₦airaland Forum

gregg2: Fashola, Oshiomole, Geidam all visit the presidency often. It is in the interest of their states. Aregbesola is wasting Osun's chance

bloggernaija: Because Lagos has an healthy debt profile.
Lagos state has a recurrent - capital expenditure ratio of 40%:60% .in order words ,the amount spent on paying salaries and allowances is 40% of the budget while 60%. Of the budget is available for roads(that is about $2 billion dollars).
So Lagos state can devise to get rid of the debt within one year by merely reducing capital spending by 25%.this without any teacher losing are job .mind you lagos will ride out an oil shock better.
Also all Lagos debt have been used to fund strategic wealth creation projects to position the state for the future.
The federal government on the other hand spends 80% of the national wealth on salaries and allowances.the 20 % left for capital expenditure is mostly stolen .the reason why they have to borrow borrow to do simple maintenance work.
Mind you ,any sustained fall in oil prices will expose the gej led federal government for what it is; corrupt and confused.

SUBSIDY ISSUES : The wastages that drain development

on January 23, 2012 / in Politics 5:03 am / Comments


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. [b]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.[/b]

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.

[b]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.
[/b]
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.



[b]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.[/b]

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/subsidy-issues-the-wastages-that-drain-development/#sthash.jiyWk7co.dpuf

Abagworo: All I can deduce is that Peter Obi is working desperately to be in the good books of PDP while Aregbesola is on his own.

Olalekan Adetayo: Most frequent governor in Aso Rock award
Posted By TheScoop on July 5, 2013

by Olalekan Adetayo

State governors come to the Presidential Villa, Abuja regularly either to confer with the President or attend one meeting or the other. Some are frequent faces while a few others are seen once in a while. Since there is no attendance book for governors to sign every time they come to the Villa, it is extremely difficult to identify the most frequent governor but a simple analysis might give a fair result.

In the last six months, in my estimation, the award of the most frequent governor in the Villa will not even go to a Peoples Democratic Party governor, though one of their governors may come second. I give it to the soft-spoken Peter Obi of Anambra State!

The reason is not far-fetched. Except for the meetings or events that are strictly for PDP members, Obi is not known to be absent from any event that has governors in attendance in the Villa. Maybe that is one of the reasons why some people refer to the Alliance for Progressives Grand Alliance governor as ‘a PDP member in Diaspora’.

Obi is faithful when it comes to attending the National Economic Council monthly meetings chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo. He is not too disposed to sending his deputy to represent him. I did a random sampling of my colleagues in the State House Press Corps and none of the about 10 of them I spoke to know his deputy. As a member of the Economic Management Team, the governor also attends the team’s monthly meeting religiously. Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State is also a member of the EMT. He was also regular at such meetings until lately when a state of emergency was declared in his state.

Apart from these regular scheduled meetings, Obi is also a member of some other presidential committees that meet regularly in the Villa. One of such is the Committee on Police Reforms and Funding. Apart from meetings, he also breezes in once in a while to discuss issues relating to his state and other matters with the President.

The likes of Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State also belong to committees that have to do with power or privatisation. But in all, Obi carries the day while Nyako is second.

Some governors are ‘scarce commodities’ as far as visiting the Villa is concerned. One that stands out is Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State. He is not known for regular visits. Many times, he will not attend NEC meetings and will not bother to send a representative. Somebody close to the governor said he vowed that he would only attend such meetings when serious issues are discussed. His definition of ‘serious issues’ is only known to him, so he goes with his own award……the least visiting governor!

- This Best Outside Opinion was written by Olalekan Adetayo

Most frequent governor in Aso Rock
By Olalekan Adetayo

State governors come to the Presidential Villa, Abuja regularly either to confer with the President or attend one meeting or the other. Some are frequent faces while a few others are seen once in a while. Since there is no attendance book for governors to sign every time they come to the Villa, it is extremely difficult to identify the most frequent governor but a simple analysis might give a fair result.
In the last six months, in my estimation, the award of the most frequent governor in the Villa will not even go to a Peoples Democratic Party governor, though one of their governors may come second. I give it to the soft-spoken Peter Obi of Anambra State!
The reason is not far-fetched. Except for the meetings or events that are strictly for PDP members, Obi is not known to be absent from any event that has governors in attendance in the Villa. Maybe that is one of the reasons why some people refer to the Alliance for Progressives Grand Alliance governor as ‘a PDP member in Diaspora’.
Obi is faithful when it comes to attending the National Economic Council monthly meetings chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo. He is not too disposed to sending his deputy to represent him. I did a random sampling of my colleagues in the State House Press Corps and none of the about 10 of them I spoke to know his deputy. As a member of the Economic Management Team, the governor also attends the team’s monthly meeting religiously. Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State is also a member of the EMT. He was also regular at such meetings until lately when a state of emergency was declared in his state.
Apart from these regular scheduled meetings, Obi is also a member of some other presidential committees that meet regularly in the Villa. One of such is the Committee on Police Reforms and Funding. Apart from meetings, he also breezes in once in a while to discuss issues relating to his state and other matters with the President.
The likes of Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State also belong to committees that have to do with power or privatisation. But in all, Obi carries the day while Nyako is second.
Some governors are ‘scarce commodities’ as far as visiting the Villa is concerned. One that stands out is Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State. He is not known for regular visits. Many times, he will not attend NEC meetings and will not bother to send a representative. Somebody close to the governor said he vowed that he would only attend such meetings when serious issues are discussed. His definition of ‘serious issues’ is only known to him, so he goes with his own award……the least visiting governor!
- This Best Outside Opinion was written by Olalekan Adetayo

ujoinme: Will like to know what nigerians think of this south african firm thats investing in Nigeria? Is it good for our country or not?
Whats your take?

Jack Baueress: Instead of attacking the poster, why don't you say something constructive about the topic or you quietly sit at the guests corner and read other people's comments. Why do you and your likes always resort to insult when you don't have reasonable thing to say? sorry for you bro!

atlwireles: Is the government seizing your money? why not start by fighting corruption in your state. Maybe you can finance your development without borrowing. When a country of 160M relies on oil(2.2m barrel) as the single source for almost 80% of public spending, what do you expect?

The Challenges Of Governance And Dev In Lagos (2)
Published on May 7, 2013 by · No Comments
By Babatunde Fashola

Lagos, of course, has chosen a different path. It lives largely on the revenue it raises by itself.
70% of its N499 billion ($3.2 billion) budget for year 2013 and the preceding years have been self-generated.
The Federal Government’s monthly allocations only account for 30% of Lagos’ annual resources-to-budget cost.
In order to maintain this financial hold, the Federal Government keeps 52% of the nation’s resources.
The states, all 36 of them, get a 26% share between them. The 774 local governments, including the 37 created by Lagos, share only 20.2% of the country’s revenue amongst them.
The debate therefore is not only about the cost of such a large government but also about its effectiveness.
The Primary Health Care Centres, where newborn babies get vaccinated and immunised against disease, are not in the capital but within the 774 (plus 37) local governments.
Can the money held in large supply at the centre reach them in time and in good quantity before they die?
The primary schools, which are the foundations of early learning, are also in these local governments. (In Lagos there are 1,001 of such primary schools).
How quickly and efficiently can we fund them from the centre before these children get tired of waiting, drop out and become child labourers?

The impact of a behemoth Federal Government is no less exacting on the transport system in a sub-optimal way.
In Lagos the Local Governments have 6,415 roads, the state government has 3,028 and the Federal Government has only 117.
Yet the Local Governments have only their share of 20.2% (shared with 717 others) and the states have only their share of 26% (shared with 35 other states) of national revenues to fix these roads. Remember the Federal Government owns the least number of roads. Yet she keeps 52% – the lion’s share of the Federal resources.
How efficiently therefore can the Nigerian Governmental system provide roads that are so critical to prosperity for her people?

These are the structural challenges of government that we must overcome.
They sum up the demand for a truer federal union that is being demanded by the 36 state governors in terms of fiscal and political federalism. I associate myself with this demand in its entirety.
The realization of these demands on their own, may not necessarily leapfrog us into El Dorado. But without them the journey will be tortuous. If they materialise they liberate the possibilities that lie inherent in the diverse capacities that the Nigerian states and local governments are blessed with.

In that event, the Federal Government will not be without authority or responsibility. But in my view it will be better able to co-ordinate the diversities for mutual prosperity.
While these challenges exist we are not folding our arms and twiddling our thumbs. On the contrary we have become more determined in Lagos and more resourceful.

Let me conclude now by saying that whilst we contend with these challenges and struggle to build infrastructure, our most enduring infrastructure will be the one we build in people’s minds, especially the next generation.
This is why we have committed time and resources to rebuild our education. We are seeing results in the right direction but the journey is still long.

However, even long journeys can be punctuated by delightful pit stops. One such encouraging pit-stop came via a text message from the Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State University (LASU).
I must point out that LASU is the state owned university, different from the federal owned University of Lagos also in our state. They are our older, and if I must say for the time being, our more illustrious cousins.
The message from the Vice-Chancellor was that LASU has been ranked 11th amongst all the universities in Nigeria. We are the only state owned university in this ranking. This is significant because it shows rewards for our efforts. It validates the far-sighted but tough decisions we took to re-position the university.

It puts a fine egg on the faces of those who sought to make political capital of a decision so fundamentally critical to our human development index. But this is not our destination. Our destination in the short term is to be the best in Nigeria. In the medium term to be the best in Africa and in the long term to be the best in the world.
That process has already started. We are already building affiliations for LASU across the world. Nothing would please me more than to establish such an affiliation with this school and the Johns Hopkins University. It would have made this trip really worth making.

I will only now ask you to put everything I have said into perspective. If at any point I sounded like I spoke from a place of contentment then that was certainly not my intention.
The truth is that all we have done is to lay down a marker for the sort of state we are trying to build.
If I can claim any success, it is that the dream I have always had for Lagos is now no longer just a picture in my head – it has taken manifestation into something more tangible. And more importantly, it has become a shared dream. I would like to express, once more, my gratitude for being asked to speak in such esteemed company. I appreciate the time you have devoted to being here and hope to welcome you as visitors to Lagos in the near future.
•Concluded.

Katsumoto: Stop being ignorant.

Borrowing in itself is not bad. Borrowing is necessary for development. The difference here is that the FG seizes over 50% of oil revenues and as such its projects should be met by revenues from oil firstly and additional funding may be met by borrowing. But it has to reduce corruption first and then squeeze more efficiency/productivity out of what it has. The FG is embezzling these funds. Lagos on the other hand is borrowing for developmental projects.

In the last 10 years, many articles have been published in leading global journals such as the Financial Times, Economist, Wall Street Journal, etc commending Lagos state governors on its progress and development. There was even a CNN program on the Eko Atlantic project. How many of these type of positive articles have been published about GEJ's government? Instead world leaders are asking GEJ to be more accountable considering record oil revenues. Not forgetting how GEJ made a monkey of himself on CNN with Amanpour.

While you are it, can you supply us with the debt profile of Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait?

bethnals: nawa for this Naija o.

The government is to f**king big taking in money and producing almost zero value! That is the problem along with rampant corruption and absolutely zero accountability/transparency as to what and where the money is being spent on and the results obtained.

take dat: Is it as if the FG and and other PDP state governments take loans in the name of Togo?

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the National Debt!

take dat: @Anonimi, so recovering N14billion out of N232billion almost a year after is something to rejoice over? How many PPPRA officials have been sacked and are they facing prosecution? How come we so much cherish mediocrity in this country?

When we yorubas start growing cocoa and contributing as much as oil does to our national GDP, forex, revenue etc we can request cocoa plantation security contract.
How much of the cocoa revenue did we share with the Niger Delta people in the 60s?
We are currently just behaving like a bunch of shameless parasites!

lakhadimar: @Gbawe you have forgotten that david cameron is also an ACN supporter and a boko haram sympathiser

SLIDE waxie: why dnt u treat the wound instead of chasing the flies?

It's a simple logic, but i think u lack it.

Is gbawe ur problem?

The truth is, he wld av had nothing to say if that aspect of Jonathan's administration is safe!

David Cameron on Nigeria’s $100b oil money

Posted by olasope01 in COLUMNISTS, ENERGY, OPINION, PRESS STATEMENT on April 9, 2013 11:11 am / 58 comments / 1,582 Views
Pastor Taiwo (JP)’ Social Anaylist & Public Commentator

IT was pleasant news that David Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain was obliging to assist Nigerians to know what we never knew about our oil money that was never made public by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

At G8 Economic Summit in Davos on Thursday January 24th, 2013, Cameron expressed his concern over Nigeria’s oil and gas income. He averred that “l want this G8 to lead a big push for transparency across the developing world. To illustrate why, let me give you one example. A few years back a transparency initiative exposed a huge black hole in Nigeria’s finances, an $800m discrepancy between companies’ payments and government’s receipts for oil. This is leading to new regulation of Nigeria’s oil sector so the richness of the earth can actually enrich the people of that country.

And the potential is staggering.

Last year Nigerian oil exports were worth almost $100b, more than total net aid to the whole of Sub-Sahara Africa. Put simply unleashing the natural resources in these countries dwafts anything aid can achieve – and transparency is critical to that..

“So we are going to push for more transparency on who owns companies, on who’s buying up land and for what purpose, on how governments spend their money, on how gas, oil and mining companies operate, on who is hiding stolen assets and how we recover and return them.

“Like everything else in this G8, the ambitions are big – and I make no apology for that thirty years ago more than half the planet lived on the equivalent of $1.25 a day or less. Today it is around a fifth.” David Cameron said all these without apology to anybody who might felt exposed.

Data released by the Energy Information Administration of the United States Department of Energy, showed that out of $1.15trillion released from oil by the 12 OPEC member states, Nigeria gets $90b, being the forth highest in the team in 2012.The Federal Inland Revenue Service also collected about N5 trillion as tax in 2012. While in 2011 the total revenue from oil was $65b with N4.62 trillion realised as tax the same year. Yet with all these income from oil & tax, and increased in oil production of 2.4 million bpd with over $100 per barrel, Nigeria became a worst country for a child to be born and saddest people on earth with dilapidated infrastructure as our lots and ever increasing debts profile both foreign and domestic with nothing to show for it physically. While some serious OPEC countries who also made great money from oil at the same time as ours are recording tremendous progresses.

It is shameful that Quater with 1.7m population in 2011 released a plan to invest $150b of her oil wealth on infrastructure over 5years with already increased electricity generation from 2,200Mw in 2001 to 8,750Mw as of today. And Saudi Arabia with population of 28m people is planning to spend $100b to add 30,OOOMw to its 40,OOOMw currently generated. Venezuela is also investing her oil revenue into transportation, plus the construction of 1,000-kilomitre railway line at the cost of $l.lb.

World Bank experts had equally stated before that Nigeria get 90% of her total revenue from oil, and 80% of her total revenue is in the hands of 1% of the population. Why is looting of the treasury so endemic and our leaders flagitious about making the masses poorer in Nigeria.

It took the audacity of David Cameron to challenge our profligate leaders on the issues of $100b oil money accrued to Nigeria government last year alone, an equivalent of N15.6 trillion, and no response from the government’s poachers turned game keepers, ‘today’s men’, official minions and presidential vassals in defence of the great revelation from Britain.


Premised on this clarion call by Cameron, the president peregrinated to London on what God knows mission on Tuesday 5th February, 2013 probably to sort out things with David Cameron in London on his open determination to enforce transparency and expose corruption in Nigeria oil and gas income. It was derisible that no British official was at the airport to welcome the Nigerian President save the Nigerian Ambassador and other Nigerian officials in London.

David Comeron knew how much his country was given to the whole of Sub-Sahara Africa developing countries as aid, and was pained that what Nigeria government got from oil in last year alone was far greater than what all the aids can give, yet the money is not translated to better conditions of living for Nigerian masses in general.

His interest in letting the wealth of Nigeria gets to the generality of Nigerians is laudable and commendable. It was heroic for him to have addressed the G8 members on the need for them to help expose who owns oil and gas companies, who own lands, how the money from oil and gas has been spent and who are those people hiding stolen money and assist to recover them and return them.

The case of James Ibori that stole above $50b from Delta State that no Nigerian Court could cage him until Britain’s Metropolitan Police stepped into the case and got him convicted and incarcerated in London is enough to let our leaders cover their eyes in shame.

The money that can finance our national budget in the next three years are yet to be accounted for.

The government will need to brace up and speak out on this brazen allegation and make known to Nigeria public what happened to $100b or N15.6 trillion oil money they received last year because silence means consent and travelling to London now does not solve the problem, the cat has been let out of the bag already, for the news is already in the public domain, what we are waiting for is their explanation, whether David Cameron also gaffed like they carpetted the former Minister of Education, Oby Ejekwesili on her allegation that $67b was left in the treasury in 2007 i.e. $45b foreign reserves and $22b excess crude oil account had been sqandered by both Yar’adua and Jonathan’s governments ..

David Cameron can never be given to frivolity as I can say, being an international man and world elder state man, who can never be given to riddle chatter.

On Thursday 7th February, 2013 the report of the House Committee on finance an independent revenue generation and remittance to the consolidated Revenue Fund by government – owned agencies that was considered, alleged that many agencies of the government are not remitting their money generated from 2009 – 2012 to the tune of N8.8 trillion. What can we say of these agencies. Are they a disservice to the common interest of the common people of this nation or serving some notorious cabal.? The report revealed that in 2009, the agencies generated N3.06 trillion as independent revenue, but remitted only N46.8b or 1.53% to the treasury. In 2010, the agencies realised N3.07 trillion but remitted N54.1b or 1.76%.

otokx: This is serious.

by Elombah Perspective (Notes) on Saturday, 21 August 2010 at 08:12
Now that President Jonathan has decimated the Excess Crude Account
• Jonathans Ambition to be President would Bankrupt Nigeria

Around August 2007, the newly elected governors of the 36 states of the federation met and clamoured for the release and sharing of the excess crude funds. The governors had been mounting pressure on the former President, Umaru Yar'adua to approve the sharing of the money from excess crude oil sales as provided by the constitution, saying that it would help them stabilise in their states which treasuries had been looted by some of their predecessors. According to them, injecting the excess funds into the economy would create job opportunities for the teeming army of unemployed youths in the country.
But the Federal government through the CBN, under Professor Chukwuma Soludo refused to budge stating that sharing the funds in the Excess Crude Account, ECA, may be disastrous for the economy.

[b]Fast-forward to February 2010. One of the first acts by Jonathan Goodluck upon being made acting president was to approve the disbursal of $2 billion from the country's windfall oil savings between the Federal and State governments. Fuelling suspicion that the disbursal was an attempt to quieten those who might otherwise seek to undermine him, a charge government and presidency officials then strongly denied.
At the inception of his government, President Jonathan Goodluck inherited about $7 billion in the Excess Crude Account.The excess crude account stood at over $20 billion when Yar'Adua took over in 2007 but his administration regularly dipped into the account. Relatively high oil price meant the money in the ECA remained at $20.1 billion at the end of 2008.
The account has a balance of $20 billion as at January 2009. By December 2009, Former President Umaru Yar'adua had reduced the Account to $7.8 billion.Then in February 2010, Jonathan Goodluck, then Acting President asked Federal, States and Local governments to share $2 billion from an earlier balance of $6.2 billion, leaving about $4.1 billion in the account.
In March 2010, he approved the disbursal of a further $1 billion from the country's windfall oil savings, leaving about $3.1 billion in the account. The move brings to $3 billion the total amount of Nigerian oil savings that Jonathan approved for disbursal to the country's 36 states and government agencies in one month!
Then on Friday, August 13 2010, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwanbo announced to journalists shortly after the monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting, which was chaired by the new Minister of State for Finance, Hajiya Yabawa Lawan-Wabi that the remaining $3 billion in the Excess Crude Account was depleted and shared among the Federal and State Governments this month leaving only about $460 million in the account.
$2 billion of it was shared among the three tiers of governments while $1 billion was set aside for the proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund which is yet to be signed into law, he said.[/b]

The present administration is raising concern about Nigeria's commitment to fiscal discipline. There are growing concerns that so much have been taken from the Excess Crude Account without tangible improvement in the lives of Nigerians.
Nigerians are asking; why is President Goodluck Jonathan in a hurry to deplete The Excess Revenue Account accrued from revenue derived from Crude Oil Sales, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Royalties over and above the budgeted benchmark of the Federal Government of Nigeria for each year.
The logic for saving excess crude revenue, according to the CBN is that the oil sector is highly volatile when one considers the past experience of oil boom and reckless spending of the 70s which caused depression around 1978 and forced the country to start borrowing.

While ECA was used to meet the shortfall in revenues caused by low oil prices in 2008 and 2009, the worrying signs in terms of fiscal deficit and depletion cannot be ignored.
Alarmingly, of the $17 or so billion withdrawn from the account since February 2009, it appears that only $5.3 billion was invested in any capital project – Yar'adua's emergency power project.
Even that investment has been somewhat opaque - Likened to Obasanjo's investment of $16billion on Independent Power Project, IPP - there was no evidence that Yar'adua's allocation actually went to Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.The remaining withdrawals have been shared among the federal, state and local governments. Likely, these have been spent on recurrent items.

Does it have anything to do with preparations for the 2011 election?

In an address titled "Safe-guarding Nigeria's Fiscal Health: Some Considerations for the Present and the Future", delivered to mark the 24th and 25th combined convocation ceremony of the University of Calabar, 08 April 2010, former Minister of Finance and Director at the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pointed out that while ECA was rightly used to meet the shortfall in revenues caused by low oil prices, the worrying signs in terms of fiscal deficit and depletion cannot be ignored.
Warning against depleting Excess Crude Account, Okonjo-Iwealla stated that Nigeria's huge fiscal deficit, rising domestic debt, depletion of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and the distress in the banking sector are issues that urgently need the attention of Jonathan's cabinet.
Obviously, the absence of cranial matter between the ears of President Jonathan Goodluck means that nothing stops this warning from going in through one ear and escaping through the other ear.Alternatively, it could be that Jonathans Ambition to be President would Bankrupt Nigeria.
More than one hundred days into his presidency it is now apparent that President Goodluck Jonathan has the ambition to remain president beyond 2011 despite his party's zoning agreement.

Let me repeat for emphasis:
[b]At the inception of his government, President Jonathan Goodluck inherited about $7 billion in the ECA Account. $3billion and later another $1billion was shared among the State and Federal Government immediately Jonathan got into office as part of the agreement reached with the governors for them to allow him become Acting President leaving a balance of $3billion. And now, in preparation for the 2011 election, the balance has been squandered!
Nigerians have cause to be worried as our Federal Government's domestic debt amounted to N1.75 trillion naira or US$13.6 billion at the end of 2006 but by the end of 2009, it had virtually doubled to N3.23 trillion or US$21.8.
Today, foreign debt is also rising. Few years after repaying huge foreign debts, the country's external loan is to reach $9.4 billion this year based on a proposed 2010 borrowing plan of Jonathan's Federal Government.
In a letter to the National Assembly dated August 4, 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan requested the legislature to approve external borrowing of $5.242 billion in addition to the present $4.2 billion foreign debt owed by the country.[/b]

And observers are asking: what is going on?

Jonathan spends like a drunken sailor!

Not done yet, President Jonathan Goodluck has earmarked $154.3 million or N23.2 billion for the purchase of three new jets for the Presidential Air Fleet. The planes, which include a Gulfstream G550 and two new Falcons 7X Aircraft.
This notwithstanding that the presidential fleet currently boasts of eight aircraft - including a 70-tonne Boeing business jet bought in 2006 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Gulfstream V, and Gulfstream IVSP, and two Falcon 900s.
Not too long ago, the INEC under Iwu (Prof. Maurice Iwu) requested a paltry sum of N3 billion. Now, Professor Atahiru Jega is jumping the figure to N72 billion. Finally, N87.72 billion was approved for Jega.
This notwithstanding that a third world country like Nigeria, Bangladesh registered 80 million voters at a cost of $65 million in 2008 and today the good old Prof. Jega needs $500 million to register 65 million voters
Thirdly, As Nigerians cry out that the Federal Government has budgeted N10billion Naira for Nigeria@50 celebrations, Jonathan reduced it to N6.5 billion, then N9.5billion. Finally Nigerians learnt that N17 Billion would actually be spent on the jamboree.
Again I emphasize;
Nigerians should carefully monitor President Jonathan Goodluck. I have the feeling that by the time Goodluck Jonathan finishes with Nigeria, not only will the treasury be empty, we will be at the pre-1999 level of debt!

Goodbye to Excess Crude Account

President Olusegun Obasanjo created the Excess Crude Account in 2004 into which oil revenue in excess of budgeted benchmarks, which were invariably set below the high international market price the country enjoyed virtually all through his eight-year tenure, was deposited.There was much opposition to the account led by the Hamman Tukur of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) on grounds that it was, at best, of dubious legality because our constitution stipulates that all revenues collected by the Federal Government should go to the Federation Account.
Obasanjo still went ahead presumably because the account would, at least ostensibly, enable the country save for rainy days.The account peaked around $20 billion in January 2007.
The logic for saving excess crude revenue, according to the CBN is that the oil sector is highly volatile when one considers the past experience of oil boom and reckless spending of the 70s which caused depression around 1978 and forced the country to start borrowing. That incident also ushered in the famous austerity measure and the rate of abandoned projects when the oil price crashed with nothing to fall back on as the country did not save for the rainy day.
However, the illegality of the Excess Crude Oil Account and the uses it is put into, are among issues everyone talked about, and yet nobody did anything about them. For years Nigerians, including the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), noted the illegality, but no action followed.
At one time a member of the House of Representatives condemned the National Economic Council's approval of an illegal removal of $5.3 billion from the Excess Crude Oil Account purportedly for emergency power projects under Late President Umaru Yar'adua.
Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon pointed out the illegality saying that the withdrawal violated Section 162 (3) of the Constitution which states:

"Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the local government councils in each State on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.
"More elaborate provisions are in Section 80 (1)
"All revenues or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this Constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and from one Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
(2) No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation except to meet expenditure that is charged upon the fund by this Constitution or where the issue of Appropriation Act or an Act passed in pursuance of section 81 of this Constitution.(3) No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of the moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.
(4) No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.
"Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, a member of the National Economic Council, equally condemned the retention of the illegal account from which he aided the award of $5.3 billion to the Federal Government.
He, like other Governors, usurped the powers of State Assemblies to allocate state funds for expenditure in Sections 120 and 121.Like General Ibrahim Babangida's dedicated accounts, the excess crude account was wantonly abused because there is no clear law on how the money should be used.
Between the President and the Governors, they can draw from the account as they please. An account that holds billions of idle dollars will not escape the attention of even an angel.

Today it is finished!
Good riddance?

elsdaniel@yahoo.com
DANIEL ELOMBAH

plaindealer: Why is Gbawe your problem and not the sad realities about your own country swimming in debt and your kids getting bankrupt even before birth...?

dasparrow: How is Gbawe becoming predictable? So because he's trying to make Nairalanders aware that Nigeria is in a big financial mess, that now makes Gbawe anti-GEJ and Pro-ACN agenda? Come on now.

What about YOU Solomon who never admits any of GEJ's wrong doing and all you do all day is try to paint a false picture of the actual situation our dear country Nigeria is in? Are you not one of the laptop crew members who were employed to be GEJ's praise singers online?

@Post

We are in trouble as a nation. Nigeria which way?

Katsumoto: But what do you have to contribute to the article that wasn't written by the OP?

We Would Not Watch Jonathan’s Administration Drag Us Into Bankruptcy, Says ARG-PREMIUM TIMES
Posted: July 4, 2013 - 20:02

By Nnenna Ibeh
The Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, on Thursday demanded that the present administration, headed by President Goodluck Jonathan, be restructured following the administration’s failure to sustain the nation’s economy.

In a statement signed by its publicity Secretary, Kunle Famoriyo, the ARG alleged that the Federal Government has been scampering for funds in light of the nation’s dwindling oil revenues.

The group, while blaming the current administrative structure for the nation’s financial woes, noted that the Federal Government has failed to meet its financial obligations including unpaid arrears and then expressed its concern for states that depend solely on the federal allocation.
Speaking on a recent article Clarifying Nigeria’s Debt Status written by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and circulated in the media, the group criticised her failure to reveal the current status of the nation’s domestic debt while disclosing its foreign debts.

“Few weeks ago, the Finance Minster wrote an article titled, “Clarifying Nigeria’s debt status,” in which she gleefully told us that the country’s foreign debt stands at $6.67 billion (N1 trillion) but she forgot to tell us the current status of our domestic debt which in August 2011, she told us was $42.23 billion (N6.8 trillion). We feared she intentionally left out this detail as the value may be shocking,” Mr. Famoriyo said.

Mr. Famoriyo also expressed his group’s lack of surprise at Ms. Okonjo-Iweala’s admission- while demanding for the passage of an amendment budget to avoid non-payment of worker’s salaries by October- that the multi-billion naira contract awarded to Niger Delta ex-militants to guard petroleum pipes has not paid off. The country now records worse cases of crude oil theft.

Fearing that these are all pointers that the nation’s economy at this time is unsustainable, Mr. Famoriyo demanded that the governing structure that has so far allowed profligacy and unmitigated corruption be pulled down now to make way for a Sovereign National Conference which, according to him, will bring about efficient and transparent management of the country’s resources.

“We dare say that the time is now because we would not stand by and watch Jonathan’s administration drag all of us into bankruptcy. Finance minister reportedly complained that NNPC has refused to be accountable to the nation, what more portrays ineptitude?” he asked.

He further called on patriotic Nigerians to join the group in demanding for a restructuring of the present administration so that citizens can live good, healthy and productive life, in a country where no man is oppressed.

Clearly, the South-west holds the ace in the 2015 election. As a geo-political bloc, it is more cohesive than any other zone. [b]But the popular sentiment is that the zone has had its “turn”. And before Joe Igbokwe and his fellow travellers raise their voice in righteous indignation, let’s note that this is what bourgeois politics is all about. So APC has to look toward other zones. Apart from Imo, all the other states in the South-east zone (just like the South-south minus Edo State) are PDP or pro-PDP/Jonathan. The likes of Prof. Pat Utomi, Senator Chris Ngige and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu will have an uphill task making an impression in the zone much less in other parts of the country.

There is little chance that the APC can make any impact in the North if it picks a presidential candidate outside the three zones in the North. Nasir el Rufai has repeatedly said he is not interested in any elective post. So that leaves us with Gen. Buhari (retd), Nuhu Ribadu, Audu Ogbeh and Alhaji Shekarau. These are viable candidates and reputable men who have made their mark nationally. However, Gen. Buhari stands out simply because he has a cult following in the North (at least the “core” North) which, if properly harnessed, will stymie any assault by the PDP (particularly, a much-weakened and divided PDP) in the zone.

The last man standing is Babatunde Raji Fashola, the popular, young and dynamic governor of Lagos State. So what do we say about a Buhari/Fashola pairing for 2015? That looks like an ideal choice for APC moving forward. Fashola will draw the crowd that APC needs in the South-west while Gen. Buhari will do same in the North. And with the mounting influence of Owelle Rochas Okorocha, the APC can make an inroad in the South-east. Gov. Fashola will complement Gen. Buhari in every area and offer the steady hands and moderating influence of a budding statesman that will give Nigeria the kind of leadership it truly deserves.[/b]

The only snag, some would say, is that it is a Muslim/Muslim ticket. But we have travelled this road before and it is nothing new. Agreed that this is not June 12, 1993, but we can draw some parallels between 1993 and now and between the APC and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) from which MKO Abiola and his running mate, Babagana Kingibe, emerged.

plaindealer: FG created the conducive atmosphere? Very laughable and definitely not in Lagos. Infact, they created antagonistic and negative atmosphere from blocking the state at every turn from progressing and developing.

Their civilian and military administrators practically destroyed Lagos state that by 1999, the sate was dirty with rotten and neglected state and federal infrastructures and almost unlivable.

The FG blocked the Metro rail Lagos state is spending 3 times the cost on 30 years ago, they denied the state funds for years, FG infrastructures in the state is still rubbish and unmaintained and when the state show up to carry out maintenance, the block and antagonize again and the ones the state fixed,they are yet to collect over N50 billion in refund, they blocked the state's first IPP and basically stunted the state's economic progress that manifested companies leaving the state for neighboring countries because of poor power supply, they objected to the state's effort to reconstruct the Lagos badagry expressway, they initially said no to Eko Atlantic, they prevented the state from participating in the power privatization scheme, they won't even grant Lagos state the special status they've been lobbying for.

In fact, the FG is the state's number one enemy of progress and if not for focused and dedicated leaders Lagos state is blessed with, Lagos go still dey inside shalanga and the FG won't care or lift a finger..

django1: Gbawe you're underestimating the powers of awon 'arije ni di modaru'

Pukkah: The feedback I've been getting is also along that line.

But I have a concern about the determination of some backward individuals who want to frustrate his second term. And I've been asking myself, 'I hope there's no jinx or curse on this state'.

How can anyone in his right senses be trying tofrustrate this kind of man? Lam Adesina's tenure was lack lustre. Ladoja's was sleepy and Akala's was not memorable.

Now, here comes a man that hit the ground running and some people want to frustrate him.

Built2last: Front page please..let the debate continue...tribal e-warriors should keep off...lets concentrate on the way forward.

toshmann: I hear the Lagos governor is doing great. That's okay. But our people don't even know where we are supposed to be.

With the size and strength of Lagos, Lagos should be the 5th or at least the 6th largest economy in Africa. After Nigeria, (corruption)
South Africa, (not bad for now)
Egypt( chaos, distatorship?)
Congo (war, corruption, dictatorship)
Lagos ( should be # 5)

Well, better late than never

plaindealer: I don't exchange negativity and negative pleasantries, I'm sure there are other negative folks on NL to share your sadness and negativity with and if agbero us lagos is troubling your life and driving you crazy, iron out your issues with them instead of all the insults and anti social comments.

I don't wee the sense and pride in telling people to give you credit for their advancement, if you seriously feel that way, when are you going to start doing yourself the same favor, develop your own land and get the same positive news everyday? Don't you want to develop too?

Why is it so hard for you people to get past this anger, bickering and needless bitterness?

Omexonomy: idiota.just say thanks to the igbos.

http://lakepointlimited.com/promoters.asp?pid=6

https://www.lakepointlimited.com/images/tobinewpic2.jpg
Mr. Oluwatobi Osinowo


Mr. Oluwatobi Osinowo is a developer and entrepreneur. He is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lake Point Limited. Mr. Osinowo is a graduate of Economics from the University of Jos, Nigeria.

He also holds a Masters degree in Business Administration with emphasis in banking and finance from the ESUT Business School.

In 2002, He became an alumnus of Lagos Business School (Pan African University) having completed its Chief Executive Program, Tobi is also a member of the Oxford University Business Alumni (Oxford UK). Over the years, he has attended several professional and executive education programmes in institutions such as Harvard Graduate School of Design/Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, University of Navarra (IESE) Barcelona, Spain, Euromoney Training, Financial Times Property Conferences (UK), Henry Stewart Property Development Master Class (UK) and several leadership, project management and general management courses in Lagos Business School.

He has over 20 years post qualification experience. Prior to starting Lake Point Limited, he worked with African Petroleum Plc (former British Petroleum), First Capital Group - a financial consulting firm and Universal Building Society - a primary mortgage institution.

In 1995, Tobi founded Axial Ventures Limited – A financial advisory brokerage services firm. Axial Ventures under his leadership provided advisory services to a number of businesses ranging from multinationals to financial institutions across different industries in Nigeria.