[b]The 2014 budget presented to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan last week contains fraudulent request for funds.

In what clearly appears a ploy by officials to brazenly steal public funds, the Federal Government is asking the National Assembly to approve about N30million which it purportedly plans to spend on fueling aircraft and boats owned by Nigerian embassies abroad.

The fraudulent request is coming when government officials know that none of Nigeria’s foreign mission owns a plane or boat.

Details of the 2014 Federal Budget presented last week by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to the National Assembly on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, revealed that the foreign affairs ministry is asking for about N30million to cater for these phantom expenditures.

Officials claim Nigeria’s foreign missions in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Algeria, and Mali would need an average of N1.785million each to fuel aircraft, and another N2.381million each to fuel boats during the year.

Similar provisions, concealed under the general fuel and lubricants subheads, were made for the embassies in Turkey, Lebanon, and United Arab Emirate, UAE.

The budget for the mission in Mali also has ludicrous demands for aircraft maintenance cost (N638,365); boat maintenance cost (N635,435), and railway equipment maintenance cost (N999,8240).

When released, these funds will simply go into the pockets of corrupt officials since the embassy does not own aircraft or boat and has no railway line to maintain.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ogbole Odeh, told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview in Abuja on Tuesday that the provision for aircraft fuel cost in the budget for the foreign missions was strange, as the federal government does not maintain aircraft in any of its embassies abroad.

“Aircraft fuelling cost? This sounds strange to me. I have never heard of such,” Mr. Odeh said, in response to an enquiry by PREMIUM TIMES . “What is normal is motor vehicle or generator fuelling costs. To the best of my knowledge, none of the Nigerian Missions abroad maintains an aircraft. Or what purpose is the railway equipment maintenance supposed to serve? I don’t know. It sounds ridiculous.”[/b]

This is not the first time PREMIUM TIMES has uncovered fraudulent fund requests smuggled into budgets by corrupt officials.[b]

Earlier this year, this newspaper revealed how the Federal Government made provisions for about a quarter of a billion Naira in the 2013 budget for fuelling and maintaining electricity generators in Nigerian embassies abroad where, indeed, they had no such need.

Although some embassy officials denied being aware of such provisions in their budgets, indications are that the federal government would still purportedly spend about N872.46million on generator fuel costs in its foreign missions across the world this year.

For instance, the government has budgeted about N5.815million to be spent by Nigeria’s Mission in New York on plant/generator fuel cost, in addition to about N3.813million set aside for electricity charges.

In Washington DC, about N199,674 would be spent on plant/generator fuel cost during the year, while another N3.124million would be spent on electricity charges in a country widely known to have stability in electricity supply as the least of its worries.

Similarly, in London, a provision has been made in the budget for about N1.641million to be spent on plants/generator fuel cost, apart from about N20.441million set aside for electricity charges.

The Nigerian mission in South Africa hopes to spend about N5.921million on electricity charges, in addition to about N1.445million on plant/generator fuel cost during the year.

Unlike Nigeria, most of these countries have steady electricity supplies and it is not known why officials continue to demand millions to fuel generators[/b].

The budget for the mission
in Mali also has ludicrous
demands for aircraft
maintenance cost
(N638,365); boat
maintenance cost
(N635,435), and railway
equipment maintenance
cost (N999,8240).

taharqa: Wud hv condemned this right away but coming from PremiumTimes and knowing d political charged environment today in Nigeria fraught with lots of lies and distortions, I wud wait till details, esp from Govt side, come in. I also find it difficult to bliv that any person wud be so Stu.pid as to try to steal #30m in such a Public way where they are guaranteed to be caught. If on d other way, it turns out to be true (I can't imagine how any person wud be so DUMB though), those officials in d MOFA shld not only be caught and jailed but shld be FLAYED alive for been so Stup.id and trying to insult our intelligence so cheaply...

taharqa: Wud hv condemned this right away but coming from PremiumTimes and knowing d political charged environment today in Nigeria fraught with lots of lies and distortions, I wud wait till details, esp from Govt side, come in. I also find it difficult to bliv that any person wud be so Stu.pid as to try to steal #30m in such a Public way where they are guaranteed to be caught. If on d other way, it turns out to be true (I can't imagine how any person wud be so DUMB though), those officials in d MOFA shld not only be caught and jailed but shld be FLAYED alive for been so Stup.id and trying to insult our intelligence so cheaply...

Sincere 9gerian: Premium Times propaganda! They'r too desperate to observe even a christmas break. Yeye dey smell!

Why not contact those that prepared the budget instead of contacting people that know nothing about the budget or how the budget was prepared? Why not contact officials of the ministry of finance or budget office? Isn't that the RIGHT thing to do as journalists who are truely interested in finding out the truth or exposing corruption? How are we sure the said items are in the budget?

And to confirm that it is all propaganda, they had to insert the president's name in the title. Does the president go through every detail in the budget? If this report were a positive development, Premium Times would definitely not have used the name of the president in the title.

Even if people want to steal, wont they do it intelligently?

More over, the reason the budget passes through the legislature is to prevent things like this. Especially now that the opposition has good numbers in the NASS, there is no reason such ridiculous provisions in the budget should be passed.

Just like the CBN governor's false alarm, this allegations too should be investigated. Those who prepared the budget should provide clarifications. Any official found wanting should be punished according to the law.

However, if the report turns out to be false, like other previous propaganda, the indelible shame will remain on Premium Times

Sincere 9gerian: Premium Times propaganda! They'r too desperate to observe even a christmas break. Yeye dey smell!

Why not contact those that prepared the budget instead of contacting people that know nothing about the budget or how the budget was prepared? Why not contact officials of the ministry of finance or budget office? Isn't that the RIGHT thing to do as journalists who are truely interested in finding out the truth or exposing corruption? How are we sure the said items are in the budget?

And to confirm that it is all propaganda, they had to insert the president's name in the title. Does the president go through every detail in the budget? If this report were a positive development, Premium Times would definitely not have used the name of the president in the title.

Even if people want to steal, wont they do it intelligently?

More over, the reason the budget passes through the legislature is to prevent things like this. Especially now that the opposition has good numbers in the NASS, there is no reason such ridiculous provisions in the budget should be passed.

Just like the CBN governor's false alarm, this allegations too should be investigated. Those who prepared the budget should provide clarifications. Any official found wanting should be punished according to the law.

However, if the report turns out to be false, like other previous propaganda, the indelible shame will remain on Premium Times

collynzo2: If this is truly contained in the budget, why hasn't the APC members of the national assembly raised any alarm yet?
This smells fishy.

Sincere 9gerian: Does the
president go through every detail in the budget?

papparatzzi2013:

What is in the budget is a propaganda?

Every blessed day, GEJ and his sycophants keep running from pillar to post, looking for whom to blame for their corrupt administrations and below par performance.

Thank God for Sanusi for shouting out. They quickly recovered the missing money from private pockets and re-allocated to parastatals and agencies. With that 12billion dollars, a whooping 1.7trillion naira, is still unaccounted for I.e. missing.

Yeye dey smell for u Na body.

Fresh tornado on the way.

plaindealer:

What details are you waiting for? That the daylight robbery is not in the budget or your are just waiting for OKu Igbe or abati `s version and spin??

Obiagelli:
Did you just make this statement? who did we elect to make our budget? The way you villagers are killing this president by your uninformed statements is epic.

taharqa: Wud hv condemned this right away but coming from PremiumTimes and knowing d political charged environment today in Nigeria fraught with lots of lies and distortions, I wud wait till details,...

.:
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Ogbole Odeh, told PREMIUM TIMES
in a telephone interview in Abuja on
Tuesday that the provision for aircraft fuel
cost in the budget for the foreign missions
was strange, as the federal government
does not maintain aircraft in any of its
embassies abroad.

“Aircraft fuelling cost? This sounds strange
to me. I have never heard of such,” Mr.
Odeh said, in response to an enquiry by
PREMIUM TIMES . “What is normal is motor
vehicle or generator fuelling costs. To the
best of my knowledge, none of the Nigerian
Missions abroad maintains an aircraft. Or
what purpose is the railway equipment
maintenance supposed to serve? I don’t
know. It sounds ridiculous.”

Details of the 2014 Federal Budget presented last week by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to the National Assembly on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, revealed that the foreign affairs ministry is asking for about N30million to cater for these phantom expenditures.
Officials claim Nigeria’s foreign missions in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Algeria, and Mali would need an average of N1.785million each to fuel aircraft, and another N2.381million each to fuel boats during the year.

Sincere 9gerian:
Stop pretending to be foolish. The presidency is an institution. The president is a person and he does not have to and cannot personally go through the entire budget. There are officials in the presidency who do that.

plaindealer:

Cry me a river...


Okonjo ewenla prepared and presented the budget and she should be fired...

Sincere 9gerian:
Shame on you, liar. No money was "missing". Even the CBN governor, who raised the false alarm, did not use the word "missing". Go and read the statement he made when faced and questioned on TV, in front of the Nigerian people and before the legislative committee set up to investigate the matter.
What happened was reconcilation of the accounts. It is not as if money was missing and later found. The funds were already in CBN accounts in different names but the various accounts only had to be reconciled by all parties. I hope your brain is sound enough to appreciate the difference?