Budget Group Warns Jonathan Of Corrupt Ministries

Budget Group Exposes Corrupt Ministries, Warns Jonathan

ACCOUNTABILITY group, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) has unveiled ministries and public agencies in Nigeria alleged to be involved in high profile corrupt practices.

The group has accordingly warned Acting President Goodluck Jonathan against such ministries even as they urged him to withheld his assent on the 2010 budget.

Executive Director of the group, Mr. George-Hill Anthony, in a report to AkanimoReports on Friday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said Nigerian citizens seem to have accepted groaning under the pains of budgetary atrocities, in view of the refusal of all tiers of government in Nigeria to conduct an open Public Hearing aimed at integrating (Nigeria’s) citizens into a measurable fiscal delivery of the budgetary targets.

According to NDEBUMOG, ''it is worrisome to observe that Nigeria’s bureaucrats are yet to come to terms on the global campaigns towards the MDGs. The budget 2010 has also exposed the systemic collapsed of bureaucratic discipline''.

They said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources has a total allocation of N148 billion. This ministry is ranked by NDEBUMOG among the worst in the performance index of federal ministries going by how Basin Authorities has compounded service delivery in social and basic infrastructure to the citizenry.

''These Basin Authorities shadowed how States and Local Government can better intervene on infrastructural delivery to the people, confusing stakeholders about Federal presence boosted only through their bloated recurrent envelopes. Matters such as water availability should better be left to the States and Local Governments'', they said.

Continuing, they claimed that the ministry is yet to explain to Nigerians what has happened to the billions given by the Federal Government to farmers in 2009, and has budgeted N37 million for Local and International Travels, N200 million as Contribution to Food and Agricultural Organisations, N10 million for Procurement of Books, N250 million for Monitoring and Evaluation of its own projects and programmes, N477 Million for Chinese (+ Nigeria) South- South Cooperation, N400 million for EC Assisted Water Supply and Sanitation, N400 million for ADB Assisted Water Quality Laboratory, N500 million for EU Assisted Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reforms, N200 million for National Water Sanitation Policy.

''The N200 million budgeted for National Water Sanitation Policy is a fraud. Unfortunately, nearly all the federal ministries have huge envelops for Local and International Travels even when the Presidency has restricted non-technical travels for civil servants of some cadre which was re-emphasised in the 2010-2012 Fiscal Strategy Paper of the Federal Government.

''The N10 million for this ministry and many other ministries (like Petroleum Resources which has N100 million) for the procurement of books spell doom going by the poverty disparity in the country The N200 million Contributions to Food and Agricultural Organisation also expose the stinks of how government funds are shared to cronies.

''At a time some African countries are wrestling to weed the influence of Chinese away against destruction of their economies going by poor quality of Chinese goods associated with poor human rights history of the Asian country, is the time the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources are budgeting to spend close to N500 million under China-Nigeria (South-South) Cooperation. But the Niger Delta people must not allow the Chinese to penetrate extractive communities in the region, whether or not the post PIB era makes it possible'', NDEBUMOG said.

The rest of their report went thus:

''Atrocities which may come with such can be more destructive than what Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total/Elf and others has caused extractive communities in the Niger Delta.

''Next in line in our projective assessment is the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs’ 2010 budget. This ministry has an allocation N64 billion. This is higher by N13 billion from its budget of N51 billion in 2009.

''We had raised an alarm about the huge waste in this ministry’s budget in 2009, which included, N500 million for local, international travels and trainings. In spite of the alarm we raised, this ministry is budgeting (aggregated) N637 million for international travels, local travels, local trainings and transport under general sub-head in 2010. This is an abuse to the collective psychology of our suffering Niger Delta people.

''While the 2010 budget of the Niger Delta Ministry can be considered as Ufot Ekaette’s budget, the civil servants who aggregated the sub-heads into the larger envelope of this ministry cannot be exonerated from this fraudulent projection. We urge the Acting President to seek oversight from the Civil Society towards responsible implementation of envelopes for this Ministry cloned in wasteful calculations. Amazingly, this is the same Ministry which budgets N285.5 million for electricity charges, telephone charges, internet access charges, satellite broadcasting access charges, water rates, sewage and leased communication line(s) in 2009.

''In 2010, this ministry is budgeting N77 million for telephone charges alone, N22 million for satellite broadcasting charges, N48 million for sewage charges, N22 million for refreshment and meals. How many people did this ministry feed in their N50 million envelope for refreshment in 2009? Nigerians do not know why various ministries are competing to sew uniforms (either for known or unknown soldiers) like the Niger Delta Ministry which budgeted N20 million for uniforms in 2009 and N38 million for more uniforms in 2010. The Budget Office of the Federation should release the Budget Performance Report (of all Ministries) for 2009 to Nigerians''.

''The faulty expenditure pollution of the MDAs'', they went on, ''further stinks when a ministry like this is projecting N44 million for (non-line) Field Matters Supplies and N370 million for (General) Maintenance Services, even when N38 million under a separate line expenditure is further allocated for maintenance of furniture. This is a Ministry which was created to intervene in a region ranked among the world’s poorest people.

''At what time did this ministry procure speed boats and where is the Ministry’s jetty in the Niger Delta where their boats are anchored? Can a ministry that have not procured boats budget N49 million for boats maintenance and another N44 million for sea boat fuelling? How much is the cost for furniture which N38 million shall be used for its maintenance? What was the N50 million budgeted for boats maintenance in 2009 used for? Why must these budgetary atrocities continue year after year in a country and region where millions of citizens go to bed without food? Do exhibitors of these negations have any other country for their children?

''The total for maintenance of office and other infrastructure for the Niger Delta Ministry is N82 million, while N70 million is for maintenance of furniture. This same Ministry has budgeted N15 million for furniture maintenance in 2009.

''We, NDEBUMOG, have no other option than to call on the Acting President not to sign this 2010 budget into law. Doing so is to encourage institutional corruption. There is no electricity in Nigeria but the same government that cannot restore stable Power Generation continue to have its Ministries (like Niger Delta Affairs) budgeting N60 million for Generator Maintenance.

''Local and International Training continue to appear under duplicated budget (ELs) head which is a strategy to cover huge travel budget running into hundreds of millions of naira. What is the implication for the monetisation policy if Ministries’ continue to allocate figures as huge as N154 million for fuel and lubricants cost? This is outside tens of other millions for generator fuel cost''.

This pro-accountability group says a miscellaneous of over N300 million in any ministry’s budget in Nigeria is a huge fraud and crime against humanity going by how the price for lives of Nigerians have been cheapened due to effect of corruption.

''Dr. Goodluck Jonathan should restore fiscal discipline and criminal expenditure penalty to the public service. Why should N22 million be budgeted for refreshment in a region where as little as N500 a day is difficult to come by for many families, and N55 million to advertise what!? N110 million is for grants and contributions to whom? Another N55 million is allocated as contribution to Local Organisations'', they said, adding, if N55 million is for contribution to local organisations, why deceitfully allocating another N55 million as contribution to International Organisations at a time International Organisations are eager to make contributions to Niger Delta’s development.

According to NDEBUMOG, ''The N1.5 billion for Niger Delta Coastal Road Design should have clear indicators within the spread of Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to forestall this becoming a revolving circle of design from year to year. We urge the Acting President to release a white paper on Mitee led Presidential Committee Report and make history as a Niger Deltan who respects the sensibilities and yearnings of his people. Curiously, the Ministry for Niger Delta Affairs has budgeted N500 million for post-amnesty trainings (Micro-finance, Value Orientations etc)''.

They argued: ''It is however disheartening to see this ministry toying with the fates of the militants combining communications budget with rehabilitation. It was the same deception in 2009. There is no way a ministry can lump communications spending with that of a sensitive assignment as militants rehabilitation. Such spending head means they (MNDA) can spend bulk of the N500 million on Communications even as demobilized militants continue to roam the streets for rehabilitation remedy''.

Adding, they said, ''we cannot accept a desperate competition between the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) on issues of clean-up of Niger Delta’s oil spills pollution and impacted sites. All these three bodies must constitute a workable (clean up) committee to clean up the entire Niger Delta. Niger Delta Ministry is projecting N5.5 billion in 2010 for Environmental Support Programme, Remediation of Impacted Sites, Land Reclamation, Shore Line Protection etc.

''This figure is a big fraud, same with the line- phrasing of the Expenditure Line Item. In budget work, all the Expenditure Line Items (on Capital Votes, Recurrent and Overhead) must be measurable. Nigeria is ranked by budget activist among the worst countries which do not have a time-measured delivery and evaluation tracking in its National budget.

''For a ministry to wake up and solicit N5.5 billion for Environmental Support Programme, Remediation of Impacted Sites, Land Reclamation, Shore Line Protection etc, can better be interpreted or described as people using ineffectual means to frame budget figures. For the sake of education, before arriving at such a figure, comprehensive data information and scoping on the following is needed. This includes:

• Disaggregation of active and inactive oil pipelines, unitisation locations, flow stations, platforms, export terminals, etc

• Estimation of invasive vessels (which can be tracked through DPR/NEITI) which trans-load crude at high seas with destructive effect to aquatic lives, raw impacted sites and shadowed spill site(s) by IOCs,

• Exhausted wells without proper deactivation baseline, among many other factors very dear to the survival and environmental sustainability of our Niger Delta communities.

For them, the foregoing is a huge exercise which is needed before budget padders wake up with rolled over figures to deceive our people. This subject matter also affects the Acting President’s community in Ogbia, Bayelsa State, and we hope he is taking note.

Worrisomely, they have drawn attention of Nigerians to duplicated shore line protection projects of the Niger Delta Ministry in 2009, but since the operators of the Nigerian state consider themselves above peoples power, the figures for shoreline protection has continued to double in figures and line labelling.

''Our concern is for locations like Ikuru Town in Rivers State where the Rivers State government since 2008 has been spending hundreds of millions for same project, just like in Mbo, Akwa Ibom State, where the most impacted shoreline location is Inua-Abasi but with Effiat Mbo being where the Ministry is claiming to have been intervening since 2009. Thank God Uffot Ekaette did not return to this ministry'', they said.

The Acting President has ordered the new ministers to look within the archives of various Ministries for various reports and blue-prints. The NDDC also has spent the region’s money for its Master Plan, even though some projection towards community delivery in the NDDC Master Plan is more scientific than realistic. Unfortunately, upon reports and reports available to stakeholders on the solutions to Niger Delta quagmire, the Ministry for Niger Delta Affairs is allocating N1.5 billion in their 2010 budget for Preliminary Consultancy on Integrated Niger Delta Infrastructural Plan.

''No one should forget the cry of the poor has generational implications for those who short-change the poor masses. Another sad scenario is the budget of N40 million for Establishment of Ministerial Library by this Ministry, even while there is another N70 million in their budget for Niger Delta Project Implementation Liaison Offices and facilitation of Communications'', NDEBUMOG said.

Obviously hitting hard at Abuja, they said the Federal Government is short-changing the Niger Delta by mandating the Niger Delta Ministry to take over projects of other sectors thereby reducing Federal Government interventions in the region.

They claimed that other ministries are supposed to be developing the region in conjunction with the Niger Delta Ministry but the opposite is the case. By 2011, it would be clear if the Federal Government created this Ministry as Greek gift to take away many other projects from the region in the name of creating the Niger Delta Ministry. The ministry in itself has not justified its creation yet. Chief Ufot Ekaete, a Niger Deltan failed woefully. It is our prayer that Chief Orubebe would want to be remembered positively.

The Petroleum Resources Ministry is also one of the institutions they are looking at in 2010. This was a budget that was conceptualized by Rilwanu Lukeman before his exit from this Ministry.

This ministry is budgeting N150 million for the Renovation of NNPC Towers. N810 million is allocated for Facilities for Technical and Administrative Cooperation on International bodies on Oil & Gas Utilization. N100 million budgeted by this Ministry for Library Development and Procurement of Books. These are all frivolous projections.

''Why should the Petroleum Industry Bill implementation (when it becomes law) cost this Ministry N7.5 billion to implement? N26 million is for Refreshment and Meals, N800 million for Patrol Vehicles and a N100 million for Oil and Gas Reference Library?'', they querried.

Carpeting the legislative arm of the Nigerian government, they claimed that no responsible legislature can pass this sort of budget in any country. Nigerians have been taken for granted for so long. Votes must count in 2011.

''Only credible elections in 2011 can arrest all these anomalies. The National Assembly needs massive fumigation through credible elections in 2011.The masses may not wait beyond 2011 and the outcome may be the predictions of America (on the break-up of Nigeria) coming to pass'', they added.

ENDS

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