2015 budget: How MDAs conceal huge funds under questionable sub-heads

The amount will more than triple if similar scrutiny is extended to the 261 MDAs scattered all over the federation.This is coming on the backdrop of the repeated emphasis by the federal government that hard times await the country due to the crash in the international prices of crude oil, hence the need for belt-tightening […]

The amount will more than triple if similar scrutiny is extended to the 261 MDAs scattered all over the federation.
This is coming on the backdrop of the repeated emphasis by the federal government that hard times await the country due to the crash in the international prices of crude oil, hence the need for belt-tightening and waste-pruning.
In describing the 2015 budget proposal, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy (CME) and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had said, “Truly, the Budget is our collective statement – a product of many constructive contributions  – which has enabled us to prepare the Budget under the very difficult circumstances the nation is going through.”
Okonjo-Iweala assured that in these uncertain times, government would continue to take necessary steps to manage our domestic economy prudently. “We now have to change gears and move to the next level. Our economy and society must transit not only in its development focus, but also, in its financing sources and spending priorities, as well as in wealth distribution,” she said.
Government’s line of thought presupposes a drastic cut in expenditure, especially non-essential expenditures and what experts have come to describe as waste. But the Sunday Trust study has revealed areas that have continued to attract huge government provisions year-in, year-out which appear to have escaped the ‘pruning-knife’ of the Coordinating Minister of the Economy.

Welfare packages
A breakdown of the N3 billion expenditure figure revealed that N1.5 billion will be expended by 41 MDAs on what is referred to as welfare packages. The provision for what is considered welfare in some of the MDAs is far greater than what a core function is allocated.
Welfare packages to the MDAs include: State House, N287m; Pension Transitional Arrangement Department, N250m; Ministry of Finance, N175m;  Budget Office, N107m; Office of the Accountant-General, N100m, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, N64m; Ministry of Aviation, N50m; Niger Delta Ministry, N44m; Ministry of the Environment, N34m; Federal Civil Service Commission, N35m; Content Development Monitoring Board, N20m; Ministry of Power, N33m, Ministry of Labour, N35m; and Trade and Investment, N58m. Interestingly, the Ministry of Works has a low welfare provision of N5m.

Financial Consulting
Another item on the budget proposal that is raising eyebrows is themed Financial Consulting. A review of provisions for 37 MDAs showed a proposed allocation of about N400m for this exercise.
Whereas it may not surprise many to find this item on the template of the Ministry of Finance and other finance-related MDAs, a lot explanation may be required for such provisions for other MDAs.
The National Orientation Agency is expecting a sum of N25m for this item; Pension Transitional Arrangement Department, N35m; National Commission for Museums and Monuments, N7.5m; the National Gallery of Art, N12m; Electricity Management Services Headquarters, N10m; Nigerian College of Aviation, N8m and National Productivity Centre, N9.6m.
The Ministry of Finance gets N43m; Budget Office of the Federation, N1.6m; Investment and Security Tribunal, N4m, Nigerian Railway, N2 million; Federal Road Maintenance Agency, N5m; Ministry of Works, N4m; Ministry of the Environment, N3m and Office of the Accountant-General, N3.8m.

Budget Preparation
The immediate interpretation for this budget item is “a financial provision for preparing Budget estimate by MDAs.” A financial expert and chartered accountant, Mr Joseph Enenche who spoke with our reporter on this item described it as “a budget in the budget for budget.”
A study of the appropriation showed that N318m was budgeted for ‘budget preparation’ by 39 MDAs, besides the N170m budgeted for the same function by the Budget Office of the Federation. Virtually every MDA has this budget item on its list, except the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all its foreign missions.
The biggest spenders in this category include the Ministry of Aviation, N15m; Ministry of Special Duties, N10m; National Sports Commission, N10m; Ministry of Works, N9.7m; Ministry of Information, N10m; Ministry of Finance, N10m and the Education Ministry, with its parastatals N37m.
Low beneficiaries of this budgetary vote include the Ministry of Communication, N1.4m; Ministry of Transport N3m; Police Service Commission, N3.5m and the National Bureau of Statistics, N1m.
Enenche quipped, “Every government agency has got a Finance and Administration Department who should handle this responsibility, alongside with unit and departmental heads who should collate their proposed expenditure for the years. So who gets to spend this money?”

Sewerages (evacuating faeces from soak-away)
Clearing of sewerage is another interesting item of note as it does appear that all the MDAs have made this provision an annual ritual in the budget template.
A review of the sewerage item showed that 61 MDAs will expend around N285m on the clearing of faeces in 2015. These 61 agencies are estimated to have expended around N1.5 billion in the clearing of faeces from 2010 to date.
Big beneficiaries from this item include the Ministry of Finance, N30m: Ministry of Education and its parastatals, N22m; Defence Missions N12, million; Ministry of Works, N5.4m; Ministry of Transport, N5m; Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, N6m; Women Centre, N5m and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), N4m.
A building consultant engineer, Gabriel Godwin Gilbert who spoke to our reporters said, “I have worked in the Federal Capital Territory for about a decade and I have been involved with large construction. As far as I know, there is what we call central sewerage lines for the FCT where most of these MDAs are located. They are inter-connected. All they need to do is simply connect pipe(s) one to the other and the job is done.
“This provision is similar to what you get in developed societies. You can confirm this with the environmental protection board which oversees the management of this central sewerage line.”

Refreshment and Meals
Among the biggest spenders in this regard are the: Ministry of Finance, N51m; Budget Office of the Federation, N16m; Office of the Head of Service, N35m; Ministry of Petroleum, N27m; Revenue Mobilization & Fiscal Planning Commission,                    N17.4m; National Geological Survey Agency, N10.5m and Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, N10m.

Telephone
Our review of votes for 30 MDAs revealed that telephone bills will gulp about N262m. This amount indicates an average of N9m telephone expenditure by each of the 30 MDAs. This, further broken down, will amount to around N730,000 monthly on telephone bills.
The following MDAs seem to be spending more time and money on the telephone than the others on the list: Content Development and Monitoring Board, N 44m; Defence Missions, N43m; Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR), N17m; Infrastructure Concessioning Regulatory Commission, N16.8m; Ministry of Transport, N10m; Nigerian Tourist Development Corporation, N5m; Ministry of Works, N7.2m; National Commission for Museums and Monument, N4.5m; Ministry of Environment, N5m; National Salaries and Income Wages Commission, N5.3m and Pension Transition Arrangement Department, N5m
A civil servant who spoke to our reporters on condition of anonymity said, “We all know that there are no functional land lines in at least 90 per cent of the MDAs, so which telephone bills do they actually pay? Besides, most of the managers, deputy directors, directors and permanent secretaries have huge telephone allowances in their pay packages. These telephone bills, I guess, are for their families and extended families, but certainly not for their government offices.”

Single item large ticket expense
Our study also revealed some one-off items where huge sums have been proposed for expenditure in 2015. These include anniversaries and celebrations by the Ministry of Lands, N200m; information technology consulting by the Finance Ministry, N46m; and purchase of computer software by Head of Service, N30m.
Similar expenditures by fairly similar agencies in size (structure and manpower) bear wide differences: On electricity, the Ministry of Finance gets N54m; Office of Accountant-General, N62m; Foreign Affairs, N46m; Ministry of Agriculture, N26mn; Ministry of Works, N14; State House, N73m and Head of Service, N107m.
Barriser Ken Ukaoha, the National President of the National Association of Nigeria Traders (NANTS) who spoke with our reporters stated, “It seems some people do not understand these budget sub-heads. There is nothing scientific about their approach, even though they work with a template. They just ensure that a figure is entered into every budget sub- head, many of which cannot be accounted for, just like sewerage clearing. How do you audit this provision?”