taharqa: Thought we were hving a discussion on yr claim dat d proposed PIB made d oil industry 'a personal estate of d Minister' and yr claim that she shld resign over her not knowing d amount of crude producd? Plz dont mk claims in public that u cannot or do not hv d intention to defend.....by d way on dis particular comment, you cannot blame smone who met a broken system that he/she is trying to fix for the negative results of dat system whether b4 or during dat person's tenure except you hv Specific infractions that dat person did in d course of fixing it. This is common sense

Let face it,there are different versio
n of the PIB.we also know that there are a lot of vested interested in that piece of legislation,the oil coy,the minister the legislator and other vested interested.and please don't let derail this thread,this is about strong accusation made against the person of the minister and the most honourable part to take which I suggest is resignation.

Gabbysky: ARRANT NONSENSE!!! Look at their NAMES sef --- Debo Adeniran; Adetokunbo Mumuni; Promise Adewusi; Jaye Gaskia; Yinka Odumakin; Tunde Bakare + the rest of them... Whenever you guys are done whinning, you can then go to Abuja to take over from her.

You ethnic jingoist are sickening !!!! You can play the ethnic card all you want but the entire world knows GEJ has a habit of doing this sort of thing. Do we not remember the Presidential advisory committee set up by GEJ and led by Danjuma? When , before the election, they made their submission telling GEJ to reduce profligacy, bloated governance and our unacceptably destructive recurrent expenditure running at over 70%, what did GEJ do? He did absolutely nothing and did not even acknowledge their report !!!

As soon as GEJ won the election and gained a 4-year mandate, he thanked them, disbanded the PAC and announced cynically that "leaner Government not possible". It is the same with the Ribadu-led committee even if sickening and ugly bigots like you want to make everything about ethnicity. Image laundering and '419ing' Nigerians , with his army of spin-Doctors, is all GEJ is permanently concerned about.

Ribadu has dug deeper than they wanted and has now subtly ensured the world knows the mountain of corruption this administration, and others before it, were complicit in abetting. Sad Bigots like you can keep seeing ethnic plots all you want.

Gbawe:

You ethnic jingoist are sickening !!!! You can play the ethnic card all you want but the entire world knows GEJ has a habit of doing this sort of thing. Do we not remember the Presidential advisory committee set up by GEJ and led by Danjuma? When , before the election, they made their submission telling GEJ to reduce profligacy, bloated governance and our unacceptably destructive recurrent expenditure running at over 70%, what did GEJ do? He did absolutely nothing and did not even acknowledge their report !!!

As soon as GEJ won the election and gained a 4-year mandate, he thanked them, disbanded the PAC and announced cynically that "leaner Government not possible". It is the same with the Ribadu-led committee even if sickening and ugly bigots like you want to make everything about ethnicity. Image laundering and '419ing' Nigerians , with his army of spin-Doctors, is all GEJ is permanently concerned about.

Ribadu has dug deeper than they wanted and has now subtly ensured the world knows the mountain of corruption this administration is sitting on. Sad Bigots like you can keep seeing ethnic plots all you want.

You are slimming fellow( sori propagandists) as usual, and not very good at it...GEJ met a Recurrent budget that hv bn increasing from a little more than 60% to 77.1% when he became president, that yearly increase has not only been stoppd but has bn decreasing yearly to a proposed 68.7% in d new budget(almost 2% below the rate many experts thought dis govt cud reduce it to ie 70%). The yearly increase in d Overhead( a measure of d cost of governance) has also not only been halted but has bn cut by half from about from about #526billion in 2010 when he came in to about #230billion today; just as the deficit as a % of GDP has also decreasd from around 3.35% when he came to 2.85% dis yr and 2.17% proposd nx yr. Shld he do more? Absolutely- and the president has already put in d plannd MTFD(2013-2015) already wit d National assembly plans to even carry on d reductn momentum by implementing d Oronsaye's report that proposd drastic cuts in govt agencies- but to say in public wit a straight face dat ' he did absolutely nothing', simply defines you and yr real intents... I pray dat very soon, inspite of yrself, you leave this Guerilla Style('Hit-and-run') propagandist tactics of yrs and Debate yr point. I DARE YOU TO DO SO

Hooligans re at it again..!. They never learn though the presence of social medias, where they can upgrade their knowledge on the present governmental policies and outcome yet, they prefer to live in a relegated world of ignorance. Who ever told them that the sack of Min. of Petroleum Resources will transform the oil industry? We re indeed leaving the substance for the shell... The solutions doesn't lie in the sack and prosecution of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Labour, SNG and others rather, with the ability to effectively privatize our refineries to curb the excessive waste and decay act exiting therein.

taharqa: You are slimming fellow( sori propagandists) as usual, and not very good at it...GEJ met a Recurrent budget that hv bn increasing from a little more than 60% to 77.1% when he became president, that yearly increase has not only been stoppd but has bn decreasing yearly to a proposed 68.7% in d new budget(almost 2% below the rate many experts thought dis govt cud reduce it to ie 70%). The yearly increase in d Overhead( a measure of d cost of governance) has also not only been halted but has bn cut by half from about from about #526billion in 2010 when he came in to about #230billion today; just as the deficit as a % of GDP has also decreasd from around 3.35% when he came to 2.85% dis yr and 2.17% proposd nx yr. Shld he do more? Absolutely- and the president has already put in d plannd MTFD(2013-2015) already wit d National assembly plans to even carry on d reductn momentum by implementing d Oronsaye's report that proposd drastic cuts in govt agencies- but to say in public wit a straight face dat ' he did absolutely nothing', simply defines you and yr real intents... I pray dat very soon, inspite of yrself, you leave this Guerilla Style('Hit-and-run') propagandist tactics of yrs and Debate yr point. I DARE YOU TO DO SO

What would it profit me to engage an uncouth olodo and reprobate like you in a back-and-forth? You need to go and learn how to spell. perhaps a return to Primary school might be best. Also, go and learn what the PAC asked ,in entirety, of GEJ before you simplistically limited your bleating to recurrent expenditure alone. Folks like you are not very bright. You are merely feudalistic, bellicose, and reactionary i.e , pertinent to Nairaland, you follow others around trying to counter their utterance with m0r0nic argument devoid of logic. Only a ridiculous and deceitful apologist of your shameless caliber will defend how GEJ is 'famous' for ridiculously mindless and insensitive profligacy. Just say "na awa time" as others on this forum do and stop the unbelievable theatrics that defies sense as per what your messiah is universally known for.


http://saharareporters.com/article/jonathan-waste-continues

Jonathan: The Waste Continues
Posted: March 6, 2012 - 16:03


GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR
President Goodluck Jonathan in June 2011 sought and obtained the approval of the Senate to appoint 20 advisers to assist him in running his government. However, the President has, in apparent breach of the number of aides approved for him, gone ahead to appoint at least 24 advisers as at the last count. Beyond exceeding the number, the designations of the appointees also raise serious questions as to the necessity of the appointments. Let’s consider a few.

Dr. Tunji Olagunju, Special Adviser to the President on NEPAD and Dr. Pius Olakunle Osunyikanmi, Special Adviser to the President on International Relations. Apparently, these two offices could have been handled by a single person. Besides, why do we have to appoint a special adviser to the President on these when there is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs with more than one minister, permanent secretary, directors and possibly a department in charge of NEPAD?

Mr. Oronto Douglas, Special Adviser to the President on Research and Strategy. Sentiments aside, what exactly is the role of this office and couldn’t it have been carried out by a permanent employee in the Presidency?

Prof. Abubakar Sambo, Special Adviser to the President on Energy. Really? What distinctive ‘special advice’ is the President expecting from the incumbent here that the ministers for petroleum, energy and power cannot give?

Mrs. Sarah Akuben Pane, Special Adviser to the President on Social Development. One is too stumped to even comment on this. Mrs. Sarah Jibril, Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values. What a joke! Who even monitors what, if any, work some of these appointees have been carrying out?

Kingsley Kuku, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs. What would the minister and the minister of state for the Niger Delta ministry be doing and what about the head of the Niger Delta Development Commission?

Prof. Dan Adebiyi, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties and Senator Isaiah Ballat, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties (Office of the Vice-President). Could someone please unpack this designation for us? Same request suffices for Nze Sullivan Akachukwu Nwakpo, Special Adviser to the President on Technical Matters and for Mrs. Asma’u Abdulkadir, Special Adviser to the President on Gender Issues. What on earth amounts to ‘Technical Matters’?

And there are also Yakubu Abdullahi, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters (Office of the Vice President); Mr. Bashir Sufyan, Special Adviser to the President on Legal Matters (Office of the Vice-President).

Professor Nwanze Okidegbe, Economic Adviser to the President. What economic advice would this officer give the President that the National Economic Management Team members including the Minister of Finance and the Minister of National Planning cannot?

Senator Ben Obi, Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs. There is absolutely no reason to appoint a special adviser for just this function, when there is Ahmed Gulak, Political Adviser to the President just as the designation of Dr Mariam Ali, Special Adviser to the President on Inter-governmental Affairs.

Perhaps the most curious is the Special Adviser (New Media), Reno Omokri. In clear terms, he is special adviser on Twitter and Facebook matters! This is aside the fact that there is a Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. Strangely, the ‘Twitter and Facebook Special Adviser’ is not attached to the office of the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity but to the Special Adviser, Research and Strategy.

By the way, these special advisers would ordinarily have their own personal assistants and their personal assistants will have their own P.A.s and so on and so forth.

Beyond these bizarre appointments also is the waste of money in servicing committees and task forces which are fast becoming mere “job for the boys”. The Jonathan government continues to diminish the place of the federal civil service and associated executive organs in the functioning of government but continues to mushroom a legion of committees, task forces and panels to assume sundry responsibilities at the centre. These mounting layers of bureaucracy and its cost implication are a major source of concern just as the non-implementation of committee reports submitted in recent times and it calls to question the commitment and sincerity of the “Jona-our-Son” government.

Take a look at some of the committees; Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) headed by Gen. T.Y. Danjuma Rtd., Presidential Committee on Expenditure Review headed by Prof. Anya O. Anya, Presidential Projects Assessment Committee headed by Alh. Ibrahim Bunu, Presidential Taskforce on Power headed by Prof. Barth Nnaji who doubles as the power minister, Presidential Committee on Security Challenges headed by Alh. Usman Galtimari, Presidential Committee for Review of reports on ethno-religious crises in Plateau State headed by Chief Solomon Lar, Presidential Committee on Post Election Violence headed by the former Grand Khadi of Niger State, Sheikh Ahmed Lemu.

Others are Presidential Committee on Review of Outstanding Constitutional Issues headed by Justice Alfa Belgore rtd, Presidential Committee on NDDC headed by Chief Isaac Jemide, Presidential Taskforce for Passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) headed by Senator Udo Udoma, Presidential Special Committee on the reorganization of the Police headed by Parry Osayande, Presidential Committee to negotiate with Labour on Fuel Subsidy headed by Justice Alfa Belgore rtd, again, Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force headed by Nuhu Ribadu, National Refineries Special Task Force headed by former Finance Minister Kalu Idika Kalu.

This has been the rash in recent months. Anytime an issue emerges, the President rather than rely on constitutional structures to achieve results will rush to mushroom committees and the reports of these committees have also been piling with the government showing no interest in implementing their recommendations. That the President has chosen to rely on extra constitutional bodies is an indication of lack of confidence in the civil servants yet no one in the civil service has had to pay for their inability to produce results if that is the reason the President does not have confidence in the civil servants. This leaves us with a reasonable suspicion that these committees are not set up to achieve anything after all; they are only conduits to siphon money into the pockets of those the administration wants to settle.

When the President arrived the African Union meeting in Addis Ababa last month with thirty aides and his wife with forty two aides and the media reported the news, his information managers cried wolf accusing the media of mischief. But our thinking has been that a few weeks after the President promised in a national broadcast to curb waste in government, sincere efforts where going to be put in to achieve that aim but from all indications, there is no sign that this President can prevent Nigeria from her procession to Golgotha.
God bless our country!

Agba Jalingo.

Journalist/Activist

Committees up and down with recommendation an insincere Government has no intentions of implementing.





http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/subsidy-issues-the-wastages-that-drain-development/

SUBSIDY ISSUES : The wastages that drain development
on JANUARY 23, 2012 · in POLITICS
5:03 am
6
BY CHARLES KUMOLU

CONCERNED about the high cost of governance and economic leakages in the system, the Federal Government in September 2010, set up an Expenditure Review Committee, ERC, headed by Professor Anya O. Anya. The committee described the size of the federal bureaucracy as unsustainable.

While it was expected that the government would address the issue to forestall further waste of funds, Nigeria still has over 40 ministers managing often competing bureaucracies. This report takes an in depth look at the various leakages and channels of waste in the system.

THE “war” triggered off by the removal of the alleged fuel subsidy may have been fought, won or lost but it has raised bitter concerns about how Nigeria’s commonwealth is managed at all levels of government.



From the federal ministers, who displayed how best to support a president in time of crisis, to the joint labour delegation whose doggedness kept the executive arm of government on its toes, and among the general public, the concern about the wastage in the system is near unanimous.

Indeed, most revelations that emanated from the recent subsidy impasse, have become a source of worry to most Nigerians who believe that the cost of governance has risen considerably at the expense of the welfare of the citizenry.

Examples of wastages range from the cost of sustaining constitutional system of government through the multiplication of bureaucracy and officials of government to the open stealing of government funds by those in government and their proxies.

Who needs bicameral legislature or a huge cabinet?

The Senate and the House of Representatives with a total of 469 members carry out almost the same functions with the notable exception of the approval of certain categories of executive appointments, which is the preserve of the Senate.

Leading the pack of those who cried out loud on the matter recently was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

He queried the rationale behind the huge vote for recurrent expenditure in the 2012 budget, saying if he had a choice, he would recommend the sacking of 50 per cent of the civil service and a restructuring of the country.

There are also structural costs that may need a tinkering of the constitution to resolve. One of these is the constitutional requirement that each state of the country should have a minister. It is not as if any of the presidents since President Olusegun Obasanjo had shown any concern in this perspective as none ever maintained less than 40 ministers at any time.

The National Assembly has also helped to sustain the unwieldiness by proliferating the number of committees leading to increased expenses.

The Senate has more than 54 standing committees a situation that every Senator is either a vice-chairman or a chairman. It is a survivalist measure for the Senate president and speaker who use committee positions to buy loyalty of legislators, but all at the public expense.

The House of Representatives on its part has more than 70 standing committees. The United States Senate has 16 standing committees compared to Nigeria’s 54. It would be recalled that the Theophilus Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Committee, PAC, had in January 2011, expressed concern over the increasing cost of governance and advised President Jonathan to reduce the number of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

PAC, in some of its recommendations, insisted that the government should begin the process of merging and reducing the federal ministries and other government agencies to help cut down on government’s unnecessary spending. The PAC also recommended a rationalisation of all non ministerial agencies to eliminate overlap, duplication and redundancies. The Nigeria Labour Congress has also made a similar call.

Reduce number of ministers

Nonetheless, these unheeded suggestions were also supported by a report which maintained that, the emoluments (salaries, allowances, perks, etc) of 17,474 public office holders and the judiciary at all tiers of government amount to about N1.2 trillion per year, gulping about 60 to 70% of the federal budget in a country of 140 million people.

Besides that is the uproar associated with many provisions of the 2012 budget, which have generally been termed as wasteful, bloated and unrelated to the felt needs of the majority of Nigerians.

An extract of the presidency’s budget would seem to indicate that the focus of the authorities could well be out of tune with the sufferings of the common man.

The presidency proposed N230.133million on the acquisition, upgrading and furnishing of the VP’s official guest house.

Over N1.06billion, comprising N500million for the construction and furnishing of the extension of the same VP’s lounge, and another N560million for the construction of official quarters for the VP’s director of protocol (DOP), aide de camp (ADC) and security chief, was provided for in the 2011 budget for the same Aguda house.

Another sum of N116.733million has been provided in the 2012 budget for installation of universal power system (UPS) facilities at the VP’s residence, while about N108million has been budgeted for the provision of communication equipment at the VP’s guest house along with the presidential villa, Dodan Barracks and State House, Marina.

Salaries and emoluments of lawmakers: Another source of worry is the jumbo salary and allowances of federal, state and local government legislators. Ever since the current CBN governors revealed that Nigerian lawmakers gulp 25% of the national budget, controversy has continued to trail the structuring of salaries of political, public and judicial officeholders by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). Each senator reportedly earns N15.18m in salaries and allowances monthly, just as each member of the House of Representatives takes home N10.59m a month. Annually a Senator takes about N198.54 , while a House member earns about N127.18m.

Further checks revealed that , it will cost the country at least three hundred and thirty eight billion, six hundred and forty five million eight hundred and forty five thousand, five hundred and ten naira N338,645,845,510bn in taxpayers’ money to keep the 469 members of the Senate and House Representatives.

Comparatively, a lawmaker in the United Kingdom earns $8,686(N1.3m) monthly while his counterpart in Sweden earns $7,707 (N1.2m) monthly. In addition, with a total annual package amounting to over N500 million ($3.23 million), the office of the Senate president gets 10 times more money than the $400,000 (N62million) US president Barack Obama earns as annual salary.

Security votes

Section 14(b) of the 1999 Constitution states that: “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” Although this vested the security of lives and properties in the hands of government, it did not state that there shall be a pool of funds called “security vote.”Every year, billions of naira are squandered under the guise of security votes in Nigeria. The funds earmarked to provide security for the president, governors and their domains, end up being transferred into personal bank accounts. With security challenges such as armed robbery, kidnapping and bombing campaigns on the increase across the country, many Nigerians wonder what the security vote is being used for.

The governor of Imo State, Mr. Rochas Okorocha, disclosed after he came into office that his predecessor, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim, received a whopping N6.5 billion annually as security vote.

During the four years that he was governor, Ohakim could then have collected N26 billion as security vote if Okorocha is to be believed. But the security challenges in Imo State only grew worse during Ohakim’s stewardship.

Presidential aircraft and cost of maintenance: To a lot of Nigerians, the size of jets in the country’s presidential fleet amounts to waste, considering what it costs to maintain the fleet.

In the proposed 2012 budget, the presidency reportedly budgeted N18 billion for its presidential fleet. It was gathered that Nigeria has no fewer that ten aircraft in the presidential air fleet. Only Russia and Mexico are known to have higher number of aircraft in a presidential air fleet while several other countries maintain none.

Following, the whopping amount dedicated for the maintenance of the presidential fleet, analysts have argued that the amount is only N1 billion higher than what could provide decent accommodation for the 17 million Nigerians estimated by UN Habitat to be homeless. In contrast, the Egyptian government operates an Airbus A340 200 (Registered SU GGG) as a VIP transport.

Similarly, the Pope flies on a chartered Alitalia fixed wing aircraft when travelling to or from more distant destinations. The tradition is for the Pope to fly to the country he is visiting on a chartered Alitalia jet and to return on a jet belonging to a flag carrier from the visited nation. The Queen of England flies on commercial aircraft.

N280m for two presidential bullet proof cars: Under the “replacement of aged vehicles of the presidential ground fleet (PGF)”, in the 2012 budget proposal, N280 million is set aside for two bullet proof vehicles for the President and the Vice President.

The 2012 budget also proposes for the “procurement of two treated (bullet proof) Mercedes Benz saloon 600 E Guard for use by the President and Vice President at N140,000,000 each”.

Next year, the Presidency plans to spend N356,724,300 to replace aged vehicles belonging to the presidential ground fleet. Besides, there are plans to acquire “five Mercedes benz saloon 350 (semi plain/partial bullet proof) at N25,000,000 each, 10 jeeps (assorted Range Rover, Prado and Land Cruiser) at N10,000,000 each and procurement of accessories and maintenance equipment for guard vehicles at N25,000,000.”

Multiple ministers/Special advisers

Whereas the 1999 constitution mandated the President to appoint at least one minister from each state of the federation including the FCT, currently, there are about 42 ministers. This does not include agencies, embassies, commissions and parastatals. In a lecture titled “Perspectives on the cost of governance in a democracy”,Mallam Nasir El Rufai lamented that, up until December 2006, there were 31 cabinet level Ministries including the FCT Administration and about 42 Ministers.

According to him “The reforms of 2006 led to the merger of the ministries of petroleum and power into a single Energy Ministry, water resources and agriculture into a single agriculture ministry, commerce with industry, the addition to Steel Development to the mandate of the Solid Minerals ministry, the abolition of the ministries of police affairs, communication, and Cooperation and integration into larger ministries, works into transportation.”

He noted that the reforms reduced the number of cabinet level MDAs to 21 but without a significant reduction in the number of ministers but that the Yar‘Adua and Jonathan administrations reversed these reforms leading to the increase in the ministries to 30 and accommodating between 42 and 48 ministers. Also, the present administration has also been criticized for accommodating a record number of Special Advisers who by some estimates are now more than 16. Special Advisers are almost of cabinet rank. El Rufai is not alone in this claim of government profligacy, as many believe that a larger part of the country’s income goes to political office holders.



Over 400 parastatals



The federal government, apart from its 42 ministries, reportedly runs about 400 parastatals. The ministries with the highest numbers are Health, 77; Science and Technology, 40; Education, 41; Agriculture, 44; Power and Steel, 27 agencies. Most of the parastatals, investigations revealed, are unable to provide prompt and efficient services, for which they were established. This has led to the erosion of public confidence in the ability and sincerity of public administrators who manage them.

Granting of special waivers: The waiver granting policy of the government has been identified as another source of wastage in governance. And it has started generating concern from various quarters. For example, the House of Representatives not long ago, described the policy as a conduit pipe draining the nation’s economy.

Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, weeks after assuming office, criticised the government over the waiver policy. He particularly expressed worry over alleged indiscriminate waivers granted to companies offering diverse services, describing this as inimical to the growth of the nation’s economy.

In a bid to check the alleged arbitrary waiver granting policy, the House reportedly mandated its Joint Committees on Finance and Customs and Excise to investigate over N276.9 billion in waivers and exemptions granted by the government.

Gbawe:

What would it profit me to engage an uncouth olodo and reprobate like you in a back-and-forth? You need to go and learn how to spell. perhaps a return to Primary school might be best. Also, go and learn what the PAC asked ,in entirety, of GEJ before you simplistically limited your bleating to recurrent expenditure alone. Folks like you are not very bright. You are merely feudalistic, bellicose, and reactionary i.e , pertinent to Nairaland, you follow others around trying to counter their utterance with m0r0nic argument devoid of logic. Only a ridiculous and deceitful apologist of your shameless caliber will defend how GEJ is 'famous' for ridiculously mindless and insensitive profligacy. Just say "na awa time" as others on this forum do and stop the unbelievable theatrics that defies sense as per what your messiah is universally known for.


http://saharareporters.com/article/jonathan-waste-continues

Oya clean that running nose of yrs and clap for yrself..kpa kpa kpakpakpa kpaaa..... YESsss....well done you did what every 'good' Propagandists does: run away from directly responding to clear facts that wud hurt ya azzz, in stead shift d 'discussion' a little by bringing in anoda tin in oda to properly run away from d facts- all of which is in d Manual. You see hw u just told dat guy ,who dared to challenge you, that reduction in Recurrent Budget, Overhead and Deficit does not mean that Cost of Governance wud be reducd...infact, give me a high five, yaaa....didnt you see how u even brought an ancient article from SaharaDISTORTERS( sori i meant REPORTERS) in order to enhance dis claim and reinforce yr former claim that 'GEJ has not done anything' to reduce d cost of governance even though he had reducd Recurrent expedition, Overhead and Deficit. Infact, clap for yrself again..kpa kpa kpakpakpa kpaaaa..LOUDER...kpa kp.....*throws chair*i thought i told u to clean that running nose of yrs.....

How come all the HAUSA oil ministers we've had all had such a smooth ride in office?

No calls for sacking, no probes, no leaks, no 'exposes' - folks like Rilwanu Lukman etc. It's almost as though he were a saint given the near absent controversy surrounding his nearly 25 years as oil minister.