Community Of Interest Nigeria. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY? ---------------------------------------------------- THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESTAKE ON SERVICE WIDE ACCOUNT ●Head of Service of the Federation could not account for a total sum of over N35 billion. ●House Committee revealed monies were being shared by civil servants. ●Most of the agencies gave mind-boggling stories about how monies got into their accounts without requesting for it. ●Others could not explain how the monies disappeared in their account. ●Conclusion: service wide vote account should be scrapped. But will that be possible? NATIONAL MIRROR 22.03.2014. Recent revelations of missing billions of Naira through service wide vote account by the House of Representativescommittees during the consideration of the 2014 budget is fast becoming worrisome. With the revelations, many are of the belief that government officials simply sit in the comfort of their offices to share the nation’s wealth which they get from money not spent from the budgets approved for certain projects. Members of the House, at the initial stage, when the 2014 budget proposal was presented by President Goodluck Jonathan threatened not to have anything to do with it. This development created serious tension as people condemned the lawmakers of trying to sabotage the government. On a second thought, the legilator thought otherwise and decided in the interest of the nation to commence work on the budget. In order to fast track the process, immediately the appropriation bill scaled through the second reading, the Speaker of the House, Hon Aminu Tambuwal suspended plenary to allow the various committees of the House invite the ministries, parastatals and agenciesto appear before them and defend their budget and explain how they implemented the 2013 budget. So, in achieving its earlier promise to Nigerians after the inauguration of the 7th assembly, Tambuwal gave the assurance that his leadership would ensure transparency, accountability and good governance and above all reduce to the barest minimum the cost of governance. In view of this, the committees went all out to unravel the mystery behind budgeting and the implementation of the capital votes. Most of the agencies invited came out with mind-boggling stories about how monies got into their accounts without requesting for it, while others could not explain how the monies disappeared in their account. Others could not give satisfactory explanations on how they spend the money. Apart from the budgetary allocations to various ministries, parastatals and agencies by the budget office, there were also monies from service wide votes which ought to have been contingency funds in case of emergency. Most of the ministries from the findings of the committees, especially the House Committee on Public Account revealed that the monies were being shared by civil servants. The Director General, Budget Office, Bright Okongwu, took pain to explain to the lawmakers that service wide vote account is a slush vote, a kind of contingency vote for various parastatals in case of any emergency. According to him, service wide vote account is a standard all over the world. Therefore, there was nothing criminal about the service wide vote account. It is from the account that federal government could provide infrastructure like road construction, provision of social amenities to complement budgetary provision. But the House is not looking at it from that perspective as the lawmakers believe that the account is to create jobs for their boys because any spending that was not in line with the annual budgetary provision is illegal and punishable under the law. All the spending, they say, must be approved by the National assembly. The chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Solomon Adeola- Olamilekan, in one of its sittings, expressed dismay over the inability the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation to account for a total sum of over N35 billion from the service wide vote received from the Budget Office of the Federation over a period of nine years. The committee also frowned at the sum of N17.6 billion earlier recorded against the office by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation. It gave it a two-week ultimatum within which to reappear before it with relevant document on the missing of the over N35 billion involved. Between 2010 and 2012 , the Budget Office insisted that over N52 billion was released to the office. It reeled out the breakdown of the disbursement of the funds within the period in question. According to the Budget Office, In 2004 the OHSF received N2.7 billion, N9.8 million in 2005; N701.7 million in 2006; N896.3m in 2007; N5.3b in 2008; N612.9m plus another N70m in 2009; N17.6b in 2010 while other releases were N13.6b in 2011 and N8.5b in 2012. The chairman of the committee, Hon. Solomon Adeola-Olamilekan, pointed out that the OHSF documents only referred to the N17.6b it received in the year 2010,saying that based on the figures given by the Budget Office, there was a disparity of almost N35 billion and requested for the documents for the rest of the years in question. The Director General of Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD), Mrs. Nellie Mayshak, revealed that the sum of N24 billion received from the service wide vote for the payment of the pension of the retired Police personnel could not be accounted for. The committee however asked the DG budget office to come before it with a memo showing the request for the missing N24 billion, and also asked the First Bank to show how much was deposited in the bank. It was also to show how much was disbursed and, as well, come up with the bank details of the transaction. The PTAD boss appeared before the committee to explain how the office expended the sum of N24 billion it received from the service wide vote account through the budget office. However, while addressing the committee on how the N24 billion was expended, Mrs. Mayshak said that she just resumed newly to manage the office, adding that the money was received and expended before her appointment. She said, “We have no evidence, we have no record. It just looked bad on our part. We will rather tell you the truth or make it up.” The chairman of the committee, Hon Solomon Adeola Olamilekan, in his submission, said that, “I am taken aback, because what you are telling us is that, service wide vote is a slush account, it is an account that is used to settle the boys”. He said that the committee would ensure that it got to the end of the matter, stressing that,”we’ll not allow this to go under the carpet.” Needless to say that the service wide vote is a veritable drainpipe being used to help those who are managing it. Situations have arisen where under serious interrogation, people have had to say they were invited to apply, and that they were told how the share- out was going to be. That is even better than a situation where somebody did not apply at all and suddenly found the fund to be a gift. That is not to say that there are some who refused to accept the gift, worried that it might afterall be a Greek gift. But not many were that morally upright. Rather, many saw it as their own share of the so called national cake. With such a spirit, the money is shared to the detriment of the nation. Service wide vote is yet again showing the underbelly of the corruptive tendencies in government today. When the whistle was blown on corruption in the petroleum subsidy, everyone saw the incredible figures that mentioned. Like some other major sectors of the economy, the service wide vote has become an avenue to get rich overnight. With the revelations coming out of the budget defence about the corruption going on over it, the conclusion was that the service wide vote account should be scrapped. But will that be possible? The question is whether or not those in authority will have the gut to do the right thing – scrapping it. Except people are indeed sincere and ready to serve the nation transparently, it is obvious that a thing like the service wide vote will continue to be a drain pipe for some self-centred individuals who pretend to be serving the nation.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:44:07 +0000
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