Alleged evidence that Yakubu Dogara, the speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, padded the 2016 budget proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari has been released.
You recall that allegations were made last week that House Speaker Yakubu Dogara and other prominent legislators inflated budget figures in the 2016 budget proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The accusation was leveled by Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC - Kano), who alleged that Mr. Dogara and his deputy, Yusuf Lasan, Chief Whip Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Whip Leo Ogor colluded to
earmark up to N40 billion to themselves in the National Assembly budget.
Mr. Dogara denied the accusations and challenged Mr. Jibrin to formally petition the House to allow anti-graft bodies to investigate him and his colleagues. They said that Mr. Jibrin was making the accusations due to his recent sacking from his position as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. However, Mr. Jibrin insisted that he resigned voluntarily.
Well, see the evidence with a series of documents with hand-written remarks.
Nigerian civil society groups have called on the House of Representatives to allow the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate lawmakers who attempted to illegally add line items to the 2016 Appropriation Bill.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on Wednesday revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari has not received the corrected version of the 2016 Budget details from the National Assembly.
She made the revelation while briefing State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
She said:
“On the 2016 Budget, I must say that the Executive and Legislature have worked very hard putting things together, reviewing the details of the budget and it is at its final stage.
“So may be between today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday), the National Assembly will start the process of transmitting the details to the President,” she said.
Speaking further on what was discussed during the FEC Meeting, Ahmed said the government is working hard to settle the issues concerning the 2016 budget. She stressed that the 2016 budget will be beneficial to Nigerians as it would help in finding ways to create jobs and make life easy for Nigerians.
The Senate on Tuesday, April 12 stated that it would not revisit the 2016 budget it had earlier passed and transmitted to President Muhammdu Buhari for assent. It further urged the President to sign the document as transmitted to him and send a supplementary budget on projects he wants included in the 2016 budget.
The Senate spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi, while addressing journalists after a closed door rowdy session, said the Senate is mindful of the cry of Nigerians due to the increasing economic hardship.
“The Senate resolved at the close session that we have completed work on the 2016 budget and would not go back on what had been passed.
“We went into an executive session, which is the normal practice to welcome one another and discuss the burning issues on the ground, in this case, the issue of the 2016 budget and the smooth working of the Senate and the National Assembly.
“The constitution has taken note of this kind of scenario where you may have omissions or shortfalls of allocations and the constitution is very clear on what you need to do, which is to sign the budget and then submit a supplementary appropriation.
“I want to assure you that the Senate is not unmindful of the cries of Nigerians that we said, for example, that the Calabar-Lagos rail project was not in the budget does not in any way, undermine the fact that it is a very important project for this nation to embark on.
“So, the National Assembly, the Senate, is open. If the executive brings a supplementary appropriation with respect to this and any other issue that its feels very strongly about, we are ready and willing to consider such but the most important point to note is that we want to remain guided by the provisions of the constitution, “Abdullahi added.
The Senate Spokesman further said that if Buhari does not sign the budget appropriate actions will be taken by the Upper Chamber.
Source
The BriefNG
Buhari has refuted media claims that he rejected the 2016 appropriation bill as ratified by the national assembly. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, on Monday said President Muhammmadu Buhari did not reject the 2016 budget as being speculated.
Mr. Enang told journalists in Abuja that media reports alleging that the budget had been rejected were untrue. He said what Mr. Buhari did before travelling to China was to send the budget to ministries in order to get feedbacks that would inform his assent.
“The president received the budget and convened an emergency Federal Executive Council meeting.
“He gave each of the ministers, departments and agencies the opportunity to look at the details as submitted by the National Assembly.
“This is to enable him get opinion on the state of the budget to enable him take a decision.
“The exercise was conducted on Friday and it is ongoing by the different ministers and ministries,” he explained.
Mr. Enang said Mr. Buhari currently had not exceeded the constitutional time frame to assent to the budget, adding that it should not be assumed that the budget had been rejected.
“The constitutional time frame for Mr President’s receiving and considering the budget began on Friday last week.
“The question has not arisen as to returning or otherwise.
“But I want to say the best way we as liaison officers are handling this matter is to speak less and work more, creating interactions.
“So, we will raise more interactions, consultations, engagements.
“There is nothing for the country to worry about, because we do not want to have crisis between the Executive and the Legislature, and it would not arise; this is one government,” he said.
Source
NAN
Opposition party, PDP has taken swipes at President Muhammadu Buhari on his failure to sign 2016 budget. According to PDP, President Buhari admitted that he has not read the budget.
PDP also said journalists interviewing Buhari know more about 2016 budget than him. The reaction was spurred by the controversial N60 billion Lagos - Calabar rail project which was allegedly struck out by the National Assembly while reviewing the 2016 appropriation bill.
Below are screenshots of Twitter posts via the official Twitter account of the largest political party in Africa:
President Buhari was currently absent at an FEC meeting presiding over the details of the 2016 budget. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is currently presiding over an emergency session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) over the 2016 budget details, according to DailyTrust.
The meeting started today at exactly 11:10am when Osinbajo arrived the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa. President Muhammadu Buhari is believed to be in the country, but it is not yet clear why the meeting is being chaired by his deputy.
Apart from cabinet members, some heads of agencies and parastatals as well as several presidential aides are also attending the meeting. State House correspondents were asked to vacate the Council Chambers for the "crucial budget session" summoned to review the details of the 2016 Appropriation Bill which was transmitted to the president yesterday.
Boma and Gregor 28th December 2015 was produced by Image Orbit Media, Lagos Nigeria. Directed by Kessy Uvietaire. You won't stop smiling as you watch.
WATCH VIDEO BELOW
LETS MAKE YOURS A REALITY - You Want a Video Like This?Its Time To Stand Out From The Crowd. Give Your Wedding Video A Cinematic Feel, Using Modern State Of The Art Equipments At A Very Affordable Price. And You Can Also BOOK For Your Wedding Photography/Videos, Pre-Wedding Photos, ETC........
Contact Us On.....
+2348035034237
Contact Us On.....
+2348035034237
Mr Kesiena Uvietaire
Reports have it that the 2016 budget has encountered a brief hitch as Buhari has failed to sign the amended appropriation bill presented by the National Assembly. President Muhammadu Buhari will not sign the 2016 budget bill passed by the National Assembly last week unless lawmakers provide more details of the legislation, a government official said on Tuesday.
The move spells further delay of the record $30 billion budget aimed at reviving Africa’s biggest economy, hit by a slump in oil prices. Buhari had presented the bill in December before withdrawing it due to an unrealistic oil price assumption and flaws in the draft.
The National Assembly had earlier sent on Tuesday the bill, which calls for record spending, to Buhari’s office but it had contained only highlights of the budget, no details, the official told Reuters, asking not to be named.
“As a result, the president has been unable to sign the bill because he does not know what is contained in the details and what adjustments the National Assembly must have made to the proposal sent to them,” the official said.
Buhari will travel to Washington on Wednesday returning on Sunday, his office said, which makes it unlikely the bill will get signed this week. The budget debated by a joint session of both chambers had left open how it would be financed.
Officials previously suggested up to half of the estimated deficit of 3 trillion Naira would be funded though the sale of Eurobonds or loans from China and international agencies. But no such deal has publicly emerged.
The new budget, which is based on an oil price of $38 a barrel, aims to recharge the economy by trebling capital spending compared with 2015’s plan. A deepening crisis slowed gross domestic product growth to 2.8 percent in 2015, Nigeria’s weakest in decades. The overall budget is 6.06 trillion Naira ($30.47 billion).
Oil revenues, which make up about 70 percent of Nigeria’s income, have slumped, hammering the currency, halting development projects and leaving budget funding uncertain. In January, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun Nigeria said Nigeria planned to borrow up to $5 billion from multiple sources, including the Eurobond market, but officials have not provided an update since then.
Nigeria has in recent months held exploratory talks with the World Bank and tried to secure funding from the African Development Bank and China’s export bank, but no deal is known to have resulted.
The Nigerian senate of the 8th National Assembly has passed the controversial 2016 appropriation bill that was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari as far back as December 22, 2016.
See the breakdown in summary of the budget below:
(1) Statutory transfers: 351,370,000,000
(2) Debt service: 1,475,320,000,00
(3) Recurrent expenditure: 2,646,389,236,196
(4) Capital expenditure: 1,587,598,122,031
(5) Fiscal deficit: 2,204,936,925,711.16
(7) Deficit/GDP: 2.14%
The Nigerian Senate has finally passed the 2016 Federal budget dubbed "Budget of Corruption" sent to joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, on December 22, 2015 today after months of confusion and delays. The 8th Senate in its session at the National Assembly, has officially passed the N6.08 trillion budget for 2016 today, March 23rd, with an unprecedented reduction in the budget’s total.
It can be recalled that in December 2015, the budget proposal presented to a joint session of the national assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari. was N6.08 trillion. A total of N351 billion was for statutory transfers, N2.8 trillion for recurrent expenditure and N1.8 trillion for capital expenditure.
The senate, based on the recommendation of the committee of the budget in its report, adopted $38 per barrel crude oil benchmark for the budget, as proposed by the federal government. It also adopted a foreign exchange rate of N197 per dollar as proposed by the government.
The senate, however, reduced the total budget sum from N6.08 trillion to N6.06 trillion: N351 billion for statutory transfers, N1.4 trillion for debt service, N2.6 trillion for recurrent expenditure, and N1.5 trillion as capital expenditure.
John Enoh, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said after its passage into law that "It was the first time since 1999 that the National Assembly would approve a figure lower than proposed by the executive."
He added that it reflected the "mood of the country and the world" and showed "discipline" of the part of the National Assembly.
Fear has gripped top officials of the Budget Department of the National Planning Ministry as President Muhammadu Buhari returns to the country this week after spitting fire abroad over alleged padding of the 2016 Budget.
This came to light on a day the President pointed out that all Nigerians must join him to prosecute the on-going war against corruption as he could not fight it alone. It was also learnt, at the weekend, that Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt.. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, have rejected the N10billion voted in the 2016 budget for the building of new official quarters for them, opting for a cut in the vote.
Angry Buhari Presidency sources confirmed to Sunday Vanguard that Buhari was very angry over the alleged doctoring of the budget by some bad eggs in the ministry, thereby trying to stifle his administration’s efforts to reflate the economy.
In the meantime, it was learnt that the President has ordered detectives to fish out those who orchestrated the padding of the budget for immediate punishment on his return to Abuja. Based on the directive, according to the sources, plain clothes detectives had since swooped on the Department of Budget and some ministries, departments and agencies to fish out those implicated in the budget imbroglio. The sources claimed that more heads may roll over the addition of figures to the original budget proposals, presented by Buhari to the National Assembly, by officials believed to be opposed to the zero-based budget system adopted by the President to cut costs and boost capital expenditure to 30 percent.
Those who altered the budget were said to have opted for the “envelope system”, which arbitrarily allocates a fixed but unrealistic sum to each unit, sometimes higher or lower than what is actually required. The detectives were said to have been scanning the initial documents used for the 2016 Budget and comparing them with the “padded budget documents”, which caused a spat between the Presidency and the National Assembly.
A source in one of the ministries, where the detectives were sighted, pointed out that the men had been examining documents for two days running.
“For two days, the detectives have been working in the Budget Department but we do not really know what exactly they picked out”, a top official in the Planning Ministry said.
“But the detectives did not molest any of the staff of the ministry. They went straight to look at the records and began to input data into their own computers”.
Already, Buhari has fired the Director of Budget and appointed a new one while moving the Budget Department from the Finance Ministry to National Planning. Some of the Budget Department officials, who were moved to other MDAs, were also being questioned by the detectives.
Last week, in far away Saudi Arabia, Buhari exploded, while addressing the Nigerian community, and vowed to severely punish those who cooked the budget to embarrass his government. The budget row between the Presidency and the NASS has, however, been thawed, raising hope it could be passed as early as next month.
Source
Vanguard
Following the revelation of several unjustifiable allocations in the 2016 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari, the federal government has finally admitted that there were errors in the 2016 Budget. In it defense, FG put the blame on the development on the adoption of the Zero-Based Budgeting System.
The ministry of dudget and national planning in a statement by the Director of Information in the ministry, Mr. Charles Dafe said the budget was well structured but those responsible for budgeting at the various ministries, departments and agencies of government were still grappling with some of the technicalities used in the fiscal document.
“The proposals have received general commendation. However, the details were developed using the Zero-Based Budget and is a new concept to our Budget Officers away from our traditional envelop process.
“The members of staff in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as well as those handling budget issues in all ministries and extra-ministerial agencies are grappling to master the technicalities in the ZBB template.
“As such therefore, some errors are not unexpected in the changeover to the new ZBB approach.
“This was the reason the ministry arranged for the proposals to be placed on the website of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to expose them to public scrutiny,” the statement reads in part.
The ministry said it will liaise with the National Assembly to address issues raised in the budget adding that the government would investigate and sanction anyone found to have been involved in any fraudulent activity as regards the budget.
“The ministry assures the general public that it will continue to liaise with the relevant committees of the National Assembly to address any issues that have arisen, or may arise.
“Training and retraining to build capacity of the Budget Officers on the ZBB concept will be intensified in 2016.
“As we move forward, lessons are being learnt; the ministry’s experience and competency on ZBB will be improved and perfected upon.
“However, the ministry has zero tolerance for malfeasance and whenever any wrongdoing is alleged, it will be thoroughly investigated and sanctions will be applied.”
Meanwhile, the National Assembly has announced the indefinite postponement of 2016 budget passage, which had been earlier scheduled for February 25, due to various controversies surrounding the document. Future date for the passage of the budget was not provided.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, the chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives committees on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Representative Abdulmumin Jibrin, enumerated a number of issues why the passage was postponed.
Source
NAIJ
The National Assembly has said it is no longer feasible to pass the 2016 budget proposal on February 25 as earlier scheduled. The development is a result of “discrepancies, errors and ambiguities” inherent in the budget proposal, the lawmakers said.
At a joint press conference in Abuja yesterday Tuesday, Danjuma Goje (APC-Gombe State), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation and Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC-Kano), his House of Representatives counterpart, said the National Assembly could not guarantee any future date for the passage of the budget.
The lawmakers denied any rift with the executive but said the National Assembly needed to do a “proper clean-up” of the budget.
“We need sufficient time to pass a comprehensive budget …. that is implementable and also acceptable,” Mr. Jibrin said.
He noted that the Presidency had admitted errors in the budget.
Two weeks ago, the Senate and the House of Representatives asked their respective Appropriations Committees to submit their reports on the budget on February 24, after rounds of defense by ministries, departments and agencies, to enable passage of the budget on February 25.
But media reports and appearances by officials before different committees of the National Assembly showed that the budget contained fraudulent, controversial and embarrassing allocations.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by Lere Olayinka, the Ekiti state governor's Special Assistant on Pubic Communications and New Media, Governor Ayodele Fayose, has urged President Buhari to save the country of the national embarrassment being caused by the 2016 Budget that he presented to the National Assembly by formally withdrawing the budget and re-presenting it.
The governor said, "The President should admit that there were avoidable errors in the budget and since he is human and not immune to errors, he should simply do the needful by presenting a new and credible budget to the National Assembly."
He condemned the revelation by the Health Minister, Isaac Adewole, as the height of national embarrassment, where he (Adewole) said that the proposal drawn up by the ministry and submitted to the budget office had been doctored and that, "foreign appropriations, different from what was submitted, had been sneaked in."
It was reported that while addressing the Senate Committee on Health during its budget defence session on Monday, Prof. Adewole stunned the Senators when he said; "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."
In his reaction, Governor Fayose said;
"Last week, we were told that the Senate discovered a sum of N10 billion questionably smuggled into the budget of the Ministry of Education for an allegedly questionable subhead.
Also, we were told of the existence of a budget mafia in the Presidency that was said to be responsible for the embarrassing allocations in the budget.
Before now, we were told that a total of N3.87 billion was allocated for capital projects at the State House Clinic alone, over N700 million more than capital allocation to all the 16 federal teaching hospitals combined.
Now, a whole minister has come out to say that budgetary provision for his ministry was forged!
If under a President that says he is fighting corruption, the budget of the country got missing and we are now being told that the budget being considered by the National Assembly has been forged, one cannot but be afraid that there is possibility of Nigeria being forged one day, after the original must have gone missing."
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki yesterday gave assurances that the details and breakdown of the N115billion 2016 budget of the National Assembly will be made available for public scrutiny after controversy trailed the breakdown of the budget.
Nigerians have cried out that the details of the 2016 National Assembly budget as a whole be made available after many suspected there might be things the legislators do not want the public to know.
Saraki said the budget would be in the public domain this year as against the practice in the past.
“My own view from the 8th National Assembly is that the time for collective participation for the good of all Nigerians is here with us in line with the change mantra of the present administration. We are all on the same page for things to be done differently.
“I think what we need now from all stakeholders , is more of cooperation, encouragement and participation as oppose to trying to hold one person responsible for the mistakes of the past that we are all part of,” he said.
Speaking further, Saraki said hinted that the National Assembly would soon come up with an amendment bill on the procurement process towards ensuring strict and transparent implementation of the N6.08trillion 2016 budget.
The deliberation on the 2016 budget took an awry dimension on the floor of the Senate as the All Progressives Congress (APC) senators and their counterparts from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expressed divergent views.
While the PDP senators sought for the withdrawal of the N6.8trillion budget, those of the APC maintained that the budget was in order. It started when Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume sought for permission to lead the debate on the budget at the plenary session. He said the the budget would promote economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction and service delivery to all Nigerians.
Ndume’s submission threw the senate plenary in disarray as some lawmakers mumbled in disagreement, with some of them shouting “order”. But Senator Babajide Omoworare raised a point of order, observing that the debate should be limited to the financial and economic situation in the country and the government’s financial policy.
“There was no need to even wait for any estimate because we are taking the general principles,” said Omoworare.
In his submission, Senator Olusola Adeyeye said the budget cannot be deliberated upon when it was clearly stated that it was the second day. But the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, urged distinguished senators to allow the leader lead the debate, even as he approved the point of order raised by Sen. Omowarare.
Noting that debate on the budget could be extended to enable the lawmakers to be ready for their debate, Saraki said,
“The debate is done on the general principles of the bill. We have always had a way of how we do our things here in the general interest. The leader proposed, he will lead the debate and we had allocated three days fromTuesday. If any senator is not prepared to contribute, we will adjust days so everybody is allowed to contribute. Let the leader lead the debate and if you need more days, we can create more days”.
But in his submission, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia) pointed out that the 2016 budget is “a change in the wrong direction”, adding that because it was based on zero budgeting, Nigeria would go about borrowing.
Speaking next was Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who noted that the nation’s budget has always seen an increase over the years, from between 10 and 20 percent. Appealing to Nigeria to be realistic, Ekweremadu warned that the 2016 Budget would not be implementable if it is not reduced by 20 to 30 per cent.
Nigerian senators have commenced debate on the 2016 budget submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari. At the commencement of the debate, Senators elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and that of the All Progressives Congress, APC disagreed on the content of the budget.
While the APC senators described the budget as that of change, the PDP senators have mocked the budget, saying borrowing to fund the budget through was not reasonable, even as they urged the federal government to withdraw the document.
Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom state has apologized to President Muhammadu Buhari over the embarrassment caused by his Senate Liaison officer and Special Assistant on Senate Matters, Chief Ita Enang.
Aniekan Umanah, Akwa Ibom state commissioner of Information issued the apology during a radio interview programme in Uyo. He said, “Our people were rather shocked when they heard on the news that a budget submitted in full glare before the senate had been retrieved and swapped illegally by Senator Enang, without the knowledge of the Senate leadership and this has brought severe ridicule to the image of the state.”
Umanah relayed the sympathy of the people of the state to President Buhari, saying no one would have envisaged that a man of Senator Ita Enang’s pedigree could have condescended to the level of such inactions leveled against him by the senate leadership, thereby being disrepute to the anti-corruption battle by the President.
The national leadership of the Labour Party (LP) has advised the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly not to consider what it tagged as ‘doctored’ budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari. It, therefore, asked the Senate to only debate on the first budget President Buhari presented to the general public and not that which was withdrawn and edited afterwards.
According to our source, the party issue this warning in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday. The statement entitled “interesting times in Nigeria”, added that the missing budget issue was one that bothers on integrity, ethics, value system and corruption. According to the party, the whole world was waiting earnestly to see what steps would be taken by the Parliament to rectify “the insolvency and act of reckless irresponsibility.”
It said,
“We, therefore, advise the Senate to consider only the budget that was originally presented by the President and in considering the budget, exercise common sense economics through the engagement of professionals in the field of monetary, infrastructural, developmental, real, ‘Micro and Macro’ economists as may be connected to the budget proposal.
“While we await the probe by the senate committee, we hope the upper chamber will ensure that necessary steps to forestall re-occurrence of such impunity as well as punishing the perpetrators of this heinous act against Democracy and the Nigeria People is put in place.”
The statement added that:
“That this is coming from a party that has sworn to bring change to our democracy leaves much to be desired and clearly sends a wrong signal to the electorate that voted for this party based on integrity.”
Source
Daily Post
President Muhammadu Buhari had yesterday Tuesday, given reasons why he made corrections to the 2016 Budget he had earlier submitted to the joint National Assembly after controversy emerged that the budget had been altered. Explaining his reasons, the president wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives as read by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara in Abuja.
The letter reads in part:
“It will be recalled that on Tuesday, 22 December, 2015, I presented my 2016 budget proposals to the joint sitting of the National Assembly.
“I submitted a draft bill accompanied by a schedule of details.
“At the time of submission, we indicated that because the details had just been produced, we would have to check to ensure that there were no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule.
“That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted.
“The National Assembly would therefore have the details as submitted on the 22nd and a copy containing the corrections submitted last week. It appears that this has led to some confusion.
“In this regard, please find attached the corrected version.
“This is the version the National Assembly should work with as my 2016 budget estimates.
"The draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in any of the figures.”
However, the letter didn't go down well with some People Democratic Party members. Raising a point of order citing Sections 81 and 84 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), Rep. Leo Ogor (Delta-PDP), the Minority Leader of the House said that the provisions of the law did not give the president powers to amend budget, adding that such powers lie with the legislature. He thus urged the house to discard the letter.
The speaker however cleared the matter as he insisted that the budget was not amended but only corrected. He said that it is only the president that has powers to make corrections to the budget if he observes any error.
That didn't go down well with PDP lawmakers who shouted a resounding "no, no!". At the end, the speaker won the day.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
