A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bukola Saraki, has faulted several aspects of the 2014 Appropriation Bill, saying that the document failed to give priority to critical sectors and a blueprint for fiscal recklessness and leakages in government expenditure.
Continue reading after the cut...
Of particular concern is the misplacement of prorities demonstrated in the allocation of N54bn to Niger Delta Militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme while the Military and Police got just N46bn in capital allocations.
He also noted the dangers of increased extra-budgetary spending and the impunity with which agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, spent public funds and serial breaches of budget implementation rules by civil servants.
Saraki, in a critical appraisal of the budget posted on his website, expressed regret that the budget process had become a mere procedural ritual designed to fulfil a legal condition rather than a scrutiny on efficient resource allocation and use for the welfare of the people.
For example, under the defence and security allocations, the lawmaker noted that N54bn was budgeted for stipends and allowances for 30,000 Niger Delta militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (N23.6bn) and Reintegration of Transformed Ex-Militants’ (N35.4bn), while the total capital budget for the Nigerian Army was N4.8bn and capital budget for the Ministry of Defence Headquarters – Army, Navy and Air Force – was N34.2bn.
“The budget proposal rewards banditry and encourages militancy at the expense of the fighting men and women of the Nigerian military,” he said.
He also noted that the budget proposals were skewed in favour of recurrent expenditure rather than capital votes
The senator, who noted instances where capital expenditures were more or less efficiently appropriated in the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development with N35.1bn allocation to capital and N31.4bn to recurrent; Water Resources, N30.6bn to capital and N7.7bn to recurrent; power, N59bn and N3.3bn to capital and recurrent expenditures respectively and a few others such as transport, works, aviation, lands and housing, added that some capital expenditure items were questionable at best. According to him, “A cursory appraisal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated plans to spend money for the maintenance of plants and generators in several of our foreign missions, including the one in London, even as the headquarters would spend N201.7m for fumigation and cleaning services during the year.”
Stipends and Allowances to 30,000 Niger Delta Militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme: N23.6 Billion (twenty three billion, six hundred million Naira)
Reintegration of Transformed Ex Militants: N35.4 Billion (Thirty Five Billion, Four Hundred Million Naira)
Total Capital Budget for the Nigerian Army: N4.8 Billion (Four Billion, Eight Hundred Million Naira)
Total Capital Budget for the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Army, Navy and Air Force: N34.2 billion (Thirty Four Billion, Two Hundred Million Naira) Still a little less than what has been budgeted for “Reintegration of Transformed Ex-Militants”.
Total capital budget for ALL Police formations and commands: N6 Billion (Six Billion Naira).
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Share your thoughts...thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment