₦airaland Forum

WebSurfer:
sharap there... The public thieves must not go free

My brother can you please try to be civil in getting your point across? There is a limit to the patience of the masses at this rate it won't be long till they get tired of hearing the same thing.

billyG:
they hav not added gej kick back.

So in your opinion, by adding kick backs the figures would rise from 13.6 billion NGN to the over 400billion NGN?

Ask yourself how much is assigned as security vote to the ONSA in the budget of change.

The answer: 57billuon NGN

Probes here and there, there is an inherent danger in doing too much or having your hands full at a time, I hope this government doesn't keep the country stagnant these coming 3 years and 4 months.

The real questions should be, are the companies competent? are they credible? Will they evade paying taxes etc. The real corruption to me is awarding an asset like that (huge plus located in deep waters) to an individual company malabu oil, with no proven evidence of experience etc. So they should rather be fixated on who awarded that contract in 1999 rather than who worked out an amicable solution.

Look anyone who is knowledgeable about the oil industry will tell you that this move is a no-brainer.
The asset in question was awarded to an indigeneous firm and since 1996? or so they have been unable to do nothing, or do you all think exploring or drilling in deep waters is a business for a novice indigeneous coy or even our NNPC? Shell already has the expertise and i think provide the technical experts on this project. Everyone knows our government has been battling even to meet cash call obligations these past years. And you find people who are willing to invest and all you can think of is to retrieve the asset. I think there is a clause shielding the companies from litigation on this particular deal.

They better rethink the multiplier effect of this action, both companies (shell and eni) are credible, technically competent and will effectively manage that asset paying their taxes and royalties in the process. Retrieving the asset from them will send a very bad signal out there, and will be a sort of deterrent to other would be foreign investors. Already there are complaints of lack of working systems here (one government cancelling agreements legally entered into by her predecessor), plus over-regulation and interference by governments plus the multiple fronts our governments use to extort money from them, 85% taxes on profits, rotalties, JV or PSC payments, partnership for sustainable developments etc.

Already a lot of companies have designated Nigeria as high risk, and making attempts to limit their exposure so its left for us to continue on the ego or power trip.

PS: conocophillips pulled out of Nigeria a few years ago and till date the brass lng project has still been on a standstill.

All I know is that every government or corporation around the world, sets her priorities in line with current realities at the time, and also in taking decisions people face tradeoffs.

BP the great had her assets seized in Nigeria and became the African Petroleum and today what do we have, a rubbish business that was finally sold out as peanuts.

Let he who can see the big picture, ensure this government is properly guided.

HiddenShadow:
Let's tell ourselves the truth. Jonathan did a wise thing of stepping down peacefully.
If he had not done so, Buhari's herds of zombies would not have believed that Buhari is a brainless President.

That was the silver lining i got out of the events of the 2015 elections.

Micuilles:
That's why the revamp of Lagos-warri-ajaokuta rail route which is over 60% done. That way, produced materials can be easily transported to the west where car assembling companies & other companies can access it. GEJ has not done badly in my opinion. Only his media team is terrible. He means well, & did much despite the distractions from the Northeast.

That was his only sin coupled with being a minority else the man made strides in virtually every area, some errors here and there but then lets hope current government gets over their macabre dance and settle into governance. Although if i hire a ceo to turn around the fortunes of my company, 8 months for setting up or settling in isn't a luxury that I would ever give him.

One year, going... going... going...gone

wirinet:
You did not respond to my submission that the main reason the governors were on war path with the FG's creation of the excess crude account was the lack of trust and transparency on the part of the FG. You cannot be comfortable with someone who you mistrust holding your money.

You have a point in explaining the hike in public expenditure under Jonathan, but what you stated is only half the reason. Corruption accounted for up to half of the reason Jonathan was unable to save. There was massive corruption in the fuel and kerosene subsidy regime, so much so that the cost of subsidizing petrol and diesel was almost half our national budget, and it was not budgeted for by the national assembly. Then there was was the import waiver regime where Okonjo Iweala made Nigeria lose hundreds of billions of naira in subsidy waivers for such stupid items like rice, luxury cars and even oil imports. The NNPC could not account for how much crude it sold and how much it remitted. There is customs, NLNG, immigration and even CBN, all these agencies were not remitting money to the FG.

Amico, most of these components you mention pale in significance as against the amount frittered at the CBN, On the issue of subsidy I will give you an account which you might have never come across, do you realize that the challenge with subsidy arose in 2010/2011 and as at then we had a cabal running the system, and what did happen was that along the line, the acting president got into the system in the midst of this debacle, where people were making subsidy claims here and there (2010 =NGN 673bn, 2011 = NGN1.3 trillion revised to NGN2.19trillion), and what did the young president do? he called for a cancellation of the subsidy, his reasons being that there was a cabal that was holding the nation to ransom, but some people gathered in Lagos, called themselves an SNG, leading the occupy Nigeria protests and the rest you know . I will stop here, dinner calls
That administration wasn't as bad as they made a lot of us feel, NNPC 49 or 20 billion USD is a matter for another discussion etc.

wirinet:
Yes the excess crude account is unconstitutional. It is not the sharing of the excess crude account that was the main problem of the governors, it was the unilateral withdrawals by the Jonathan's administration without permission from the governors that caused mistrust between the FG and states. Nobody could trust Okonjo Iweala and Jonathan with their share of federal allocations.

The governors share of the excess crude account is only about 24% while the FG's share is about 52%, why did the FG andnot save some of the FG's share in a special account for the rainy day. Was it the states that was responsible for the FG not being able to save it own share of allocation and still run a deficit budget?

I will make a few pointers here, how much was the minimum wage at the time compared to other administrations? How much was the budget say compared to 1999 or earlier? How much was the corpers allowances compared to other administrations? How much was spent by the cbn in defending the naira over the period? Just to add expenses skyrocketed with the price of oil so in the actual sense we can not say that the jonathan administration was hugely at am advantage compared to other administrations. Based on your response and if you are interested, i could give you links to the activities of a one time cbn governor, as well as post a chart showing the comparison of global growth and oil price so you see that they are hugely proportional. (Growth is proportional to spending and other economic activities).

OrlandoOwoh:
Crap.

Hehehe

Could the mods kindly take this to the frontpage.

Sealeddeal:
are people still blaming Kemi Adeosun after reading the above article?
Is it not clear that Buhari has set her up? In fact,if this revelation is anything to go by,it is clear that nobody,be it Iweala or Soludo can do more than Adeosun in this present set-up.
Buhari is playing god but it is nigerians that will bear the brunt of his mischievious attitude to important issues.

Left for him he would have picked all his aides and ministers from within the "katsina mafia".

MKKO:
Yes Nigeria will be great again. Today i join Nairaland after 4years of visiting the site.

You are highly welcome on board bro.

Relic2020:
My problem with some yorubas is they have a very strong tendency to be sentimental beyond the confines of reason. I read response the other day where a fellow smugy said...whether she is qualified or not, whether the economy crumbles or not, she must finish her tenure. I couldn't believe it. What most of us are saying...objectively is; they are hundrends of experienced yoruba men and women around the world who can fill in that position if it most be zoned to SW...doesn't have to Mrs. Adeosun.

Well said Brother, it is a people that are alive that will go on to talk about tenure, right now we are battling for survival and should have the best at the helm of affairs only after then should we be seen talking about zoning and any associated balderdash.

Omotolu:
That Kemi is too young and inexperienced to be a Minister of Finance. I won't be surprised if she is "doing" a top gun in Ogun State to have got that position.

The timing was very wrong, she is coming at a time when we need all the experience and clout we can get.

dearpreye:
Change the system, NOT the players.

The cardinal has spoken the minds of the average sane Nigerian.

Actually the problems of this nation go well beyond the Presidency but since the APC is in power, it must assume total responsibility for all the current challenges.

Let the APC demonstrates it's seriousness in rescuing Nigeria by having a sincere look at the recommendations of the 2014 Confab and go ahead to implement them.

We need deep rooted solutions, NOT surface solutions.

The system is the problem.....the main problem.

Exactly bro the system has been designed to fail from the onset, we really need to get to the roots to solve these challenges.

Keneking:
Did OBJ, Late Yar'Adua and Jonathan not run a one-man show? Has the government failed in meeting its financial obligations so far? Has the budget been passed? Are you aware that the government's part of spend in the fiscal year is "zero based budget approach"?

Agreed, oil prices have been forecasted to be extremely low this year, where is the saving all these years? Can Okonjo and Soludo tell us where it is?

Zero based websites or BMW's or provision of recreational facilities?
My brother this is a government of "change" and should not be seen as exhibiting any of those your alleged tendencies of past administrations. Sadly your sai baba's "one-man-showship" is even worse, who ran a government for months with just a photographer(bayo omoboriowo) and 2 media aides ( garba and femi)? Who referred to ministers as noisemakers? Answer these honestly plus we need to ask a certain cbn governor how $117billion was used in his tenure to stabilise our currency.

Keneking:
Must it be Ngozi or Charles always?

Let us try another hand and approach to financial management. At least better than having our local Chartered Accountants mount this portfolio.

She is young and can prove her mettle.

The article raises several salient issues such as issues of responsibility, monitoring budget implementation, increased bureaucracy and the possibility of a one-man show amongst others. Can we just see that this goes beyond a soludo or iweala or adeosun.
Very soon some will come here talking about a low oil price, forgetting that your approach to a problem is important, and also that prices were low and forecasted to go lower and stay lower for longer, even during the campaign days.

What was the essence of putting the economy on a standstill for several months just to appoint ministers.

With the slow speed at which the president is taking to address issues in all facets so far, we should be expecting the government to come up with an idea when we must have already been dead economically or come out stronger by our own doggedness and resilience (medicine after death).

I

blizard44:
I don't know about these finance and budgetary guys but I know that this show of shame won't and can never have me in anytime, anyday...

If he wanted, he ought to have held to the ministries like he did petroleum instead of making a joke of seasoned professionals.

I'd rather go the Obj-Okonjo way to save my reputation.

I am of the opinion they knew what they were signing up for, when your boss already refers to you as a "do-nothing noisemaker" what then are you expecting?

By running this show for months where permanent secretaries had to line up, one after the other for briefing gave a feel of one of those high-handed sovereign rulers africa became cursed with immediately post independence.

DID PRESIDENT BUHARI REDUCE MINISTER OF FINANCE, KEMI ADEOSUN, TO A GLORIFIED FIGUREHEAD?

On the 11th of November 2015, Nigeria welcomed a Federal Executive Council as President Buhari formally admitted his new 36 member cabinet and assigned their portfolios. The president also reduced the number ministries to 24 from 32 by merging certain ministries and eliminating others. Nigerians lauded these moves which the President has pushed as a way of reducing expenditures after suggesting that Nigeria is broke.
Despite this positive step, some have questioned President Buhari’s moves, one of which is his decision to remove the budgeting processes from the Ministry of Finance, and to create an independent Ministry of Budget and Planning. Having these two ministries split is certainly not peculiar to Nigeria as there are a few countries around the world, like the United States and Australia who operate this sort of system. However, the difference is that these countries are better developed and have stronger institutions, accountability and transparency which leads to smoother coordination in the budgeting process. But in a country like Nigeria with weak institutions, dividing two functions that are part and parcel of the same thing is a possible recipe for disaster that might result in a dysfunctional and inefficient system — something Nigeria can certainly not afford that at this point.
Some developed countries like South Korea have attempted to split their finance ministry at some point, but after realizing that both are better under one roof, moved to merge the ministries. In 2008, the government of South Korea joined the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPB) to create the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) in order to put fiscal policy functions and inter-ministerial policy coordination under one roof. In countries where these twin ministries are run parallel to each other, the decision to split is mainly political, usually because the president intends to weaken the ministry of finance and control more of its functions. Is this the actual intention of President Buhari?

President Olusegun Obasanjo, attempted a similar move during his tenure when he opted to shift the office of budget to the presidency. This move was not welcomed by the country’s former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as she tendered her resignation in defiance. Now, President Buhari has succeeded in splitting the ministry leaving a number of questions unanswered. Who will be in charge of developing the macroeconomic framework that underpins the budget — the ministry of finance, or the ministry of budget? Also, who will have oversight over the budget execution?
Another unclear move by the president is his decision to place an relatively inexperienced person like Kemi Adeosun in the critical role of a finance minister. Considering the significance of the ministry of finance, one would expect a more seasoned candidate for a position responsible for the countries finances, macroeconomic outlook. Analysts have also commented on the fact that Adeosun is to work solo without a junior minister of state. This move by President Buhari has been described as a “first class blunder” by one of our contributors, Bayo Adeyinka who suggests that Adeosun lacks the pedigree of Nigeria’s former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the gravitas of Charles Soludo, former CBN governor. Foreign media and financial experts have also questioned if she is capable of engaging international financial organizations and multilateral agencies effectively.
Adeosun might have a strong background in the UK’s private financial sector, and also a few years of experience as the Commissioner of Finance of Ogun state, but federal politics is a completely different game. Nigeria’s economic growth has slowed due to oil price drops, stringent but unclear monetary policy, and an economic policy that has been adrift since Buhari’s ascension to power. Now the country has a seemingly weak Minister of Finance — who has been stripped of an essential role such as budget planning and execution — expected to bring some sanity to the chaos. But without the tool of budgeting in her arsenal, the minister of finance is hampered in managing the fiscal imperatives of the economy.
According to an investor and financial expert who wished to remain anonymous, “the removal of the Budget Office from the Ministry of Finance is a huge mistake. A decision that seems motivated by a desire to whittle down the office of the Minister of Finance given the status of the previous minister, and less out of a genuine desire to actively manage fiscal policy in the government.”

On the other hand, President Buhari’s nomination of Udo Udoma, a strong and respected former senator as the Minister of Budget and National Planning seems to be a winning move. As a former Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Judiciary, Banking and Currency, Udoma has experience working with budgeting and the ministry of finance. He was also the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission which brings experience with and understanding of financial markets. However, Udoma cannot run the whole budgeting process by himself which raises the question of whether or not the new ministry has the skilled professionals needed for the kind of strategic budgeting the country requires. If the answer is no, then this move could also pose a systemic risk as decisions in this ministry are taken without a full understanding of the interconnectedness of numerous economic variables.
Menachem Katz, a financial expert and former IMF country director for Nigeria explained that the system of public service in Nigeria is such that it doesn’t allow for specialization, hence there is a dearth of well-trained economists within the economic team. Civil service staff are constantly moved around randomly preventing skills development and knowledge accumulation in specific areas or policy sectors. In developed countries such as the UK, ministries are run and staffed by skilled professionals in that particular space. There are also university to government pipelines where the government selects the best students from prestigious universities like Oxford and Cambridge to train and retain. “As long as they do not have such a system in Nigeria, the whole budget process will remain weak,” said Katz.
The finance minister and the minister of budget and national planning will have to harmonise goals and operations – albeit in separate ministries – if they are to get anything done. The finance ministry needs the Ministry of Budget to actively plan. The budgeting ministry needs the Ministry of Finance to effectively disburse funding according to its mandates. What happens if they don’t coordinate and they each try to extend their roles to make sure that they are in charge? In such a scenario, clearly the stronger person is bound to take charge, which in this case is Senator Udoma. This leaves Kemi Adeosun as a manager of parastatals that are already independently run by equally strong individuals – Nigerian Customs Service, the Federal Inland Revenue Service — and boxed in by equally substantial ministers at Trade and Investments, and Petroleum (run by the president himself, with the assistance of Ibe Kachukwu).

But if Adeosun is no pushover, and does not succumb to the looming pressure around her, it means President Buhari has successfully created a battlefield within his executive council. Or maybe not. If Udoma and Adeosun refuse to act with professional maturity and actually get work done, they’ll have to run to the President for his resolution of every point of conflict — which is perhaps what the president intends. This means that while some Nigerians are busy calling the move to separate the budgeting and finance ministries a blunder, it might well be an intentional one. President Buhari might be building a system in which he remains the final authority over finance, budget and national planning, leaving both ministers as glorified figureheads. The problem with this strategy is that if the president is busy, as his office often demands, things get stuck and nothing gets done. Whatever the intention, removing the ministry of budget and planning from the finance ministry without a carefully deliberated plan, does have grave implications for Nigeria’s economy.
Hadassah Egbedi
November 23, 2015

Sourced:
http://venturesafrica.com/features/president-buhari-just-might-have-reduced-nigerias-finance-minister-kemi-adeosun-to-a-glorified-figurehead/


Ladies and gentlemen, while we were basking over the hocus pocus of the delays in cabinet nomination, I think we missed the points highlighted in the above article, some of the concerns which are already becoming evident from the evidence of the past few weeks (2016 budget and the "alleged fiasco" from the UAE bilateral agreements signing) had made me go back and have a look at this article.

Lets deliberate.

Mods please kindly assist

onojiwizardgmailcom:
I don't think Kemi Adeseoun is controlling the economy, she is does not have free hand to run the economic policies of the country. if you look at what we know so far about the budget, you will see clearly that she did not have any control of the process, this to me is quite serious.

Yes Buhari might/might have not known what he was doing when he removed the powers of budgeting from the minister of finance and handed it to a new ministry of budget headed by Senator Udoma.
This is an interesting read below:
http://venturesafrica.com/features/president-buhari-just-might-have-reduced-nigerias-finance-minister-kemi-adeosun-to-a-glorified-figurehead/

Political expediency! !!

Kikero112:
Diversification unfortunately is not that easy......and it takes time.

As for Buhari investing in new oil priojects in Chad....probably thinks that if we increase the no of barrels we produce....we might be able to get more money despite the low price.(But on the negative side....oil gushing in the NE= Lower oil prices.).

Buhari did spend more on educaiton. This is important. Improving education is key to diversification.

Yea bro, no one expects to instantly wake up to a diversified economy, but then we need to see the intent and desire.

On the issue of exploration, exploration in reality does not lead to increased production in the short term. I believe it is a good thing, but would also assert that politics is a major driver for that project, because our priority at the moment should have been to step up the work on most projects that are already in the developmental phase to be able to increase our production. This is clearly not what we get from exploring in the chad basin that will require several years before the production of oil.

I do hope you are having a great weekend.

wirinet:
You people always find a way to blame other tribes but quick to make excuses for your own for errors done by all. The financial sector was in the hands of your tribesmen/women during the last government and they messed up big time, you are now attempting to shift blames on a yoruba woman that had hardly been finance minister for 2 months. So according to your wrapped blame searching logic, Kemi Adeosun is to be blamed for Nigeria's fiscal and monetary policies, and she is also in charge of Nigerian security exchange. Emefiele and onyema now report to the finance minister according to some ethnic bigots? To them an Igbos public office can never do wrong while public officers from other tribes can never do right.

I have no idea what you are talking about, when are you going to outgrow this "we against them" mentality you are exhibiting. For your information I am your prime example of a "de-tribalized" human.

Have a great weekend Amico.
Ciao

Gbawe:
I must ask, what the eff are you talking about? You are the one who is clueless about the economy. There is not much Buhari and the APC can do, in the short term, that will give the miracle results only ignorant and mainly prejudiced folks clamour for because of our peculiar economic vulnerability and challenges, worsened by the GEJ I am sure you supported, you guys are simply failing to acknowledge. Britain for example is still recovering from the 'credit crunch' of many years ago and I watched a few days ago as the UK CBN governor explained that interest rate will stay at the record low 0.5% it had been running at for 7 years !!!!! The opinion is that the British economy is still not 'robust' enough to continue recovering if interest rate rose.

If a country with Britain's economic options and flexibility is still carefully managing its economy many, many years after the credit crunch then what manner of miracles are you unreasonable folks expecting from Buhari and the APC in months given our challenges and unique situation which makes Nigeria one of the most, if not the most economically disadvantaged nation in the world currently? What abracadabra do you want to see for our mono economy with oil selling for $27.00 per barrel while our SME sector is moribund and our infrastructural stock is near worthless?

As one example, if electricity supply was not improved appreciably when GEJ sold oil at $110.00 per barrel is it sensible to be screaming at Buhari and the APC about lack of electricity when oil is selling at $27.00 per barrel and we our struggling to pay salary and fund our recurrent expenses? What is wrong with you guys? Constructive criticism is good but there is non of that in your talk and that of others like you. Instead I only note ignorant, petty, illogical and completely banal talk motivated by a very obvious agenda you and others will never admit to yet such is crystal clear and putridly offensive.

Having just returned from a long journey and fagged out,I will only be able to respond to your first sentence as the others I see as unwarranted and serving no purpose: could you please be kind enough to cast your mind back a few days, to the article Nigeria's economic downturn, an act of God where Oyegun says:

“We are in the process of organising a three-day dialogue which will bring the party, government and stakeholders for an exposition on the realities facing the country, particular the economy. It will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas so that we go home with a clear direction on how to go forward.”

If this is not a subtle indictment of "cluelessness", then I wonder what it is.

Have a great weekend Amico

Ciao

asEdeyHOT:
The Central Bank is independent

Illiterate!

Brother, seems you derive joy in insulting others, educationally I am afraid you may never be able to catch up... if only you know what I mean, have a great day and I wish you a joy filled weekend.

kaboninc:
No brother,

The CBN is a body on its own and supervised (their accounts only) by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.

The SEC is also a body on its own too.

Alright bro, I will look into the decrees 3 and 4, because some websites i consulted gave me the impression of dependence.

Kikero112:
Thanks to the fact that until 2014.....we had sustained high oil prices....and were budgeting at a lower benchmark.

The problem was that we did not save the surplus.

If oil prices had crashed during GEJ's regime...say 2012....we would have had deficits.

And GEJ still borowed , inspite of that. Not exactly good economic practice.



Considering the fact that oil prices are at a six year low of $28...something which GEJ never had to contend with....the fact remains that we are an oil dependent economy, and when prices crash....we have to borrow to keep the books balanced. And while buhari should hurry up and diversify.....diversification takes a long time. GEJ's agric minister was a godsend(and his nomination to the big continental job was backed by both PDP and APC )....BUT he was only able to get us to no5 in cocoa production.....and nowhere in ground-nuts, cotton and palm oil.(Palm oil where we used to be no 1).

In other words.....the borrowing is not because of bad economic practice....it is because our hands were forced by the low oil price....and by PDP's failure.....and here I also bash OBJ and Yaradua....for not diversifying our economy when we had high oil price.(In other words....they repeated the mistakes of 1970's).Another reason is GEJ's failure to save (thanks partly to the governors....most of whom were from his party anyways)...but even if GEJ had saved ......he would have delayed the problem we face now till 2017.

Brother, from the budget we should be able to have an inkling at the inclinations of the administration, and I am afraid on this one diversification is not on the table. When agriculture ministry has her budget slashed massively , ministry of science and technology has her budget slashed as well and petroleum exploration in the chad basin alone stands to get 37billion NGN what diversification are we talking about. Maybe the 3rd year into the administration (how sure are we after oil prices may have been on the way to recovery) because the fourth year will be for elections preparations.

We shall fight corruption to a standstill but by then only God knows what would remain of our economy. A relationship should be symbiotic but in this scenario that the "noisemakers" sorry experts have even realized to be parasitic, then we should ask whose interests our president serves.

What shall it profit Nigeria if she does all the charade about corruption (selective) but the citizens go to bed hungry with no shelter over their heads while waiting for osibanjo's immediate relief jobs that never came, plus millions of jobs that were promised but instead sacks are materialising. I could go on but...