budget defence session of the House of Representatives, as Chairman on Electoral matters members bars INEC commissioners from its proceedings.

    Members of the Committee also disagreed with their chairman on the modalility she adopted in engaging the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu concerning the performance of his commission’s 2020 budget.

    The committee also surprisingly asked out all National Commissioners of INEC on the entourage their Chairman, Prof. Yakubu, as it opted to meet with only the Chairman in a closed door session.

    Chairperson of the committee, Rep. Aishatu Jibril Dukku had after making her opening remarks called on Yakubu to give appraisal of the Commission’s 2020 budget performance, as well as make presentation of the 2021 estimates, but was immediately challenged by one of her colleagues, Hon. Solomon Bob from Rivers State, to the effect that “the committee did not carry out any oversight on the commission in the year, but here are we, being called upon to superintendent over another budget”.

    Repeated attempts by Dukku to explain that 2020 was ruptured by the lockdown occasioned by outbreak of the Covid-19 could not stop Bob, who insisted that he must be allowed to land. “Honourable colleague, I rule you out of order”, a visibly angry Dukku told the man and hit the gavel, urging Yakubu to commence his presentation.

    As a result, the committee was forced to move into a closed door session, after the INEC Chairman ended his appraisal of the Commission’s 2020 budget performance, following a suggestion to that effect on the 2020 budget by Hon. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, (PDP, abia), which was immediately supported by Hon. Tajudeen Yusuf, (PDP, kogi).

    “The executive session is very important because 2020 is where the issues are. The budget has been implemented, so that we don’t have to be asking the Chairman (Yakubu) subjective questions on the issue raised”, Yusuf said.

    One of the National Commissioners who were asked to stay outside, Mr. Festus Okoye, however told journalists that there was nothing strange about the committee opting to meet with only Yakubu behind closed doors.

    “They have their own rules, they set their own rules so we have to comply. They can invite only the chairman for a meeting, so there is nothing strange in what is happening now”, he said.

    The chairman of the apex electoral body had earlier informed the panel that the Commission had to revert to its special fund, created under section three of the Electoral Act, in order to meet its mandates, due a drastic reduction of its budget after the review.

    He explained that, its initial budget of N40 billion was reduced to N36 billion, when the Commission was already in the middle of implementation, and so had to draw N5.2 billion from the INEC Fund in order to deliver on its mandate.

  • Hungary sets to throw Nigeria’s ambassador from mission house in Budapest

    Hungary sets to throw Nigeria’s ambassador from mission house in Budapest

    Authorities in Hungary are set to throw Nigeria’s ambassador to Hungary, Dr. (Mrs) Eniola Olaitan Ajayi from the mission house, the chancery building in Budapest.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Godfrey Onyeama made this known while defending the ministry’s 2021 budget at the House of Representatives on Tuesday in Abuja.

    He said the ambassador called him to inform that the landlord was coming and that there was no money to pay the rent rates.

    Onyeama also said he had received similar calls from a lot of Nigerian missions across the world

    He also revealed that plans are underway to reduce the number of International Organisations Nigeria belongs to due to paucity of funds.

    He said that the ministry is faced with a challenge of meeting its contribution to those International organisations.

    “We are owing a lot, and in the Federal Executive Council (FEC), there is a process to rationalise and cut down on the International Organisations we belong to.

    “This is because we are just owing monies left and right and it is not even good for the image of the country,” he said.

    Onyeama, who decried the poor funding of the ministry, reeled out the challenges facing the 2021 budget implementation.

    The minister said that one the challenges the ministry is facing is the movement of officers, ambassadors and their families.

    He said that N1.6 billion is required for the movement of ambassadors while officers will require N3.7 billion, making a total of N5.3 billion for the whole movement.

    The minister said in addition to what was received in the revised budget, the ministry will require an additional N1.1 billion in 2021 to meet the cost of movement.

    He stressed the need to address the inadequate overhead budgetary provisions to the missions, which is resulting to a lot of debt for electricity and rent.

    “Just on Monday, the ambassador in Hungary called to say they are going to throw them out from the chancery building. That the landlord is coming and that they do not have the money to pay.

    “And we get that from a lot of missions across the world and that is not a sustainable way of running foreign service.

    “Then this exchange rate differential with the CBN is really something we need to address once and for all.

    “It is not so easy, all of these things are computed in naira and all the payments abroad are in dollars and once the exchange rate is changed, it never goes the other way, it always goes up, it never comes down visa vis the dollar. This means immediate shortfall for all our missions,” he said

    The minister said that the ministry requires an additional capital allocation of N5 billion to address some of the missions’ renovation needs.

    According to him, “a lot of our missions are eyesores and it is just a huge embarrassment to the country that we can have mission in such terrible conditions.”

    Onyeama said that between 2012 and 2014, the ministry owed local contractors N1.3 billion.

    According to him, “we have been receiving letters from the National Assembly forwarding to us various claims and judgement and asking us to pay them.

    “We have a big challenge with clothing allowances, as you know, all officers in our missions from grade level 7 and above are entitled to US$2,500 clothing allowance per annum.

    “In the 2021 budget, about 1,312 officers will be expecting the payment of these allowances and if you take at the CBN official rate, we are looking at N1.2 billion.

    “What we have available is N762 million for that, to able to pay the clothing allowances, we still need at additional sum of N500 million,” he said.

    Onyeama said that the ministry needs N225 million to pay premium for the insurance of the ministry’s head quarters.

    According to him, that is based on an estimate of the value of the building at N12 billion which is a very rare conservative estimate of that building.

    He said that the ministry needs N342 million for the building of infrastructure which bridge the ICT gap the ministry currently faces.

    “I was talking about the ICT deficit, with presence in 110 countries, we believe that the ministry should be in a key position for foreign direct investment and export promotion, leveraging on our physical presence in 110 countries of the world to make that possible.

    “It would be a one-stop shop for Nigerian businesses without going through all kinds of bottle necks. We want your consideration to allocate this amount into the envelope.

    “Part of what will go for digitizing our missions and the 24-7 health desk that we need to have to keep in touch with Nigerians around the world.

    “That will really transform the ministry and get us to do things we need to be doing and add economic values to the country,” he said.

  • 2021 Budget Defence: You can’t execute new contracts next year, Reps tell TCN

    2021 Budget Defence: You can’t execute new contracts next year, Reps tell TCN

    …insists old ones should be completed

    …MD tells C’ttee new contracts from higher authority

    The House of Representatives Committee on Power on Tuesday told the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to discard all new projects captured in the 2021 Budget estimates until all old ones are completed.

    The Committee on Power took this resolution in a motion at the resumed budget defence session with TCN on in Abuja.

    The TCN had tendered 14 new projects to be executed in next year’s budget.

    Countering the Lawmakers in session the Managing Director, Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz told the Committee that there were numerous ones left unexecuted over the years but the Committee in its wisdom said it was counterproductive to introduce new ones when many previously awarded ones had not been attended to.

    The details of the successive budgets, their performance and major capital projects between 2001 and 2020 as presented by Abdulaziz showed that TCN has a total of about 158 major capital projects awarded.

    Out of the lot, completed projects are 39. These included 28 substations and 11 transmission lines.

    Similarly, 25 projects have been completed and commissioned to service without outstanding payments to contractors.

    In the same vein, 14 projects had been completed and commissioned to service but still have indebtedness to contractors.

    A total of 119 projects between 0-95% completion are still ongoing.

    Other details showed that there were 45 transmission lines projects (Green Field); 70 substation projects (Green Field) and 4 Reinforcement projects (brown field projects).

    There was also a total number of 28 projects at various levels of procurement just as 14 new projects were planned in year 2021 proposal.

    The MD further told the Committee that a total of N6,017,999,435.00 was appropriated for 2020.

    A total of N3,008,999,718.00 signifying (50%) was released while N1, 919,948,763.00 (64%) was utilised.

    He said utilization was however slowed down by Covid-19 pandemic and and GIFMIS issues.

    Meanwhile, the summary of 2021 budget proposals indicated that a total of N165,896,532,680.00 was proposed.

    Cancellation of Projects:

    Out of this amount, the Envelope given to the company by the Ministry of Power was N4,090,742,464.00, recording a difference N161,805,790,216.00.

    The development unsettled the committee which eventually called for an urgent action to reverse what was perceived as an abnormal situation.

    It reasoned that N4bn out of N165bn was a far cry from what would be impactful.

    A member of the Committee, Hon. Shehu Garba from Kaduna State who called the attention of the committee to the new projects had earlier stressed the point, saying it was counterproductive to have new projects when the old ones were still suffering.

    He said: “I need you to note that power is at the centre of the crises that we face in Nigeria. Even the youth restiveness that we have had can be traced to the collapse of power over the past two decades, leading to the collapse of small businesses. Therefore, your mandate is central to the revival of economic growth and job creation in the country. There is the need to engage the leadership at a very high level for this issue – the issue of funding. I’m at a loss seeing you proposing almost 30 new projects when you have such a monumental outstanding. In fact, I have a specific project in my constituency for the past five to six years without being completed and funds have been committed. You have manufactured panels, they have been delivered on site and my fear is that they may start vandalising these things imported with World Bank loans and multilateral agreements. Now you have new projects – 30 to 40 – when you have a huge number of ongoing projects. Honestly, I think this is an area that you need to look at.”

    Stressing the point, the chairman of the committee, Hon. Aliyu Magaji from Jigawa State said “We are trying to be realistic. What the Honourable Member is saying is that we have a huge debt of almost N165bn. We cannot complete these projects. Why are we introducing new projects? You are so lucky that whoever is sending requests to you is not sending it here and we are here to appropriate funds and we don’t have the funds. So, I think it is only correct if we stopped you from doing new projects in 2021, that you concentrate on finishing the ones you have. If members feel strongly about this, you should move a motion and we will adopt it and delete all new projects from the budget.”

    Earlier, the lawmaker had emphasized on appropriating more fund to TCN.

    “Last year, they wrote a letter to us indicating that they have almost N165bn debt on abandoned projects, hoping that this year will be better but Allah, in his mercy, brought in COVID-19. I don’t know what they will do with N4bn out of the N165bn. It is still within our purview to look at the budget and do the needful for them. I keep asking this question even though you are not the proper person to answer the question: what relationship is between the TCN projects and the Siemens. The President had a very wonderful and good intention but it is my opinion that until these TCN projects are achieved, the Siemens projects might not be what we expected them to be. I will see the involvement of our leadership both in the House and the Senate to ensure that you get proper funding. Without the transmission, there won’t be distribution. So, we have to really play up the transmission aspect of it”, he said.

    Requests for New projects came from “higher authorities”

    Responding to the enquiry, the TCN MD said “Actually, what the Honourable said is correct but you have to understand that we are civil servants. Some of these requests are coming from higher authorities and we cannot say no.”

    Consequently, a motion was needed for it.

    It was eventually moved by Hon. Mohammed Ali Wudil from Kano State and seconded.

    But swiftly, a counter motion ensued from Hon. Sada Solo from Katsina State.

    He reasoned that the TCN be given the opportunity to state in details the components of the new projects for the committee to decide on the way forward.

    His motion was put on voice vote against the cancellation of the new projects.

    It passed but the Committee Chairman overruled it.

    He said: “If you read Page 10…there is ‘emphasis on completion of ongoing projects.’ It is unrealistic, even though I have ruled on the motion and the nays had it, you cannot do N165bn projects with N4bn. It is not possible. And we cannot give you money to embark on new projects while you cannot complete ongoing projects. It does not make sense. So, we will sit with them. It is my opinion that we must concentrate on the ongoing projects. If we are going to give money, we are going to give it to the low-hanging fruits. They will give us the projects they feel they can complete as soon as possible and we allocate the money we are going to get from the leadership to ensure that those projects are completed. And they will be distributed evenly according to geographical location. At least we will have projects that we are sure you will complete. Let us have the costs and we will approach the leadership. We are not going to allow you to continue with certain projects in 2021. I so rule”, he said.

    The Committee Chairman later called for executive session between the lawmakers and the TCN officials.

  • 2021 Budget Defence: You must remit 25% of IGR or no deal, Reps Cttee tells MDAs

    2021 Budget Defence: You must remit 25% of IGR or no deal, Reps Cttee tells MDAs

    …turn down proposals by defaulting agencies

    The House of Representatives has declared that revenue generating agencies of government must remit the correct amount of their internally generated revenues which is 25 percent as stipulated by extant laws into the federation account.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports that the House made the declaration while attending to MDAs defending their 2021 budget estimates on Monday.

    The chairman of the House committee on Healthcare Services, Rep. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, (APC, kebbi), made this declaration while addressing agencies at the resumed budget defence session in Abuja.

    The lawmaker who noted the charge given by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Legislature must assist the Executive in compelling MDAs to remit IGR, stressed that it is only through such remittances that government can effectively finance the 2021 budget.

    He said: “Let’s also try to emphasize that revenues generated by MDAs are supposed to be remitted to the Federal government in their right percentage.”

    “With that the amount of revenue needed to finance the budget every year will be drastically reduced. That is if all revenue generating MDAs remit what’s due to government in all honesty and truth — and as and when due.

    “So this committee will do its due diligence in looking at the revenues of agencies under our purview and ensure that the right amount is remitted before consideration for their 2021 budget proposals.”, chairman Sununu said.

    In keeping faith with the committee resolution, budget proposals from four different agencies were rejected following discovery that they could not provide records of 25 percent remittance of their IGR.

    While the Medical Science Laboratory Council of Nigeria, Radiographers Registration Council of Nigeria, the Nigeria Pharmaceutical Research Institute (NIPRI) as well as the Community Health Practitioners Registration Board, all fell short of this requirement and were sent packing on Monday, the Dental and Medical Council of Nigeria was turned away due to the absence of its chief executive.

    The agencies given a clean bill of health with a budget approvals were the Nursing and Midwifery Registration Council, as well as the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, Yaba Lagos.

    Tosan Erhabor, Registrar and chief executive officer of Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, had irked the lawmakers when he disclosed that the council’s IGR was used to offset the running cost.

    He said: “the sum of N136m was generated so far this year but we are unable to remit the 25 percent as laid down by the rules due to covid-19 which led to putting on hold our inspection and accreditation of training courses from where more money comes in.”

    He however expressed optimism that something tangible could still be done before the end of the year, saying that if not that the calibration pit wasn’t put in place as expected, Nigeria would have been able to test for covid-19.

    Members observed that despite covid-19, the shortfall in revenue generation shouldn’t have been across board like the Registrar reported.

    But the committee chairman noted that the agency though hampered by covid-19 should still have generated more revenue beyond what it got.

    He asked, “apart from inspection and accreditation, weren’t there any other services to private organisations that generated funds?”

    “Because you are an agency that’s really short of N20m remittance to the Federal government,” he said, just as he ruled that “the registrar liaise with the deputy chairman on Friday by providing evidence of remittances to the Federal Government.”

  • Okowa presents N378.48bn Budget of Recovery for 2021

    Okowa presents N378.48bn Budget of Recovery for 2021

    Delta Governor, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, on Tuesday, presented the Appropriation Bill of N378.48 billion for 2021 to the state’s House of Assembly for consideration.

    Christened “Budget of Recovery’’, the governor told the lawmakers that the Bill was made up of N207.52 billion for Capital Expenditure and N171.32 billion for Recurrent Expenditure.

    He said that capital expenditure constituted 54.76 per cent of the Budget while 45.24 per cent represented recurrent expenditure, and explained that the allocations were consistent with his administration’s agenda of spending more on projects and programmes that would impact directly on socio-economic wellbeing of Deltans.

    The 2021 budget is N96.2 billion or 34.05 per cent higher than the N282 billion revised approved budget of 2020.

    The governor said that the 2021 budget proposals reinforced the state government’s commitment to road infrastructure, education, health and job and wealth creation programmes as the principal-drivers of the Stronger Delta agenda.

    According to him, N113 billion, representing 89.94 per cent of the capital budget is allocated to the economic sector while N35 billion is allocated to the social sector; the administration sector got 10.93 billion and the regional sector, N42 billion.

    “In 2021, we propose to spend N66.66 billion on Road Infrastructure; N6.79 billion on Health; Education will gulp N23.55 billion; Agriculture, N2.04 billion and Water Sector, N1.83 billion.

    “Job and Wealth Creation Bureau will gulp N1 Billion and Youth Development, N1.25 billion. These key sectors are very essential in our 2021 budget,” Okowa said.

    He said that budget, which was derived from the state’s 2021-2023 FSP/MTEF, was anchored on crude oil production benchmark of 1.86 mbpd, oil price of 40 dollars per barrel, exchange rate of N379 per dollar, National Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of three per cent and 11.95 national inflation rate

    He disclosed that since 2015, his administration had progressively increased its annual spending on education infrastructure and would continue to scale up investments in the sector as the state continued with plans to establish nine new technical colleges to take off in the 2021/2022 academic session.

    The governor pointed out that due to the impact of the COVID-19 on the global economy, government spending was severely hampered by the pandemic, and that Delta was no exception.

    He, therefore, stated that “the proposed 2021 Budget for Delta is primarily focused on protecting and supporting our people in a COVID-19 environment, accelerating infrastructural renewal, incentivizing growth, enhancing job creation, engendering social inclusion and developing sustainably.

    “Overall, the proposed 2021 Budget is predicated on inclusive economic growth that is sustainable and people-centred, with strengthening fiscal sustainability through increased efficiency in spending, improved revenue mobilization and debt sustainability.

    “It also entails improving processes and systems in Public Financial Management, and Monitoring and Evaluation, to bolster better public sector service delivery.”

    Welcoming the governor earlier to the House of Assembly’s chamber, the Speaker, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, had said that with the feat achieved by the current administration in five years, the House would continue to support the state government through passage of people-oriented and development-driven legislations.

    “We are more than ready to cooperate with the Executive to develop a smart, sustainable and knowledge-based economy that will be the envy of all,” the speaker assured.

    Motion to accept the Appropriation Bill for consideration was moved by the Majority Leader of the House, Mr Tim Owhefere and was seconded by the Minority Leader, Mr Innocent Anidi.

    The lawmakers also approved a motion, slating the second reading of the Bill for Oct. 28, 2020.

  • Reasons to dismiss the 2021 Budget as a joke (Part II), By Dele Sobowale

    Reasons to dismiss the 2021 Budget as a joke (Part II), By Dele Sobowale

     

    It has been necessary to bring back the summary of the 2021 Budget provided last week for speedy recollection. The first part of this series focussed on the, once again, unrealistic N13.1 trillion expenditure projected. Since, “Even God cannot change the past” (Agathon, 447-401 BC) and perhaps some of the present, it is a historical fact that the Buhari government had failed to achieve its stated expenditure objectives from 2016 to 2019. it is already on course to miss the 2020 target by a wide margin. With that dismal track record, few financial experts will rely on their submissions for next year. No Board and Executive Management team of any company would have survived those calamities. Elected officials get away with failures which no football team will tolerate from their managers. We obviously take football more seriously than governance.

    The second thing to dispose of in the basic submission of government is the 3.64 per cent attributed to debt deficit of N5.12tn. The deception was totally deliberate. Deficit, debt and debt service go in tandem. Debt service actually represents 23.85 per cent of the 2021 expenditure. Realising that even the most stupid Nigerian would immediately grasp the impending disaster involved in spending almost one quarter of expenditure paying debts, Buhari switched to rendering deficit as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, GDP – 3.64 per cent. In reality, it is 39.08 per cent of expenditure – a truly alarming percentage, even if achieved. Unfortunately, even that frightening target will most likely be missed by a wide margin. That was the pattern in five years; nothing suggests the sixth year will be different. You don’t do the same thing over again and expect a different result – unless a miracle occurs. The reason is simple.

    Once the IGR target shows a negative variance, larger deficit occurs which is always covered by more loans than was envisaged in the beginning. And, the more loans the higher the debt-servicing ratio climbs. The entire process is so elementary; one is at a loss why nobody in the Executive or the National Assembly, NASS can understand it. Obviously, the 2021 Budget is set to repeat the dreary annual budgetary cycle all over again. The FG will eventually borrow more than they budgeted and debt-servicing will gulp a higher percentage of revenue. Buhari might leave office in 2023 with debt consuming up to 60 per cent of our annual national income.

    When the mind turns to poverty alleviation, or more correctly, poverty escalation, the heart bleeds. Everybody recollects Bihar on May 29, 2019 telling Nigerians that since China and India succeeded in lifting 100 million of their citizens out of poverty; his government was committed to achieving the same feat in ten years. He repeated the same pledge in the 2021 Budget presentation. It was simply outrageous! The line between fact and fantasy (sanity and insanity) is a thin but firm one. Politics is always the art of the possible. Presidents are not elected to broadcast fairy tales but possibilities.

    China and India lifted so many millions out of poverty by growing their Gross Domestic Product, GDP, at double digits for ten or more years. By May 2019, Nigeria, under Buhari recorded the following annual GDP growth rates: 2016, -1.4%; 2017, 0.8 per cent, 2018, 1.98 per cent. Can anybody discern any similarity between Nigeria and China that would warrant Buhari’s “determination” to achieve the same feat as China? Most readers would recollect that in late 2018, the World Poverty Clock, WPC, had proclaimed Nigeria the poverty capital of the world – largely on account of the three years of the Buhari government. Undeterred by facts, preferring to stick to his own fiction, Buhari still promises to reduce the nation’s poor by 100 million in ten years. Where do we stand now – more than a year after the promise?

    “Population of extremely poor persons in Nigeria hits 102m – NECA.”

    VANGUARD, OCTOBER 12, 2020 p 19.

    Before going into the NECA report, it is necessary to step back a bit to 2018.

    So, in June 2018, 87 million Nigerians were living in extreme poverty. Now, 102 million or 15 million more, are in that disastrous situation. Yet, the President responsible for adding 15 million in two years is still talking about “commitment to lift 100 million in ten years?” Let us be serious. Granted it takes millions of fools to make “My Fellow Countrymen”, but, this is close to total national loss of senses on display. What would we think of the person making such claims, after five dreadful years if he is not the President of Nigeria?

    Just in case you think NECA was exaggerating, then consider this piece of information and shed more tears for Nigerians under Buhari.

    “Albert Zeufack, World Bank’s Chuef Economist for African Region, while speaking at the launch of new Africa Pulse….said debt exposure for African countries is set to grow by 61 percent in 2021…CDP per capita will record a decline of close to six percent in 2020 and by 2021; GDP per capita would have decreased to the level where it was in 2007, that’s 13 years of progress completely erased.” DAILY INDEPENDENT, OCTOBER 12, 2020, p 28.

    A brief but heart-breaking explanation is required — for the sake of those who might miss the import of that bit of bad news. The Africa region, with the GIANT of the continent leading the pack is borrowing its way into deepening poverty; such that by the end of 2021, the per capita income would have decreased to the 2007 level or approximately when Obasanjo lft office. The Buhari administration which promised in 2019 to start lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over ten years, would by 2021 increase the number of those living in poverty by more than 30 million and reduce the standard of living of the average Nigerian below the 2008 level. Thus, we can again throw another part of the 2021 Budget into the trash can. It will not happen – unless a great miracle, such as the world has never seen, occurs. For sure Buhari would leave us in such a condition by 2023 that it will require three other governments to restore the nation to where it was in 2015.

    To be continued…