NGIGE PART 3

The three years of Senator Ngige’s administration as governor of Anambra state has earned him a lot of admiration especially amongst the uneducated, courtesy of his struggle against the Ubah family for the soul of the state. Beyond the facade of the public hypocrisy and political sloganeering and faffings, a deeper observation of the administration would show that it represented nothing different from that of its predecessor. A glimpse at the administration’s tax regime becomes apposite. Ngige’s tax regime was abysmally weak. The old Anambra State was able to generate enough revenue from Onitsha with which large numbers of staff of the state were paid. As at the time of Senator Nigige’s regime as governor of Anambra state, Onitsha main market had witnessed massive expansion, just as several other major markets such as in Awka, Nnewi and Ekwulobia had grown. The administration could not generate enough to pay workers within Awka South local government from all these markets put together. The system was as porous as it was corrupt. The myriad of complaints from Anambrarians over multiple taxation by the internal revenue department fell on deaf ears. It would not be misplaced, therefore, to allege that Senator Ngige as governor had a hand in, and was comfortable with the obnoxious tax regime. While the administration lasted, there was no record of aggregate tax assessments, aggregate collections, and aggregate transfers to the treasury between 2004 and 2006, making it difficult for the reconciliation of tax assessments, collections, arrears, and transfers to the treasury. The Auditor General’s report contained cases of misuse of public assets which Senator Ngige as governor did not address. This not only led to waste, but also encouraged others to further divert resources since there was no penalty for such practices.

If Governor Ngige’s tax regime was abysmal, his administration of the local government was worse. In 2004 the federal government allocated a total of 1,169,882,344.37 to Anambra state Local Govt Areas.

Amount allocated per Local govt. are as follows:

(1) Aguata 80,123,737.73 18 (2)Anambra East 50,369,511.39 3. Anambra West - 49,605,226.96 (4) Anaocha - 61,382,425.51 (5) Awka North - 43,176,392.07 (6) Awka South - 55,920,822.69 (7) Ayamelum - 48,563,596.63 ( Dunukofia - 45,165,754.51 (9)Ekwusigo - 49,378,077.54 (10) Idemili North - 77,655,329.81 (11) Idemili South - 52,336,194.87 (12) Ihiala - 67,689,669.79 (13) Njikoka - 53,789,659.39 (14) Nnewi North - 54,599,356.31 (15) Nnewi South - 58,239,887.78 (16) Ogbaru - 61,872,046.02 (17) Onitsha North - 53,145,554.82(18) Onitsha South - 54,775,133.58 (19) Orumba North - 55,159,486.32 (20) Orumba South - 49,602,548.51 (21) Oyi - 47,331,932.13 16

Total - 1,169,882,344.37

The 1999 Constitution provides in s. 162(7) that state governments should transfer to local governments within their jurisdiction a percentage of their total revenue as determined by the National Assembly. The current National Assemble law on the subject is 10 percent. Contrary to this stipulation, the Ngige administration transferred 2 percent, 1 percent and 0.05 percent in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively. The whereabouts of the balance of these allocations remain unknown till date. No wonder he refused to conduct local govt election and blamed it on the then president OBJ.

European Development Fund and Federal Government of Nigeria National Planning Commission discovered that Ngige administration in Anambra state was largely characterized by poor documentation. This to a large extent hampered the activities of the state assembly, in terms of budget planning. The Assembly needed a variety of information to guide them in their debates on allocation of funds. Such information included:

1. Macro economic assumptions, including state level estimates of economic growth in the SNG jurisdiction, etc. was not provided.

2. Debt stock, including details, at least for the beginning of the current year (very relevant) was not provided.

3. Financial assets, including details, at least for the beginning of the current year was not provided.

4. Prior year’s budget out-turn, presented in the same format as budget proposal was not provided.

5.Summarized budget data for both revenue and expenditure including data for the current and previous year. was not provided. None of these was provided to the State Assembly by Ngige administration between 2003 and 2006.

During Ngige’s Senatorial campaigns, he claimed that between 2003 and March 2006 of his administration he completely settled all Anambra State debt including gratuities, arrears, contractor arrears and debt, including those initially rejected, but later confirmed by the courts. However,European Development Fund and Federal Government of Nigeria National Planning Commission during assesment of Ngige administration discovered some documents that indicated that contractors involved in the various phases of road construction between November 2003 and March 2006, were owed to the tune of N6,753,117,658.34 after Governor Ngige’s exit from the government house. To whom, therefore, did Ngige pay? Did ngige made the payment to the contractors or his bank account?

European Development Fund, also discovered that during Governor Ngige’s administration of Anambra State, only five of the 34 parastatals regularly prepared and submitted audited year-end financial statements to the government. According to European Development Fund assessment exercise, some state government officials argued that most of the parastatals were dead and redundant, and therefore did not require auditing. Alarmingly, it was observed that these parastatals were very well alive. Let’s grant that these they were indeed dead and moribund, but budgetary allocation were being made for them by the administration, with their staff remaining under the government’s payroll. Suffice to say, therefore, that Governor Ngige supervised the illicit diversion of government funds, via the payment of ghost workers. When one thinks of what amount of funds would have been cornered through the payment of say 200 ghost workers in just one parastatal multiplied by twenty eight parastatal, the figure can only be best imagined! Was Governor Ngige unaware of this trend?

European Development Fund, also noted that 2006 audit report identified some control violations, including “substantial number of civil servants and political office holders receiving salaries by cash, contrary to the Accountant General’s circular dating back to 2000, as well as continued collection of salaries of retired political appointees for up to six months after leaving office. It was also noted that Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA) had a staggering number of bank accounts – over 100, making it very difficult to track and monitor cash balances, and thereby paving way for the siphoning of the state’s funds into personal accounts, both local and foreign.

Such litany of cases of poor administration by Governor Ngige signposts a crass lack of the political will and determination to move Anambra state forward and therefore does not deserve any position close to the government house again.

Paffcomm

www.paffcomm.com

NGIGE PART 4 SOON TO BE PUBLISHED