The twentieth piece in the #SaatahBudgetSeries will focus on the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Federal Capital Territory Administration.

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

The Federal Ministry of Justice has ten agencies/institutions under it, and they are outlined as follows: Federal Ministry of Justice HQTRS, Nigerian Law Reform Commission, Legal Aid Council, Council of Legal Education, Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, National Human Rights Commission, Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigerian Copyright Commission, and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.

The total budget for the Federal Ministry of Justice is 20,046,291,016; 18,929,212,450 is for “Recurrent Expenditure” while 1,117,078,566 is for “Capital Expenditure.”

The Justice Ministry will spend 937,292,384 on “Legal Services” in 2016.

The “Honorarium/Sitting Allowance” for the Justice Ministry is actually more than double that for the Office of the Vice President. 19,627,299 is what is allocated for this item for the Justice Ministry, while the Office of the Vice President gets 9,813,643.

The “Capital Expenditure” budget for the Federal Ministry of Justice HQTRS is 709,155,140, and all of it will be spent on “Total Judgment Charges to be paid.”

The Nigerian Law Reform Commission budgeted 4,507,138 for transportation for “Training”, but nothing is budgeted for this so called “Training.” Maybe reforms should start from within this institution.

23,810,000 of the Nigerian Law Reform Commissions “Capital Expenditure Budget” will be spent on “Reform of Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act Cap M18 LFN 2004.”

The Council of Legal Education budgeted 3,120,756 for “Local Training,” while the transportation for the training will also cost 3,120,756. How fortuitous OR what a coincidence!

The Nigeria Institute for Advanced Legal Studies budgeted 5,694,597 for transportation for an international training that is not budgeted for. What are they then traveling outside the country for? The National Human Rights Commission has a total budget of 1,210,000,000 and all of it will be for “Salaries and Wages.”

23,155,578, the entire “Capital Expenditure” of the Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration will be spent on “Bill of Quantity.”

The Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency budgeted 7,262,374 for transportation for “Local Training,” and another 7,262,374 for transportation for “International Training.” Unlike the “Local Training” that has a provision, the “International Training” does not have a provision. One begins to wonder why budgetary allocations are made for things which do not exist.

It is a pity that the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, with a total budget of 8,544,801,165, has just 114,000,000 as “Capital Expenditure.” Worse still, the 114,000,000 will be spent on “Strengthening of Counselling Centres in Commands. With a budget like this, I do not expect much from this agency.

17,109,559 is what the Nigerian Copyright Commission has budgeted for transportation for an international training that is not budgeted for, or in layman’s terms, does not exist.

The Nigerian Copyright Commission has a total “Capital Expenditure” of 10,500,000 and all of it is for “Research and Development.”

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Person also budgeted 4,612,644 for transportation for an international training which does not exist.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has a “Capital Expenditure” of 20,272,000, and it will be spent on office furniture/fittings, and health/medical equipment.

INDEPENDENT CORRUPT PRACTICES COMMISSION AND OTHER RELATED OFFENCES

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and Other Related Offences has a total budget of 4,618,378,795; 4,277,699,554 is for “Recurrent Expenditure,” while 340,679,241 is for “Capital Expenditure.”

I feel the most important part of the budget for this agency should be the “Legal Services” part of it, and it is as pathetic as that of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which we analysed previously. The amount budgeted for “Legal Services” is 13,123,409, while 120,939,000 will be used to “Purchase Motor Vehicles” and 139,857,466 will be used to “Purchase Security Equipment.”

CODE OF CONDUCT BUREAU

The Code of Conduct Bureau has a total budget of 2,224,598,099; 1,794,596,920 is for “Recurrent Expenditure,” while 430,001,179 is for “Capital Expenditure.”

From the 430,001,179 “Capital Expenditure, 332,956,179 will be spent on “Purchase of CCTV Hidden Camera’s, Mobile Phone Jammer, Sony Digital Investigator Recorder and Other Security Equipment.”

FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY ADMINISTRATION

37,756,697,983 is the total budget for the Federal Capital Territory Administration, and all of it is meant for “Capital Expenditure.”

In 2014, the Federal Capital Territory Administration budgeted 1,500,000,000 for the “Construction/Provision of Office Buildings.” In 2016, 3,845,965,878 was budgeted for the “Construction/Provision of Office Buildings.”

502,556,662 is budgeted for “Construction (Senate President’s Residence (Bill No. 1 – General, Bill No. 2 – Site Clearance And Earthworks, Outstanding Liabilities, General Items, Clearance And Earthworks, Miscellaneous Works.” 200,694,435 is budgeted for “Construction (Senate President’s Residence) Consultancy Services and Outstanding Liability.” 2,039,220,787 is budgeted for “Construction (Senate President’s Residence) Consultancy Services and Outstanding Liability.” 2,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Construction (Senate President’s Residence).” 1,263,237,293 is budgeted for “Construction (Senate President’s Residence) Consultancy Services and Liability.”

If the figures above are added up, you will find out that 6,005,709,177 in total is budgeted to construct the residence of the Senate President. In essence, it will cost almost double the entire budget of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, 3,974,395,038, to build the residence of the Senate President. Let us not overlook the duplicated and duplicitous items.

108,300,451 is budgeted for “Design And Construction Of Vice President’s Residence.” 3,145,185,569 is budgeted for “Design And Construction Of Vice President’s Residence (Bill No. 2 Main Residence, Bill No. ? Adc Residence, Bill No. 9 Security Quarters, Site Clearance And Earthworks, Roadworks, Street Lighting, Outstanding Liability CV 31 & Part Of CV30, General Item, Site Clearance And Earthworks, Drainages, Road Works.” You can see that the construction of the residence of the Vice President will cost us almost the entire budget of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. All these are different from the 1,000,000,000 budgeted in 2014 for the “Designing & Construction of Vice President Residence,” or the 500,000,000 for the same item in the 2015 budget. Someone is trying to rip off the Nigerian people.

1,035,652,770 is also budgeted for “Construction of Speaker of the House of Representatives Provision (Add Vat5%),” while another 2,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Construction of Speaker of the House.” We are being taken for a ride, and there seems to be little or nothing we can do about it.

621,089,138 is budgeted for “Rehabilitation and Renovation of United Nations (UN) Building.” 3,024,182,305 is budgeted for “Rehabilitation And Renovation Of United Nations (UN) Building (Bill No 2. Main Building Structural, Bill No. 4 Mechanical, Bill No. 5 Lifts Installation, Bill No. 6 Electrical LV System Installations, Bill No. 7 Electrical ELV System, Bill No. 8 Ancillary Building, Bill No. 9 Security Installations).” 1,047,014,160 is budgeted for “Rehabilitation and Renovation of United Nations (UN) Building (Completed And Retention, General Item, Supply Of Pipes, Fittings And Accessories For Tm Ii Section 1).” 2,005,642 is budgeted for “Rehabilitation and Renovation of United Nations (UN) Building (Chlorinating Building Blockwork-Tank6, Chlorinating Building Metalwork-Tank6).” 76,325,206 is budgeted for “Rehabilitation And Renovation Of United Nations (UN) Building (Steel Door 90/210 Cm, Crittall Hope Or Similar, Sanitary And Washroom Installations-Tank6, Mechanical Component: Installation, Mechanical Component: Installation Chlorinating Plant, Electrical Component: Supply Tank 1, Component: Installation (Tank 1).” 2,206,298,634 is budgeted for “Rehabilitation And Renovation Of United Nations (UN) Building (Supply Of Pipes, Fittings And Accessories For Tm Ii Section 2 (Fluctuation Claim Estimate, Supply Of Pipes, Fittings And Accessories For Tm Ii Section 3, Cement (Fluctuation Claims, Outstanding Liability).”

Putting the figures above together will give you 6,977,424,085, that is the amount that will be used to “Rehabilitate and Renovate” the United Nations building in Abuja. As insulting as it is, it is even more insulting to the Nigerian women, that what is allocated for the “Rehabilitation and Renovation” of the United Nations building is double the entire budget of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. It is a shame, a national one.

4,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Construction of Abuja Rail Mass Transit Lots 1 and 3.”

879,436,077 is budgeted for “Provision (Site Clearance and Earthworks),” but we were not told where this “Site” is or what will be built on it. For what it is worth, the “Site” might be someone’s personal bank account.

5,959,332,488 is budgeted for “Construction / Provision of Residential Buildings,” while 23,626,911 and 5,976,373,089 are separately budgeted for “Construction (Interchange Structures)” and “Construction (Interchange Structures (Outstanding Liabilities).”

We have come to the end of the twentieth part of my budget analysis series. The in-between for today is simple. There is a visible disconnect between public office holders and the masses, and the continued spending of billions of Naira on things that have no direct effect or benefit to the common man and this shows how clueless and bereft of ideas these public office holders are. Have a wonderful day!

Saatah Nubari is on Twitter @Saatah

http://www.thebreakingtimes.com/saatahbudgetseries-federal-ministry-of-justice-by-saatah/

...and everywhere's calm. injustice !!

#fraud.