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Pdp And Apc Please Lets Reason This Together by princeshijman(m): 10:42pm On Feb 09, 2016 |
We all owe Nigeria a duty to criticize the massive
fraud in 2016 budget. No matter how much you
love Buhari and Apc, you must criticize the 2016 if
you mean well for Nigeria. This is an opportunity
for both the wailing and hailing hailer to show how
patriotic they are. Over to you. Any thing short of
that gives you up as enemy of Nigeria. 2016
budget of fraud: Inside The Massive FRAUD In
Buhari’s Budget.-premium times.
On Tuesday December 22, 2015, President
Muhammadu Buhari walked into a joint session of
the National Assembly and presented the first
annual budget proposal of his administration,
ambitiously tagged: “The Budget of Change”.
After highlighting the economic challenges that
confronted the country due to the fall in oil
prices, the president vowed the budget would cut
waste from government spending and its funds
would only be used for public good.
“We are determined to ensure that our resources
are managed prudently and utilized solely for the
public good,” Mr. Buhari said. “To set the proper
tone, one of our early decisions was the adoption
of a zero based budgeting approach, which ensures
that resources are aligned with government’s
priorities and allocated efficiently.”
The breakdown of the line items of the 2016
Appropriation Bill, however, shows that what the
president said cannot be farther from the truth.
PREMIUM TIMES extensive review of the proposed
budget, which has passed second reading at the
Senate and the House of Representatives, reveals
it is a collection of fraudulent and frivolous
allocations, many of which are clearly meant to
support the opulent lifestyle of public officials.
Many of the allocations were either repeated
several times, over-priced or are obvious
misplacement of priorities.
Vice President Osinbajo and multi-million naira
books
A particularly disturbing instance of misplaced
priority is the allocation for books for Vice
President Osinbajo’s office.
Mr. Osinbajo’s office has more money allocated to
it for books than what each of the federal
polytechnics in the country are getting for the
same purpose.
While N4,906,822 was proposed to be spent on
books by Mr Osinbajo, the total allocation for
books for 11 out of 22 federal polytechnics, which
actually have book allocations, was a mere
N3,832,038 .
In fact, of all government-owned educational
institutions across all levels, only two got more
allocations for books than what was proposed for
the Vice President. The institutions are Federal
University of Technology, Owerri, N6,886,157; and
the National Open University of Nigeria,
N6,466,895.
The need for this huge book allocation for the vice
president’s office is even more baffling
considering the fact that last year, N7,525,135
was also budgeted for the same purpose.
Although a top source in the Presidency accused
senior civil servants, whom he described as
“budget mafia”, of sneaking frivolous items into
the budget, it is however curious that some of the
most outrageous proposals in the budget were
found under line items for the State House.
The State House Clinic, its billions and a VIP wing
Of the N3,890,629,221 the Presidency earmarked
to spend on the State House Medical Centre,
N308million will go for constructing a new VIP wing
at the clinic.
Despite allocating N3.21 billion for health
equipment and supplies for the State House
Medical Centre, a separate line item under “State
House HQTRS” lists a N203,273,602 budget for
drugs and medical supplies and the vice president
was also allotted an additional N7.54 million for
medical expenses.
In comparison to the State House Medical Centre’s
N3.8billion allocation, only N2,666,853,303 was
proposed in the budget for the construction of
hospitals nationwide.
And in a clear case of misplaced priorities, the
budget proposes N11.61 billion for development,
construction and staffing of a ‘Logistics Supply
Chain’ for the National Primary Health Care
Development Agency, and nothing for its core
mandate such as improving access to basic health
services.
The cables, the lightings and the billions
Curiously, the presidency also proposed to spend
N322,421,971 to link a cable to the drivers’
restroom at the presidential villa. Another
N213,873,953 was proposed for linking of a cable
from Guest House No 9 generator house to the
gate.
The president allocated N618,604,265 for the
installation of electrical lighting and fittings at
the villa, which equate to spending N1.6 million
daily installing lighting and fittings and another
N371,733,964 for the installation of electrical
distribution boards and other cables.
Repairs and renovations of existing structures are
also obvious money guzzlers in the proposed budget.
Buhari’s Guest House and the N400million face-
lift
The general renovation of Aso Rock Guest House
was proposed to cost N387,980,200, just as
furnishing the rooms in the Guest House was put
at N45million. We are not told when the existing
furniture in the facility was procured and why
there is need to change them now.
Furthermore, a whopping N3.91 billion was
earmarked for the annual routine maintenance of
villa facilities. A breakdown of this amount shows
that the government plans to spend N10.72 million
daily on routine maintenance. This amount was
exclusive of the N278,041,172 proposed for villa
office and residential maintenance.
Buhari wants to pay rent for Aso Rock?
Perhaps the most bizarre of all the allocations is
the proposed N22,321,880 budgeted for residential
rent at the State House. It is unclear whom the
presidency is paying the rent to.
In the draft budget, a total of N436,054,626 was
allocated for meals and refreshment, canteen/
kitchen equipment, foodstuff and catering
materials for the president and the vice president.
While N20,260,300 was proposed for sporting and
games equipment for the Presidential Air Fleet,
another N39,075,000 was proposed for purchase of
recreational facilities at the State House.
Surprisingly the Office of the Head of Service of
the Federation proposed to spend another
N193,513,097 for recreational facilities as well.
Exotic cars while Nigerians suffer
The Presidency also proposed to spend
N904,015,000 for the acquisition of brand new
automobile fleet and fleet maintenance equipment
in the year.
This amount, when broken down, is equal to
spending N2,469,986 everyday on its automobile
fleet. This is in addition to the N259,015,000 for
the Purchase of “Tyres, Batteries, Fuses,
Toolboxes, Car Jacks, Tyre Changing ‘Machines’
and Kits” and N27,000,000 to purchase C-Caution
Signs, Fire Extinguishers, Towing Ropes and
Booster Cables for just for the Aso Rock
automobile fleet.
Curiously enough, most of the vehicles in this fleet
are hardly taken outside Abuja and its environs.
The questionable allocations in the draft budget
are not limited to the presidency alone. Many more
of such bewildering allocations are scattered all
over the budget.
Buhari wants N1.4billion houseboats for officers
while Northeast burns
As our reporters reviewed the budget, it became
increasingly clear that the government may have a
problem with getting its priorities right.
For Instance, at a time when the nation’s armed
forces are battling a murderous insurgency in the
country’s North East region – a war that has left
many soldiers and officers with horrendous
injuries – the Ministry of Defence proposed to
spend N1.39 billion for the procurement of a
houseboat in Abuja , a floating house mostly used
for relaxation and a dwelling place by top officers.
Also the Ministry of Communication Technology
proposed N585,000,000 for the purchase of chairs
and N415,500,000 for the purchase of tables.
Under this ministry, there was also a particularly
arbitrary line item tagged: Procurement of the
Equipment and its Accessories. The draft budget
did not state what this equipment is and what
kind of accessories it requires but a whopping N2.9
billion was projected to be spent on this item.
The Ministry of Information and Culture also
proposed to spend[b] N99,281,250 for the
procurement of 1,600 chairs at the National
Theatre and N140,911,157 for the procurement of
computers for National Troupe of Nigeria[/b] ,
while budgeting nothing for costumes, props and
other equipment.
In comparison, the total allocation for the
procurement of computers by the Ministry of
Science and Technology is N91,394,900.
Fashola and his N140million naira for a single
borehole
The Ministry of Works, Power and Housing proposed
to spend N140,000,000 for the construction of a
single solar borehole, and N161,500,000 for the
construction of a motorised borehole.
The Ministry of Interior budgeted N576,500,000
for the construction/provision of electricity,
N595,606,148 for repair/ rehabilitation, and N6.2
billion for research and development.
The Nigerian Prison Service however budgeted
N500,000,000 for “capacity building.”
In the 2015 budget, the allocation for security
equipment for the Nigerian Immigration Service
was N86,057,143 but the figure leapt
astronomically to N2.12 billion in the draft 2016
budget .
Repetition galore
The proposed budget for the National Institute
for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) has a repetition of
the same line items with different allocations. The
agency proposed N15,000,000 for water
reticulation in main station and immediately
proposed the N5,000,000 for the same item.
Similarly, the Federal College of Fisheries and
Marine Technology repeated the allocation for
“Construction/Provision of Agricultural Facilities”
twice with different figures. The item was first
cost for N626,037,709 and then for N50,000,000.
Another curious feature of the draft budget is
the allocation of the exact same amount for
unrelated items. For instance, the National
Library allocated N5,021,254 each for the
following items: books, printing of non-security
documents, cleaning and fumigation services,
cooking gas/fuel cost, transportation equipment
fuel cost, refreshment and meal, medical expenses,
sporting activities, and direct teaching and
laboratory cost.
At the French Language Village in Badagry,
N17,897,716 each was proposed for the building of
clinic block, construction of a 250 metres perimeter
fence, and a female hostel.
Same item, different prices
PREMIUM TIMES review of the budget also
revealed that different prices were quoted for
the same item by different agencies and
parastatals. For example, several prices were
quoted for a unit of Toyota Hilux van.
The same model of van was valued at N1,264,941
by the Gashaka Gumti National Park; N5,700,000
by the Nigerian Natural Medicine Development
Agency; N6,500,000 by Federal Government Girls’
College Owerri; N7,500,000 by the Ministry of
Technology, Akure; N8,855,000 by the Federal
Government Girls’ College, Gumi Tambuwal; and
N9,178,142 by Federal Government Girls’ College
Umuahia. The proposed cost of the same vehicle in the budget of the Federal Government College, Ezzamgbo, Abakaliki is N10,000,000. It was valued at N11,147,675 by the Federal Technical College Lassa; N12,888,016 by the Ministry of Health; N13,500,000 by the Federal Government College, Okigwe; N15,970,515 by the Foreign Service Academy; N26,600,000 by the Office of the National Security Adviser; N27,273,523 by the Federal Technical College, Ikare; and N27,660,000 by Federal Government Girls’ College, Kazaure. copied |
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