₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government on Thursday released N300bn for capital projects for the third quarter of the year.

The N300bn, according to the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, brings the total release for capital projects so far to N704bn under the 2012 national budget. She said this at a media briefing in Abuja.

The amount was part of the capital votes of ministries, departments and agencies. The budget has a N1.5tn provision for capital projects.

Members of the House of Representatives had asked the President to achieve 100 per cent implementation of the budget before September 18 or face impeachment proceedings.

Before resolving to issue an ultimatum to the President, the House had in its July 19 sitting condemned the poor implementation of the 2012 budget, lamenting that as of July the budget had achieved a mere 34 per cent performance.

Our correspondent says the release of the N300bn was mostly likely an attempt by the administration to stave off impeachment. The amount is significantly higher than the budget releases for each of the first two quarters of 2012.

Reacting to the new release of funds from Saudi Arabia where he had gone for the lesser hajj, Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed,on Thursday, said, “It is in order.”

Asked whether the release would soften the hearts of the Reps against the President, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor, told The PUNCH, “Definitely.”

But Okonjo-Iweala while addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday explained that the budget was being managed in a way that would enhance the best interest of Nigerians.

The minister said that a lot of progress had been made in the utilisation of the capital votes by MDAs.

For instance, she said that as of June, only 56 per cent of the N404bn that was released at that time was utilised by the MDAs.

This, she noted, had increased to 65.4 per cent as of the end of July.

She added that the ministry had observed a remarkable increase in the utilisation rate of the capital votes of MDAs and that with the N300bn that was released, Nigerians would begin to see a remarkable improvement in capital projects.

The minister said, “As of the end of June, utilisation by the various MDAs of the N404bn was 56 per cent. Now as of the end of July, it was 65.4 per cent utilisation and this is the number we are happy to give to you. The MDAs have stepped up their utilisation rate.

“We had earlier released N404bn, with this additional N300bn, that brings us to N704bn which is about 53 per cent of the annual capital budget of N1.36tn.

“We should note that based on what we had released before which was N404bn, utilisation of that had got up to 56 per cent at the end of June. And on top of that, we are now releasing this additional N300bn for the third quarter.”

Okonjo-Iweala stated that transparency and prudence remained the key priorities of the Federal Government in the management of the 2012 budget. She expressed satisfaction with the performance of the budget which she said was not surprising because last year’s budget was extended till March 31st this year.

She, however, assured that with the early commencement of budget 2013, its implementation would end by December 2013.

The minister also disclosed that salaries were being paid as of when due, adding that all federal civil servants were expected to receive their August salaries by today (Thursday) to enable the Muslims to have their salaries for the sallah celebrations.

In moving against the President over the alleged poor implementation of the budget in July, the House had noted that only N324bn of the N404bn released so far for capital projects had been cash-backed in July.

The House spokesman had said, “This was the grouse of the House. We are in the seventh month, going to the eighth month of the year; out of N1.5tn, you have cash-backed only N324bn. That is not good enough; that is the point that is being made. The budget performance is not encouraging.”

Similarly, the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government had been passing the buck of the poor performance of the 2012 budget to the Minister of Finance, accusing her of reluctance to release adequate funds to finance capital projects.

The agencies had complained that although some funds were released, they were insufficient for the award of contracts as required by the Public Procurement Act.

The PUNCH had on August 7 reported that discreet complaints by top government officials to the lawmakers had initially triggered the anger of the House against the President.

Ogor noted that the N330bn release was a “demonstration that Jonathan is prepared to collaborate with the legislature for the overall good of the country.”

He said, “It is a step in the right direction that they are releasing funds for capital projects. The capital budget is the budget of the people; that is how they get infrastructure and social amenities, not recurrent budget.

“We are not asking them to give us contracts; our demand is that they should execute capital projects so that our people can feel the impact of government.”

He added that the House was not fighting the President but that “we are only performing our constitutional duties of pointing out errors when things are not going the right way.”

LONG fuel queues have resurfaced in most of the petrol stations in Abuja and its environs, due to non-payment of subsidy claims to oil marketers by the Federal Government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that there were long queues of vehicles in some petrol stations in Abuja, on Wednesday, while others were locked.

The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) had earlier warned that there would be fuel scarcity if their claims were not paid.

Accordingly, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farms Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) gave similar warning.

The associations, on Wednesday, gave the warning in an advertorial, entitled “Warning of Imminent Fuel Crises in Nigeria.”

They called on the Ministry of Finance to pay their legitimate subsidy claims within seven days or risk fuel supply crises.

MOMAN’s executive secretary, Mr Obafemi Olawore, told NAN that its members were yet to be paid subsidy claims for the year, despite assurances from the Federal Government.

He appealed to government to immediately pay their claims, so as to avoid fuel crises.

However, Mr Ibrahim Isa, the station manager of Conoil petrol station, Central Area, said the queues started building up on Tuesday, due to the inability to get petroleum product from the Suleja depot.

He attributed the scarcity to the strike by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and other unions over non-payment of their claims.

Mr Boniface Agla, a civil servant, criticised the long queues of vehicles in petrol stations in different parts of the country and called on the NNPC to address the problem.

Reacting, the Federal Government said the fuel queues witnessed in some petrol stations in Abuja was instigated by indicted oil marketers.

Addressing the media, shortly after the July meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Lawan Yerima Ngama, disclosed that the claim that some marketers had embarked on strike because government had failed to pay them for fuel import was not accurate.

According to him, the true position was that the Federal Government had been meeting its obligations to oil marketers in respect of all legitimate claims.

The minister claimed that between April and May, batches D/12 and E/12 involving 14 oil marketers with a claim of N17 billion were fully settled, through the issuance of sovereign debt notes and other relevant documentation.

Ngama said since the directive by the Coordina-tinmg Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Oko-njo-Iweala, to the DMO to continue payments of all verified claims, N25.6 billion worth of claims had been fully settled with the issuance of sovereign debt notes.

He stated further that between April and August, in respect of 2012 petrol claims, sovereign debt notes amounting to N42.666 billion had been issued to 31 oil marketers.

Stallion77: Good development.

Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria: We Commend Pastor Tunde Bakare to 2 Timothy 2:24

Our attention has been drawn to Pastor Tunde Bakare's comments over the weekend on the person of President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. Sadly, his comments were replete with ad hominem attacks and insults against the first family. Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria (CHAIN) is glad that the first family have chosen not to respond to Pastor Bakare in kind but to be guided by the principles taught by Christ which center on tolerance in the face of provocation.

Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria, however wishes to make known that while we respect Pastor Tunde Bakare, we do not wannt the impression created that he's soeaking for the body of Christ in Nigeria. We are immensely grateful to Pastor Tunde Bakare that he conceded in his sermon that the "God factor" made President Jonathan President. Seeing as he admits this, we would like to commend Numbers 23:8 to Pastor Bakare which says as follows "How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?".

We are also appreciative of the fact that Pastor Tunde Bakare said  any agenda to "balkanize the nation would fail". It is curious however that Pastor Tunde Bakare never thought it wise to make such a comment in all the multiple times that Boko Haram threatened the unity of Nigeria but rather chose to make this prayer in respect of the so called 'Ogoni Declaration of Self Governance' which Mr. President condemns and which the governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi,  has rightly described as treasonable. Are we to take it that Pastor Tunde Bakare is not as concerned with the activities of Boko Haram

Reading Pastor Bakare's comments where he said "Now, it is the turn of Otuoke people, and they are declaring autonomy", we feel it might be pertinent for him to study the map of Nigeria or take a crash course in elementary Nigerian geography because Otuoke is not in Ogoni Land. Otuoke is in Bayelsa state while Ogoni land is in Rivers State. Not to hold a brief for the President, we however do not want to people of Otuoke to think that we support this hasty generalization. Perhaps after soberly considering the statements he made, which libeled a whole community, Pastor Tunde Bakare may think it wise to apologize to the people of Otuoke for maligning them unjustly.

Finally, we appeal to President Jonathan to be open to constructive criticism and take time to consider and learn from constructive  criticism especially coming from a man of God, however, based on our reading of the Holy Bible, Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria does expect that such criticism should be truthful and calculated to help the target grow. Certainly, our reading of the scriptures does not prepare us for intemperate language from a man of God. We wish to say to Pastor Tunde Bakare what the bible says in 2 Timothy 2:24 which is that "And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful."

We note the language that Pastor Bakare chose to use against the President, but as the President is also a Christian well acquainted with the message of self control taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, we urge him to pray for Pastor Tunde Bakare that God in His infinite wisdom would continue to bless him and his and increase him in the knowledge of God.

Pastor Caleb Ma'aji
Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria (CHAIN)