Shock finds in 2017 Budget

Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa, reviews the submissions of the Citizens Wealth Platform (CWP), a civil society partnership programme with the National Assembly, which highlights some strange finds in the 2017 budget.

The process leading to the submission of the 2017 budget estimates by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2016 was less contentious, unlike the previous budget. And with the smooth process witnessed this time around, many expected that the 2017 budget document would be free of the kind of upheavals suffered by the 2016 document.

With the revelations emanating from the first ever Public Hearing on the national budget held from Monday, February 13 to 16, 2017, it is becoming obvious that the budget document is yet to be cured of the perennial challenges.

The 2016 budget session was rancorous and untidy. It started with the missing budget saga and then ended with the unresolved issue of padding.  Many watchers of the government attributed it to a learning process associated with the Zero Budgeting policy of the Buhari government and the fact that ministers assumed duties less than a month to the budget presentation.

Notwithstanding the fact that such factors were absent in the 2017 session, the ills of the budget still remain manifest. The National Assembly had, last year, inaugurated a partnership programme with the civil society in an effort aimed at opening up its procedures and ensuring the civil society contributes its quota to governance. And the discoveries this time are offshoots of that collaboration.

At the Public Hearing, the Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, who led the team that worked under the Citizens Wealth Platform (CWP) to review the budget for the National Assembly, said that the committee uncovered some “Frivolous, inappropriate, unclear and wasteful expenditure” in the 2017 Budget, adding that the Platform had discovered some wasteful N151 billion allocation in the budget. In the 143-page document, which immediately formed part of the working document for the Committees on Appropriations, it was discovered that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) duplicated items, and in some cases, included bogus figures in the budget. There were 64 items discovered in all with the total money to be saved amounting to N151,536,674,923( One hundred and fifty one billion, five hundred and thirty six million, six hundred and seventy four thousand, nine hundred and twenty three Naira).

Though the media had initially highlighted some snippets of the strange inclusions in the budget, the bold move through the collaborative effort between National Assembly and the CWP could directly impact on the budget document.

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who inaugurated the joint efforts between the National Assembly and the civil society, last year, indicated at the public hearing that the decision to throw open the budget was aimed at bringing the citizens closer to the decision making process on the budget.

It emerged that the coalition of civil society groups, which was given free hand to peruse the budget, recommended the removal of many of the 64 items while many others were recommended for reduction by between 60 to 80 percent. The coalition had recommended that the items were wasteful and frivolous and indicated that the nation be saved of such waste.

But the findings in the 143-page document were not only about government agencies. The document also contained a recommendation that the National Assembly reduce its own budget by N5 billion in line with what it called the present austere times.

“The total vote of N115 billion for the National Assembly in the 2017 budget could be reduced to N110 billion in the spirit of the austere times and to demonstrate solidarity with the Nigerian people who are suffering and going through untold hardship,” the recommendation stated.

The document, now before the Appropriations Committees discovered the inclusion of  an item called Budget Expenses administration  amounting to N18.2 million in the budget of the State House, which it said was duplicated and already covered in the personnel votes of the State House. It uncovered another N100.8 million votes for the purchase of kitchen equipment for State House Headquarters which was also said to have been duplicated.

Other items identified as frivolous and wasteful included in the budget document include the allocation of N23.057 million for Computer Software Acquisition at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which the Coalition said should be cut be 50 percent; allocation of the sum of N166.665 million for the establishment of ICT University under thec Ministry of Communication Technology, which was seen as uncalled for.

The recommendation of the coalition was that the planned university would be poorly funded like some other universities before it, adding that ICT studies can be done in the existing universities.

The report said: “It will be another poorly funded Federal University.

“ICT studies can be done in existing universities if they are properly equipped. This vote should not be wasted.”

The report also advised the National Assembly to reduce by 80 percent an allocation of N1.1billion by the Ministry of Transport tagged “Performance Audit” for agencies including NPA, NIMASA, Shippers’ Council and Maritime University, Oron.

There was also the discovery of an allocation of N77 million as rent in the State House as the Coalition asked the National Assembly to uncover who the landlord in the State House is.

The Coalition wrote: “There is need to clarify who is the landlord of the State House.”

It also described the allocation of N114.9 million for foodstuffs in the President’s office as being on the high side and asked that it be reduced by 60 percent.

The Coalition also asked the National Assembly to remove the allocation of N188 million for honorarium and sitting allowance in the Presidency,  adding that the allocation was duplicated as it was already captured in the State House Headquarters.

The Coalition equally asked the National Assembly to reduce the sum of N290.4 million for drugs and medical supplies in the State House Medical Centre, insisting that the sum was disproportionate with the number of patients attending the hospital.

The Civil Society Coalition also asked the National Assembly to drop an allocation of N10 million for HIV/AIDS Programme by the Anambra River Basin Development Authority declaring that no part of the agency’s mandate deals with fight of HIV/Aids.

It appears that the Coalition took its time to peruse the allocations to the State House and its agencies. For instance, it queried the allocation of N8.5 million for “Anti-Corruption,” adding that with all the anti-corruption agencies reporting to the President, there is no need for special allocation for that sub-head in the Presidency.

Besides the allocations recommended for outright removal by the National Assembly, the publication also queried the allocation of N100.8 million for procurement of vehicles in the Presidential Villa and asked the National Assembly to ensure that the procurement is made from locally made vehicles. It, however, added a clincher: “Should the State House buy vehicles every year?”

The publication also questioned the sub-head titled Purchase of Defence Equipment also in the State House. An allocation of N124.5 million was made to this sub-head but while the coalition is not calling for this to be scrapped, it raised posers, thus: “In 2016 Budget there was a provision of N198, 364,641 for the same budget head. Has the already purchased ones in 2016 spoiled? Nass should reconsider.”

The coalition also queried the request by the State House for computer software and acquisition at the cost of N103.9 million. It submitted that the sum of N242 million was spent in 2016 for the same purchase and quipped: “Why another huge sum for already procured and installed software. Please reduce by 70 %.”

A big hull was in the allocation of N4.9 billion to a subhead tagged annual routine maintenance/electrical installations/building /civil/environmental services in the Presidential Villa. The Coalition did not spare the Villa when it recommended a reduction of the amount by 70 percent. It wrote: “Is there a total breakdown or wear off of all Villa facilities that we need as much as N5 billion to fix? Nass should ask for the breakdown and specifics of this maintenance project. However, in the spirit of the times, reduce by 70%.”

The situation was not helped by another at the budget defence session for the Ministry of Housing. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola shocked the Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development that he was not in the know how the sum of N2 billion was allocated to the Housing Ministry. He told the Committee some forces might have planted the sum in the 2017 Budget of the Ministry of Housing.

The minister washed his hands off the allocation, saying the Ministry of Finance allegedly put the money in the Housing Ministry’s 2017 budgetary profile.

The Senate Committee was left with no other option than to issue a summon to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun to appear before it and explain how N2 billion was allegedly inserted in the Ministry of Housing for Regional Housing Scheme. The sum is part of the N64.9 billion allocation to the Ministry in the 2017 budget.

Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Barnabas Gemade, who questioned Fashola on the development, said that the Clerk should call Adeosun to answer the hanging question.

Another shock find through the National Assembly initiative is the discovery of the sum of N500 million as a sub-head for “Discipline and  Appointment (Service Wide)” in the allocation of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).  The Coalition asked: “Do we need a budget line item for Discipline and Appointment? What are the functions of the Human Resource Department? There is need for explanation and justification if not, kindly save this sum.”

Though, those knowledgeable about the Budget indicated that the discovery of N151 billion outrageous allocations might not have fully covered the budget landscape, the fact that the lawmakers have started from this note could be an indication of the desire to clean the budget process.