FG Denies Suspicious Items in 2018 Budget
The Ministry of Budget and National Planning has denied the inclusion of any suspicious items in the 2018 Budget as contrary to what it described as speculation “by a few commentators.”
The ministry, in a statement issued by Mr. Akpandem James, the Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said: “The commentators have made observations and allegations that tend to suggest that some line items and projects in the budget are suspicious.”
It explained that the items in the budget were well conceived and provided for by the respective ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
The ministry pointed to some of the items such as N10 billion for settlement of liabilities to contractors; N22.6 billion for research and development; N308.42 million for procurement of riot control equipment for police formations, and N2.21 billion for social media mining suite by the Department of State Security Services.
Others, it stressed, were N338 million for computer software acquisition in the Federal Ministry of Finance, “which were termed as suspicious by BudgIT, a civil society organisation (CSO) active in the budget space,” adding that they are genuine provisions which have been explained by the relevant ministries, department and agencies (MDAs).
“For instance, it is common knowledge that the federal government owes many contractors for certified works dating back as far as 10 years. Thus, provisions are made in the annual budgets to offset some of these contractor liabilities.
“A good portion of these debts is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, and so the ministry made a provision of N10 billion in the 2018 budget proposal for settlement of liabilities.
“In the Government Integrated Finance and Management Information System (GIFMIS), Research and Development is a programme description that encapsulates various projects.
“In this case, a check of the budget of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment will show that this includes the N19.3 billion for the Export Expansion Grant (EEG). For several years, the EEG scheme was suspended on account of its dubious outcomes.
“However, in its bid to incentivise non-oil exports, the federal government reformed and reinstated the scheme with effect from 2017. The budgetary provision for this scheme will therefore be recurrent year after year. Indeed, as the non-oil sector picks up, the amount of provision is expected to increase.
“On the issue of N308 million for procurement of riot control equipment for police formations and the Force headquarters, there are 37 state Police Commands (FCT inclusive) and the Force headquarters.
“This amount is less than N10 million per state police headquaters. Nigeria is yet to attain the United Nations ratio requirement of one police officer to 400 citizens of a country, thus this sort of provision is to help the already stretched force to keep up with the expectation of keeping law and order during protests or matches which are the basic tenets of the freedoms allowed in a democracy,” the ministry explained.