For my next list of you might be a bad president!!! Please make sure to read (below) how the president of the world's superpower spends in the whitehouse. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/n1-305b-not-enough-for-refreshments-meals-presidential-villa-tells-senate/
N1.305b not enough for refreshments, meals, Presidential Villa tells Senate
On November 21, 2012 · In News
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA —THE Senate was, yesterday, told that the N1, 305, 292, 050 set aside in the 2013 budget for refreshment and meals and other miscellaneous expenses in the State House will not be enough.
This is just as a breakdown of the Miscellaneous sub-head in Aso Rock’s budget shows that N203,752,432 was allocated for refreshment and meals; N107,412,768 would be spent on honorarium and sitting allowance while N37, 277,825 will be for publicity and advertisement.
These were disclosed, yesterday, when the State House Permanent Secretary, Emmanuel Ogbile appeared before the Senator Dahiru Kuta-led Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs to defend the N14,715,566,104 budget for next year.
Ogbile also told the senators some other expenses that were being taken care of in the refreshment and meals vote, which he said include National Economic Council (NEC), Council of State, conferences in the Banquet Hall, Presidential retreats, National Merit Award, Children’s Day as well as hosting of dignitaries. Chairman of the Committee, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, however, countered the Permanent Secretary on the provision for the Merit Award which he said has its own budget.
The Permanent Secretary also gave a further breakdown of the 2013 State House budget as thus, Medical expenses (N50,308,546); Postage and courier services (N10,035,583); Welfare packages (N195,066,223); Subscription to professional bodies (N4,589,793); and Sporting activities (N32,910,730).
According to him, Overtime will gulp, N250,455,589; Feeding of animals including animal supplements for the veterinary clinic (N30,584,144); Summit/ Extra ordinary sessions including the UN, African Union, ECOWAS, etc (N228,112,862); and NYSC, IT, LOCUM, Housemanship and contract staff allowance (N144,788,555).
According to Ogbile: “I have taken pains to explain that this money is not just to fund the residence of the President and that of the Vice President. The experience I have had is that this fund is grossly insufficient. It is not even enough.”
The Permanent Secretary noted that “it is also from the budget of N1.305 billion that we take care of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which holds every Wednesday.”
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/cost-living-white-house
Interview by Tess Vigeland
Marketplace Money for Friday, March 2, 2012
Jodi Kantor
In her new book "The Obamas," New York Times Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor goes behind the scenes in the White House to report on what life’s like in the most famous house in America. Kantor has been following President Obama and First Lady Michelle since 2007, when they made the leap from being an exceptional young family from Chicago to occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Most of us probably think the Obamas live a lavish life on the taxpayers’ dime, but, according to Kantor, finances are tight in the White House. While rent is free, just about nothing else is. The president and first lady pay for their food, parties, vacations, butlers, housekeepers, ushers… and at Ritz Carleton prices. If they want to bring someone on Air Force One who isn’t in the official traveling delegation, they have to reimburse the American people the equivalent of first-class airfare for the flight.
“People say that there’s kind of a ritual with every new president and first lady. They get to the White House, they move in, they start to live there. A month or so in, they get their first bill, and there is a moment of shock,” says Kantor. Being wealthy gives a first family a real advantage and -- while the Obamas are rich Americans by just about any measure -- they don’t have the kind of personal wealth that can move the needle in the White House. It makes you wonder: can we ever have a truly middle-class president?
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This subject will certainly rank high on the next list of "You might be a bad president"!!! Respected global audit and financial advisory firm, KPMG, has rated Nigeria as the most fraudulent country in Africa, with the cost of fraud during the first half of 2012 estimated at N225 billion ($1.5 billion).
The firm’s Africa Fraud Barometer, instituted this year, measures fraud on the continent and asses the fraud risk that confronts companies in their operations.
In KPMG’s second report, issued last Wednesday, it identified Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa as accounting for 74% of the total number of cases on the African continent, with Nigeria recording the highest overall value of fraud in the first half of the2012.
Reported cases of fraud, however dropped from 520 in the first half of 2011 to 503 in the first half of 2012, and the value of fraud fell from $ 3.3 billion to $ 2 billion.
KPMG compiles the data for the Africa Fraud Barometer by analysing available news articles and reviewing fraud cases from designated databases.
The new report observed that Nigeria’s fraud profile has been compounded by fraud and corruption in the oil sector, with “bribes in the private and public sector, misappropriation, and contract inflation” as common forms of fraud.
By contrast, Nigeria’s President, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, last Sunday in his chat with the media bragged that his administration is fighting and winning the war on corruption, and that he has done better than his predecessors in combating corruption.
In another report, “Global States of Mind: New Metrics for World Leaders,” published on November 14, Gallop Poll declared Nigeria one of the two most corrupt countries in the world, superior only to Kenya.
Contrary to Mr. Jonathan’s claims, the Gallup report showed that 94 percent of Nigerians believe there is widespread corruption in the government. |
