Jonathan, Okonjo- Iweala Must Explain Flaws In 2014 Budget — Analysts via Leadership Newspaper — January 5, 2014 President Goodluck Jonathan and finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala have been asked to account for the frivolous allocations to some ministries departments and agencies (MDAs) in the 2014 budget now before the National Assembly. Also, the National Assembly has been charged to scrutinise the budget and correct the flaws to prevent Nigerians from being defrauded by those who prepared the budget. The admonition came from a lecturer with Kaduna State University and a social critic, Dr John Danfulani; chairman of the Kaduna Salvation Movement (KASMO) Mr Mohammed Musa Soba; and Olufemi Awoyemi, a chartered accountant and chief executive of Proshare Nigeria, an online economic and financial portal. Among the curious allocations in the budget, which the analysts want the government and the National Assembly to correct are: for the State House, captured under capital budget – the purchase of one sewage truck for N67 million, two benches for N2 million, embalming machine for N1.65 million, x-ray machine for N34.1 million, purchase of mammography machine N41.1 million, a post-mortem table for N4 million, oxygen generating plant for N70 million, massage bed worth N2.1 million, handcraft rowing machine worth N1.2 million as well as two of sauna bath sets worth N6 million, as well as the N37.5 billion allocation for wildlife conservation – comprising items like two animals worth N14.5 million, upgrading and maintenance of the State House zoo for N8 million, renovation of the horses’ stables/paddock for the zoo for N15 million and purchase of wildlife capture equipment valued at N5 million. Others are allocations in the capital budgets of MDAs for intangible assets, that is, assets without physical substance which unnecessarily shoot up the cost of governance through administrative capital instead of developmental capital projects. Over N47.2 billion of such capital projects were identified in 76 MDAs analysed in the 2014 budget proposal. Besides these, a major budgeting error was noticed with the Investments and Securities Tribunal where N7.88 million was budgeted for maintenance of aircraft, sea boats and railway equipment which the agency does not have. They lamented that at a time Nigerians were calling for a cut in the cost of governance, MDAs were injecting unjustified allocation into the document. According to Danfulani: “What is new, yet constant, is additions and subtractions in certain areas. Defence still tops the budgets. There isn’t any improvement in critical areas like health, education and the revamping of decaying infrastructure. “That is however not the worst problem associated with budgets in the country since the lowering of the Union Jack on October 1, 1960. It is lack of faithfulness in the implementation of budgets that is the main problem. Ordinarily, revenue expected should be the trouble, but in our case, that isn’t, but corruption and lack of implementation. “This menace has been going on for long because of lack of strong oversight functions by the lawmakers at the state and federal levels. If we must witness improvement and development in this country, lackadaisical implementation of the budget must be treated as a constitutional infraction which must be prosecuted.” Soba expressed disappointment on the insincerity of both the federal and Kaduna State government in addressing the socio-economic problems facing the people. Awoyemi stated that it was adequate allocation of the national budget to capital expenditure in agriculture, roads among others that can create jobs. Stay up to date, follow us on Twitter; @LeadershipNGA
Posted on: Sun, 05 Jan 2014 14:50:44 +0000
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