Budget 2016 Crisis and Embedded Extravagance

 

The Permanent Secretary in the State House, Mr. Jalal Arabi was a pitiable

sight at the National Assembly on Tuesday while struggling to defend the

extreme self-indulgence embedded in the 2016 budget for the State House.

How can a government of change rationalise N3.8 billion proposed

expenditure on the State House Medical Centre, about N1.1 billion on the

purchase of vehicles, N3.91 billion on rehabilitation/repair of office

buildings and N89.17 million on restaurant/kitchen equipment for the State

House at a time of austerity?

It is very sad to note that the federal

government is proposing to spend more on capital projects at the State

House Medical Centre this year than for all the 16 teaching hospitals

across the nation. Arabi also struggled to defend a scandalous N369.33

million for “Other Capital projects” in the State House.  The SGF’s office

was also assigned N181.28 million for “computer software acquisition.” Only

God knows what the SGF’s office will be doing with N400.19 million for the

purchase of vehicles in an era of economic recession. It is either the

proposals for the maintenance of the Presidency were not properly

scrutinised by those who should or it was done to swindle the nation.

The ludicrous State House budget proposals aside, the entire 2016 budget is

already a cataclysmic document, with the National Assembly saying that the

proposed February passage date was no longer feasible because of the

“errors, ambiguities and rampant cases of padding” in it. Even the N6.08

trillion indicated as the total figure did not tally with the actual figure

after auditing. The figures just didn’t add up. No wonder the lawmakers

said they would require more time to clear the budget proposal of all its

ambiguities, errors and false figures smuggled into it, so that in the end,

“a budget that is acceptable to all can proceed from the National Assembly”.

Again, for the first time in the history of this country, ministers who

came to defend their budgets were disowning figures read out by the

lawmakers from the document submitted by the government. The first shock

came from the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who declared to the

Senate Committee on Health that the ministry’s budget read by the committee

was not the one drafted by him. According to Adewole, the provisions of the

budget before the National Assembly was in contrast with the priorities of

the health sector as contained in the original budget it prepared, adding

that some of the votes earmarked by the ministry for some activities had

been re-distributed, while some important fields had been excluded.

Adewole declared: “In the revised budget as re-submitted, N15.7bn for

capital allocation had been moved to other areas. Some allocations made are

not in keeping with our priorities. There is nothing allocated to public

health and family health. Over the last two years, nothing has been done on

HIV. We have to look into the details of the budget and re-submit it to the

committee. This was not what we submitted. We’ll submit another one. We

don’t want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is

not there. We have not reached that stage and we find the money there.”

Even the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed openly disowned

the N398 million voted for the purchase of computers for the News Agency of

Nigeria (NAN) and the Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB). Speaking at a

budget defence session before the Senate Committee on Information, Mohammed

noted that the N398 million was strange to him. “No, that is not possible.

That was definitely not what was proposed. This cannot be,” the minister

protested even as an official of the ministry noted that only N5 million

was proposed for the item in the original budget of the NFVCB.

To cap it all, our Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun was involved in a verbal

war with the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col.

Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) during the budget defence in the Senate. Ali, who

is obviously still suffering from military mentality, told her off, saying

that he reports only to the president. So, is the Customs now an agency in

the Presidency? Buhari should clear this mess. The Customs boss can’t be

bigger than the finance minister. Again, Ali should sit down and think

deeply about what Adeosun told him during the spat:  “There is disconnect

between revenue and imports; disconnect between imports and forex demand.

The Customs must sit up, you can’t ask for salary increase for your men

when you say we are broke.” This is food for thought.

In sane societies, those involved in the preparation of Budget 2016 would

have resigned by now. Since they are yet to do so, I am using this medium

to appeal to them to follow the alleyway of honour by resigning. Clearly,

this team did a slipshod job on budget 2016.

As for our dear President Muhammadu Buhari on whose desk the buck stops,

this mess of a document called budget 2016 speaks volumes about his

competence, frugality and integrity.

The Mortification of Babachir Lawal

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal is the

highest-ranking federal government official to visit the traumatised

residents of Dalori Village on the outskirts of Maiduguri. Here, 86 people

were slaughtered by Boko Haram terrorists on January 30. Rather than

comfort the beleaguered villagers, the SGF spent time blaming them for

“poor intelligence gathering.” He said: “It shows a lack of intelligence

... Poor intelligence gathering by locals is to blame for the attack.” What

Lawal is saying is that the attack would have been averted if the hapless

locals had been up and doing with intelligence gathering.

The SGF expects them to effectively gather and supply intelligence to

security operatives. There is nothing wrong with community policing.

However, it is obvious that there was very little the poor villagers could

have done in this direction. To blame the hapless villagers for the Boko

Haram attack due to inability to supply intelligence is most wicked. Are

the intelligence arms of the military, police and the DSS not on ground in

these troubled areas? What about the men of the National Intelligence

Agency (NIA)? It is a shame if they are not on ground. If they are, then,

they should be held responsible for the Dalori attack and punished

accordingly. Babachir should also note that “Dalori villagers actually got

the signal a few days before the attack that the insurgents were likely to

attack them; they reported this to the constituted authorities but nothing

was done to provide security for residents and their belongings.” This is

according to Senator Baba Garbai who represents the area. The SGF must go

back to Dalori and apologise for his shameful statement.

Udom Emmanuel Should Cut Short His Celebration

Now that Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has the nod of the Supreme Court

to continue as governor, he should cut short his celebration and settle

down to the challenges of developing this star-crossed state. There is no

iota of development in this hapless state in the last 16 years. Akwa Ibom

has simply been sleeping with its huge resources stolen by corrupt and

inept leadership. They simply stole Akwa Ibom dry. There is too much

suffering in Akwa Ibom State, with very few people having access to the

basic amenities of life - public water supply, quality education,

healthcare, food, good roads and the rest of them. The tattered public

schools across the state are an eye sore in an oil-rich state. Udom should

visit public schools in Oyoku Asang and Okisu communities, both in Okobo

Local Government Area of the state to understand what I am saying. Here,

pupils sit on bare floor in ramshackle classrooms. What a shame!

Again, Udom must allow the local governments to function. At present, the

state’s 31 local governments exist only on paper. The era of hijacking

funds in the joint account must stop. The 10% from the state’s IGR that

should go to the LGs must be implemented. I will also like to see an end to

the profligate Christmas carol that gulps billions of Naira annually in the

state. This must not continue amidst so much poverty in the state. It must

not continue in a state where local government workers are being owed 8 to

10 months’ salaries. This is a state where newly recruited civil servants

have not received a single salary in almost one year. Going forward,

commissioners and other political appointees that have spent almost 9 years

in government should be liquidated immediately by Udom and fresh blood

brought into government. Udom cannot afford to fail the distressed people

of Akwa Ibom State.

Thank You Senator Baba Garbai

While virtually everybody involved in the war against Boko Haram has chosen

to be economical with the truth, Senator Baba Kaka Garbai representing

Borno Central in the National Assembly has refused to be part of the

charade. While the government has been preaching that the terrorists have

been “technically defeated,” Garbai recently declared openly that Borno

State was divided in equal measure between the terror sect and the Nigerian

military. “The truth must be told that both Boko Haram and the Nigerian

nation each have full control of three local governments in the troubled

Borno State and both have a level of dominance in 21 other local councils.

Mobbar, Abadam and Kala Balge LGs are 100 per cent occupied by the

insurgents,” declared Garbai. We must be very honest in this war against

the terrorists; otherwise, we will be doing a great disservice to the

ill-fated people in the affected communities. Only the truth can get us out

of this mess. The government must stop telling us that the terrorists have

been weakened while attacks occur virtually on a daily basis. Last week,

the terrorists attacked and destroyed Mairi and Malari communities on the

outskirts of Maiduguri, killing several people. On Tuesday, the IDP camp in

Dikwa was attacked by Boko Haram and almost 70 people were killed. Just on

Thursday, four persons were killed by the terrorists during an attack on

Shuwari Village in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno. This nation must

put an end to this deceit on Boko Haram war. We cannot continue like this

and expect positive result.

RingTrue with Yemi Adebowale, Email ; yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com.  (sms

only); 07013940521