NDEBUMOG’S Paper to Senate’s Committee on Appropriation on  Nigeria’s 2020 Budget Proposal.

 Click here to download.

Human rights and community-based groups in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital on Wednesday called for public support for anti-graft agencies fighting to track down shady public and private officials, a task that has seen some investigators killed or faced with death threats.

The groups spoke at the evaluation of review of impacts of tracing and recovery of illicit funds and assets on beneficiaries held in the ancient city.

Representatives of the anti-corruption groups spoke on various threats faced by anti-corruption detectives including threats of deaths and kidnapping issued to them and their relations.

The event was organised by the Human and Environmental Rights Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) with the support of MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Foundation (OSF/OSIWA), TUGAR, National Orientation Agency (NOA) and PTCIJ. The programme was attended by several community-based organisations, civil society, media, and labour.

Participants also spoke extensively on how various HEDA trainings across the country have strengthened their capacity to track stolen funds and illicit assets.

Nigerians were also urged to show solidarity with corruption detectives, adding that the success of their actions is crucial to lifting Nigeria from misery and poverty.

Chairman, HEDA Resource Centre, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, said Nigeria has made progress in the anti-corruption campaign.

He argued that not only at the local level have assets been recovered, but also internationally.

“Nigeria is now like a shining light for Africa in the recovery of stolen assets. Nigeria started the process of engaging the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) which has led to the recovery of huge stolen funds from abroad and arrest of cyber criminals,” Suraju said.

The participants said the human rights community was happy about how EFCC has increased pressure on the United Kingdom to repatriate Allison Madueke, the former Petroleum Minister, believed to have stolen billions of dollars of public funds.

They went a step further to congratulate Mr.Ibrahim Magu on his recognition by FBI for his achievements in fighting cyber crimes.

At the technical session, officials of EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) shared gory experiences of threats and intimidation suffered in the cause of investigating corruption related cases.

 The officials who wanted not to be named complained that politically exposed persons often threaten to eliminate corruption investigators. There have been reports of anti-corruption officials killed by suspected agents of corrupt persons.

 Other hurdles listed by the officials include the long process associated with the trial sessions aided by judicial bureaucracy and inadequate data making it difficult to trace stolen assets and political influences by elected officials.

 “We are frustrated by the judiciary, corrupt judges, lawyers and a civil service network that is noted for bad record keeping and stiff neck compliance with requests from anti-graft agencies,” an official from one of the anti-corruption groups stated.

HEDA Executive Secretary, Mr. Sulaimon Arigbabu, said Nigerians should collaborate with anti-graft agencies adding that public support automatically provide a form of immunity for anti-corruption detectives.

Other groups, who attended the training, were Niger-Delta Budget Monitoring Group, Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalism, among many others.

SOURCE

The Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEUMOG), Dr. George-Hill Anthony has appealed to both the federal and state governments to involve civil societies, community stakeholders and others in the monitoring of capital projects.
He made the appeal at a two-day Financing for Development (F-4D)- Strategic Partnership Programme (SPP), held in Akwa Ibom State.
Anthony said with such participatory approach to budget formulation and implementation, feedback would be sent directly to the federal and states ministries of finance.
He condemned a situation where recurrent expenditure gulped over 70 percent in budget estimates, saying the reverse should be the case under normal circumstances.
According to him, lack of involvement of such stakeholders at planning stages of the budget always resulted in government’s inability to achieve its outlined projects.
“As a nation there is a dislocation in the way our national fiscal projection is structured. The people have to be involved in the process of monitoring capital implementation of federal and states’ budget.
That is the key demand or appeal that we want to make.
A window needs to be opened for civil societies and community stakeholders to be involved in monitoring capital projects of federal and states’ government, where feedback will be sent directly to the federal and state ministries of finance so that they can track budget intelligence directly from the grass-root without depending on anyone.

The absence of political will and commitment, to enforce tax laws has placed undue burden on the country’s oil revenue. Also, failure to review tax legislation and lack of strict adherence to tax policy have been identified as major impediments to effective tax system in the country.
These were the findings at a recent forum organised by Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) and sponsored by OXFAM’s country office in Nigeria.It was also noted that the lackadaisical attitude of the three tiers of government in most states, excluding Lagos, to improve on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), has equally led to the arbitrary exercise of regulatory powers for revenue purposes.
Experts lamented that despite the potentials of taxation as a dynamic tool for sustainable national development, Nigeria’s tax system has been unable to achieve its objectives. They blame it on lack of robust framework to tax the informal sector and high network individuals, thus, limiting the revenue base and creating inequity.
In his presentation titled: ‘The Complexities Of Nigerian Tax System – Federal, States And Local Governments): Imperative For Justice and Harmonization,’ Mr. Akpanobong Umoh identified fragmented database of taxpayers and weak structure for exchange of information by and with tax authorities resulting in revenue leakage, which is a major obstacle in tax system in Nigeria. He also identified insufficient capacity as a major challenge, which has led to the delegation of powers of revenue officials to third parties, thereby creating complications in the tax system.
However, Umoh argued that the judiciary has a critical role in interpreting taxing statutes in the country, saying that tax law is entirely statutory and tax disputes almost always raise issue of statutory interpretation.
His words: “As a rule, tax statutes are interpreted vey strictly. There is no common law of taxation; hence no general principle of law can displace the true meaning and effect of a tax statute, which has been validly passed. As a result, the key issue in tax disputes is whether or not the words of a statute cover the alleged subject of taxation.
“Since process of tax Administration by Relevance Tax Authority revolves around Assessment, Enforcement, Collection and Reporting, it is pertinent to note that there are always disputes between the tax payer and the tax Administrator requiring the adjudication of the Judiciary.”
In his paper titled: ‘Analysing FGN’s Budgetary Stream and Connectors to Taxation,’ Chief Executive Officer of NDEBUMOG, Dr. George-Hill Anthony, noted that fiscal justice must connect tax justice and social equity, adding that such leads to effective service delivery and a good balancing between social accountability and political rights.
On the way forward to a just tax system, Anthony identified: prioritising fair taxation, monitoring extractive revenues, tracking internally generated revenue and seeking justice for victims of unfair taxation. Anthony said there is tax inequality when there is arbitrary issuance of tax waivers to the rich, whilst goods of peasant traders are ceased and offices/shops of low/medium income earners are billed with excessive tax assessment. He recommended the mobilisation of international pressure, through sustained campaigns globally for responsive tax regime as human rights obligations of state parties to United Nations Covenants and Conventions and through peer reviews, among others.
Anthony said: “Seek for Tax Violation and Remediation windows with all tiers of government with appropriate MDAs, carry out advocacy programmes and campaigns to enlighten the citizenry about responsive taxation, demand accountability and effective service delivery to serve as booster for voluntary tax compliance, reform Nigeria’s Tax Justice Platform and make it sustainable beyond the life of Oxfam’s SPP and introduce innovations into the platform.”
In its presentation, delivered by Mr. Chinedu Bassey, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), called for a clear and equitable tax system in the country at all levels of government, through collaborative partnerships and support.
According to him, part of the anomalies identified in taxation include: tax incentives for the rich against tax burden on the poor (corporate entities against MSMEs), no clear framework on informal sector taxation, unmonitored tax incentives given to companies, and issues around multiple taxation. Bassey noted that tax education was important for confidence building, saying that this would regain the trust of the people.
“Demand for accountability can only come through knowledge and the integration of the budget monitors and the sub-national tax justice platforms will foster adequate monitoring of the tax expenditures.”
In his presentation, a lecturer at the University of Calabar, Dr. Peter Oti, added that Tax education was necessary for citizens to understand the financial resources that government has at its disposal. He noted that Public revenue reporting forms one of the basis for public revenue monitoring, which ensures that revenues were properly managed, thereby supporting citizens engagement with the government on issues of public finance.
Oti urged the Civil Society Groups to ensure that aspiring political office holders clearly understand the Tax Policy and are able to articulate their plans for the tax system to which they will be held accountable.
“This can be done by forming strategic alliances with government on budget formulation and other legislative issues. Government authorities can also work strategically with CSO partners to pursue policy initiative, which may otherwise be undermined or blocked by vested interests. For example, a government considering reallocating funds from underperforming public enterprises to its basic education budget could enlist the support of CSOs to present some data to support its case
“CSOs can serve as an important asset in monitoring the implementation of government budgets, particularly when decentralized units are implementing projects in remote parts of a country. In this regard, CSOs can serve as whistleblowers to alert government officials of any improper practices.”
While speaking on the topic: ‘Influencing for Impact’, Programme Officer, Public Private Sector Transparency and Accountability Officer, Oxfam International, Mr. Henry Ushie, identified the need for a change in tax practices.As parts of the intervention strategies, he canvassed public campaigns, media, coalition building and lobby as major tools. He noted that there was need to engage directly with decision makers to promote change at private meetings, phone calls, group meetings and petitions, among others.
He said: “How do we improve on the way we collect taxes from people, does the government observe best practice and respect human rights, do they respects rights within their own space? What we see is that governments go into the street and bully people, using consultants. The tax policy has said that the use of consultants to collect tax is prohibited but we still see local government using touts going around to collect tax, we want to see how we can use all these influencing strategies to appeal to the government and their agencies to be more humane when they go out to collect taxes.
The event witnessed stakeholders from civil society organisations, private sector, academia, community groups, shadow budget platforms and members of Nigeria’s Tax Justice Platforms and related groups.In the communiqué at the event, participant observed absence of political will to enforce Nigeria’s National Tax Policy, multiplicity of taxes in all the states, confusion and collection-conflicts over tax jurisdictions, use of touts for tax collection as some problems mitigating against effective tax administration.
As part of efforts to curtail these irregularities, it was recommended that more tax awareness and education should be encouraged, as well as a review and adoption of key policy interventions and tax reform strategies implemented by the government of Lagos to improve domestic (resource) mobilization in various states.
The communiqué also stressed the “Need to streamline and outline statutory taxes for informal sectors through appropriate tax collection entities at various levels to address issues of multiple taxation and tax-borders and encroachment within sub national collection boundaries.

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group and Oxfam International have urged the federal and state governments to intensify efforts in the collection of taxes from citizens.
During a multi-stakeholder dialogue in Lagos, the Programme Officer, Public-Private Sector Transparency and Accountability Officer, Oxfam International, Henry Ushie, said that the government, both at the federal and state levels, had been soft on wealthy people in the society.
In a statement, he said, “In retrieving taxes, I think the government has been soft on the rich but that is not the same with the poor. These rich people, including the multinationals, always find a way within the law to evade tax.
“Our system also allows these big companies to operate for some years without paying a dime. It will not be wrong to say the government has not been proactive on tax collection.”
While noting that the government had yet to explore all the avenues to retrieve taxes, he stated, “We have only explored 20 per cent of those who are taxable, which means 80 per cent is still untaxed. We should be able to bring these people into the tax net.”
Ushie argued that if a person spoke with the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service or Federal Internal Revenue Service, it might say it did not have the manpower to go after people who evaded taxes.
“But if we can harmonise our scattered database systems, we can track everyone who is taxable through their Bank Verification Number or other means,” he added.
READ ALSO: Experts decry non-passage of PIB during Buhari’s first term
The Chief Executive Officer, NDEBUMOG, George Anthony, stated that it was the civic responsibility of every citizen to pay tax, regardless of how terrible a government could be.
He explained, “Paying tax is the responsibility of every responsible citizen but people don’t have an interest in it due to the poor social amenities and the state of the economy. However, when you pay your tax, you have the moral right to demand effective service and accountability from the government.”

Over the years, succeeding governments have relegated other sources of revenue, limiting the nation’s revenue to oil and a few mineral products.
However, one major source of revenue, which developed countries like Britain and United States have taken advantage of is taxation.
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Chairman, Babatunde Fowler, disclosed that the non-oil sector outpaced the oil sector with a 54% contribution to the N5.32 Trillion revenue generated in 2018.
Taxation, no doubt, contributes to making a relatively stable economy but unfortunately, the tax burden in Nigeria has not been evenly shared, with a number of vices afflicting the tax system, such as touting and multiple taxes deliberate avoidance.
In 2018, FIRS disclosed that about 6,772 billionaire businesses in in the country do not pay taxes, adding that this category of organisations have between N1b and N5b turnover in their accounts, but have no Tax Identification Number (TIN).
Experts have lamented this unsavory situation, urging the government to put in place measures for fair distribution of taxes among Nigerians.
They also urged civil society organisations (CSOs) and the media to track internally generated revenue at both the national and sub-national levels to guarantee, fairness, equity and justice in tax administration in the country.
While speaking at a two-day workshop organised by Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) and sponsored by OXFAM, Dr. George-Hill Anthony also supported transparency, saying it is the way forward in developing the country.
In his presentation, titled: Analysing Federal Government Budgetary Stream and Connections to taxation, Anthony who is the CEO of NDEBUMOG alleged that occasionally, the government would claim to wave tax payment for some people or organisations because of partnership but would not involve other segments of the populace. He condemned such dealings that are not made in the open.
He added that for the country to be on the path of sustainable growth and development, there was need for the government to promote openness and transparency in economic decisions and policy making.
Anthony noted that it was unfair for government to be granting tax wavers and incentives to the rich, while insisting that the poor fulfill tax obligations.
He said: “There must by fiscal transparency. For example, if a rich man is going to build a concrete road and government is not going to pay, ideally the money that such company is going to use to build that road is going to be deducted through that company’s tax, however, there must be transparency. It should be made open for all to see. There shouldn’t be any secrecy.
“Citizens should know about the incentives between the private company and government on tax wavers. That is fiscal transparency, equity and social freedom. They should be put in the public.
Every human being that is of economic value has a price tag, either you are rich or poor. The so-called rich have a price tag, which is their net worth.What is the amount of tax that they are paying; are they paying at all or not? That is tax equity. There must be tax equity across board.
So, what we are demanding is tax equity and social freedom. Also, all these PPPs that government is going into with countries around the world, what are their implications to our children,” he asked.
At the workshop, which had participants drawn from 16 states – Abia, Imo, Enugu, Lagos, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Ebonyi, Cross River, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, Oyo and Rivers state, it was noted that lack of coordination of tax justice efforts in the formal and informal sectors of the economy lead to reduced results.
It was also noted that the vague and open-ended nature of some items on the approved taxes and levies list was responsible for the exploitation of the poor and the widening of the inequality gap.
They hinted that the unavailability of robust database for Federal, State and Local Government taxpayers, has led to complications on tax collection on each level.
Specifically, Senior Consultant, Frontline Consulting, Mrs. Victoria Okonko lamented that despite increased number of taxes approved for collection, a lot of illegal charges exist in some states and local governments.
She identified the illegal charges to include: environmental support fees, permit/processing fees, pest/vector controls fees and rumination charges, effluent discharge and turbidity levy, operational permit/sewage, LG support levy, LGA sanitation and ecological tariff.
She noted that the states involved in these “illegal” taxes cut across board but are more pronounced in Abia, Edo, Bayelsa, Delta, Ondo, Bauchi, Kaduna, Plateau, Kastina and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
She therefore recommended education for taxpayers on approved taxes and review of States and Local Government operations by the Joint Tax Board (JTB).
“There should be a mechanism to pass all proposed tax laws through a central body, perhaps the JTB in addition to the existing procedures to ensure that arbitrary/similar tax laws, which are disconnected with the overall policy direction are not included.”
The consultant bemoaned that despite fines and imprisonment stipulated by relevant laws, there were still occasions of tax touting in the country.
She noted that it is now common that unprofessional and untrained individuals were engaged to enforce collection of taxes and levies.
“Only professionally trained personnel should be involved in tax assessment and collection. The JTB could explore the possibility of centrally recruiting, training and deploying personnel to collect taxes at LG level to ensure professionalism and reduce multiple taxation.”
In the communique signed at the end of the workshop, the group recommended massive deployment of technology in the tax collection process to ensure transparency and to block leakages.
It also asked that JTB, which comprises the Federal, State and Local Governments should expedite the process of harmonizing taxes across the federation and streamlining collection points to avoid multiple taxation and extortion.
It also urged government to review existing tax laws to meet with contemporary economic realities, as well as ensure the achievement of voluntary compliance by taxpayers.
“CSOs should expand and deepen advocacy on tax policy improvement to deepen commitment to reducing inequality. CSOs should aggressively deepen advocacy and sensitization amongst the vulnerable groups, most especially women in the informal sector from being harassed and overburdened by tax payment,” the group said.

The importance of the budget for effective service delivery in any country cannot be overemphasized. It has been recognised that the budget is perhaps the most important instrument for the development of any modern state apart from the constitution. It can be argued that it is only through the instrumentality of the budget that the government can allocate resources to deliver services to the people especially the poor and excluded.
During military rule in Nigeria, citizens participation in the budgetary process was virtually non-existent. The reading of the budget every January was a mere ritual with no bearing to actual government expenditure. But on return to civil rule in 1999, expenditure by government is expected to be strictly in accordance with the 1999 constitution and appropriation act for each year. The first set of engagement by citizens groups on the budget on return to civil rule in the early 2000s focused essentially on budget analysis with emphasis on sectoral analysis of the budget. Meanwhile, from 1999 to 2016, there was steady economic growth and receipt of oil income of over N70 trillion. But this did not translate into poverty reduction or service delivery to citizens. Citizens groups now turned to analysis of transparency issues and frivolous items in the budget. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and BudgIT have consistently analysed the budget for frivolous items for more than ten years. Similarly, CIRDDOC has carried out studies on transparency of the budgeting process at the subnational level in Nigeria.
In 2016, a DfID project known as Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) commenced work on the budgetary process. The project identified the blockages to effective budgeting and public expenditure to include lack of transparency in the budget process; poor prioritization; frivolous expenditure and poor oversight. Its work has gone beyond the focus on sectoral analysis and frivolous expenditure to deal with issues of transparency and accountability; equity, geography, demography and structure of the budget. In particular, it has focused on equity issues and service wide votes and key areas that can bring fundamental changes to the budgeting process in Nigeria. It has facilitated consistent and rigorous analysis of the budget. It also facilitated the National Budget Group made up of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Public Private Development Centre (PPDC), Basic Rights, BudgIT, Civil Society Action Coalition of Education for All (CSACEFA) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).  Many other partners active in the loose network facilitated by PERL include PMP, Jigawa; Kano Budget Working Group; Coalition of Civil Society in Niger;  Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED) ;Coalition of Association in Kaduna State, CODE, NOA; Premium Times; Advocacy Partnership in Yobe State and Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC).
GAINS FROM PREVIOUS ADVOCACY 
Over the years, efforts made by citizens groups, private sector organisations and the media has yielded some gains in the budget process in Nigeria. There is clearly an improved engagement by citizens in the budgetary process. Discussions about the budget take place almost on a daily basis in the social media, newspapers, radio and television. Several citizens groups such as BudgIT, Centre for Social Justice, Follow the Money, CODE, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, NDEBUMOG, etc are tracking the budget. The Budget Office of the Federation has produced a simplified budget that citizens can engage with. The government has also set up the Citizens Budget Portal containing relevant budget information. On the citizens portal is an application that citizens can use to monitor projects and report. Citizens groups working with relevant committees of the National Assembly have developed tracking template that citizens groups can use to track the budget for the report to be used by the National Assembly for oversight. Citizens groups and the media are now more systematic in engaging the budget process. Several media platforms now have programmes dedicated to budget issues. In addition, there are marginal increases in allocation to the social sectors.
In the 2000s, citizens groups were participating in the Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) process. But from 2008-2015, the MTSS process was suspended but reintroduced in 2016. In the 2016/17, 2017/2018 and 2018/19 MTSS processes, citizens groups did not participate. But in the 2019/20 MTSS process, PERL in partnership with the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) facilitated the engagement of citizens groups. Citizens groups participated in the MTSS of several sectors including education, health, Science and Technology. The Citizens groups that participated include Global Centre for Human Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Development (GLOCHEED), Kano Budget Working Group, PMP, Jigawa, CIRDDOC, Enugu, Voice and Accountability Project (VAP), Yobe,  and Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME).
Over the years, citizens have attempted to engage the budget cycle from preparation, approval and implementation to reporting/feedback. One phase that citizens participation has been minimal is the budget preparation phase. However, in the last few years, there appears to be some engagement.  For instance, some organisations such as Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) utilized Town Hall Meetings to collate citizens-based project for input into the 2018 budget. Similarly, Kano Budget Working Group collated citizens demand from 115 communities across 44 Local Government Areas in Kano State and shared with their federal legislators.
Since return to civil rule in 1999, citizens groups have engaged the budget appropriation process. This usually occurs after the presentation of the budget proposal to the National Assembly by the Executive.  Partly as a result of advocacy by citizens groups, the first National Budget Hearing was held in February, 2017. By February, 2018, there was no sign of the second public hearing and citizens groups intensified advocacy and the second National Budget Hearing was held from 27th-28thMarch, 2018. Several citizens groups have participated in the National Budget hearings including JDPC, African Centre for Entrepreneurship, I-PAC, PLAC, CSJ, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Advocates for Human Rights, YIAGA, Global Agenda, CSACEFA, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Price Water House Coppers, SDN, GLOCHEED, Citizens Rights Concern (CRC), PMP.  At the second public hearing, the leadership of the National Assembly announced that public hearing has been institutionalized and will be held every year.
Budget implementation is one area that citizens have been active especially in terms of monitoring budget implementation. Over the years, citizens’ groups and the media have been monitoring the budget process in Nigeria and the National Assembly has been doing oversight. Meanwhile, the volume of frivolous expenditure as captured by civil society is not decreasing and the work of civil society is not feeding the oversight work of the legislature.  This is why Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) developed a budget tracking and reporting mechanism agreed by relevant committees of the National Assembly and Citizen groups.  PERL reflection session with  partners in 2017 indicated that many organisations are now actively tracking projects in the  budget. These organisations include  Connected Development (CODE/Follow the Money); Project Monitoring Partnership (PMP), Jigawa; Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), Kaduna; Civil Society Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA); and  National Orientation Agency (NOA) .
Finally, the audit process and reporting process is one area where there has been limited citizens participation. It is the last loop of the budget cycle and it determines how well the resources are utilised to provide services to citizens. The constitution provides for annual auditing by the office of the Auditors General of the Federation and States. The reports are supposed to be submitted to parliament to aid oversight function and published for use by citizens for advocacy. The challenge is that in the past, the report is always late and not accessible to citizens. In any case, the 2016 Federal Government Audit report has been released and published on the website of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation. Increasingly, citizens groups are taking interest on audit issues.
However, despite the gains from previous advocacy, there are still issues with the budget process especially with the process of making the budget and the content of the budget.  This is why citizens groups must deepen their engagement with the 2019 budget process.
ADVOCACY ISSUES FOR THE 2019 BUDGET
The 2019 proposed budget is N8.83 trillion which is 3.2 percent less than the N9.12 trillion in the approved 2018 budget but 2.5 percent higher that the N8.61 trillion proposed by the President in 2018. The 2019 proposed budget is based on an Oil benchmark crude oil price of US$60 per barrel; an oil production estimate of 2.3 million barrels per day; and an average exchange rate of N305 to the US dollar; and  target Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of  3.0 per cent. There are a lot of pending advocacy issues which needs to be dealt with to derive maximum result from the 2019 Budget.
Process of Making the 2019 Budget
First and foremost, there are still issues with the process of making the 2019 budget. Although some citizens groups participated in the Medium-Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) process, there is still no systematic way of capturing citizens input into the budget process in Nigeria. Some of the MDAs are not very co-operative with citizens groups participating in the MTSS process. The oversight of the budget process by the legislature, civil society and the media is still weak. Citizens groups do not participate in committee hearings on the budget. The Public Accounts Committee which was very popular in the second republic is still not very effective. There is still confusion on the limits of legislative power in appropriation.
Content of the Budget
Secondly, there is no much improvement in the content of the budget. There is still low budgetary allocation to sectors that will have impact on the lives of citizens such as Agriculture, health, education and infrastructure. For instance, while the budgetary allocation to education by Republic of Benin and Ethiopia is more that 20 percent of the total budget since 2012, that of Nigeria is less than 10 percent. In the 2019 proposed budget, the allocation to education is N620.5 billion (about 7.05 percent), a marginal raise of the total of N605.8 billion budgeted for the sector in 2018. It is very clear that allocation to education is very low in Nigeria especially when compared to other African countries: Burundi -16.59 % in 2010; 14.98 % in 2011; 16.43 % in 2012 and 17.24 % in 2013; Benin-25.02 % in 2012; 22.34 % in 2013; and 22.23 in 2014; Ethiopia 26.30 % in 2010; 29.67 % in 2011; 30.54 % in 2012 and 27.02 in 2013; and Madagascar- 19.78 % in 2011; 20.33 % in 2012 and 13.99% in 2013.
c. Budget Realism
Thirdly, there has always been issue with budget realism. In the past four  years, the exchange rate has been fixed around N305 to the US dollar. This is very far from reality in the alternative market. Even the oil revenue is projected at 2.3 million barrels per day. The actual for 2016 was 1.83 mbpd; 2017 was 1.85 mbpd; and 2018 was 1.81 mbpd. There is a large variance between projected parameters and actual results. For instance, the OPEC quota to Nigeria is 1.9 million barrels per day but 2019 proposed budget is 2.3 million barrels per day.
d. Geographical Balance and Equity
Fourthly, geographical analysis of the budget indicates that there is nostill no systematic way to ensure fairness and equity e.g. analysis of the proposed budget for ministry of Works, Power and Housing capital budgets indicates that 17 percent was allocated to FCT, 7 % to North East, 20 % to North West, 6 percent to North Central, 7 Percent to South East, 12 Percent to South West and 31 percent to South South.
e. Recurrent Expenditure
In addition, recurrent expenditurecontinues to increase, and capital expenditure continues to decrease. In the 2019 proposed budget, only 23.02 percent is allocated to capital expenditure. There is a need to increase capital allocation in the budget. This is crucial especially as part of this percentage is administrative capital comprising of budget for monitoring and evaluation; site visits and workshops. Meanwhile, capital expenditure is crucial for the development of any country as it is dedicated to the creation of new assets that leads to economic development.
f. Timeliness of the Passage of the Budget
Timeliness of the passage of the budget has been a big issue in the last few years. The 2018 budget proposal was laid before the National Assembly on 17thNovember 2017 and signed into law on 20thJune 2019 taking a total of seven months and three days. The 2019 proposed budget was laid before the National Assembly on 19thDecember 2019. The Fiscal Responsibility Act requires the completion of the Fiscal Strategy Paper by September each year and this has been hardly adhered to. There is the need to adhere to the Fiscal Responsibility Act and present the fiscal strategy paper and budget on or before September every year and ensure passage before the end of the year so as to return to the January- December budget cycle.
g. Structure and Transparency Issues with the Budget
There are structural and transparency issues with the budget process which needs to be dealt with. For instance, the budget structure provides for seven statutory transfers to the National Assembly (NASS), Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and Public Complaints Commission (PCC). For the 2019 proposed budget, the allocations were N125 billion to NASS; N110.5 billion to UBEC; N86.14 billion to NJC; N95.19 billion to NDDC; N45.50 billion to INEC; N1.5 billion to NHRC and N4.2 billion to PCC. It is important to note that there are no breakdown of these transfers to facilitate tracking.
In addition, every year, the budget devotes 4.18 percent of the federation account to special accounts for Ecological Fund( 1.0%); development of the Federal Capital Territory (1%); Stabilisation Fund (0.5%) and Natural Resource Development Fund (1.68%). The Ecological Fund is for the amelioration of general ecological problems in any part of Nigeria. Stabilisation fund is to be administered by the Minister of Finance for the purpose of initially augmenting any absolute decline in revenue suffered in any state arising from factors outside its control as a result of application of the revenue sharing formula in accordance with acceptable threshold and duration worked out by the revenue mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC). Natural Resource Development Fund (NRDF) is created to develop the non-oil sector particularly the solid mineral sector. Since these funds operate outside the budget process, there is the need for more monitoring and tracking. This is particularly important as the 2012 FGN audited report states clearly that “there is evidence of abuse in the administration of the three Extra-Budgetary Funds-Ecological Fund, Stabilisation Fund and Natural Resource Fund”. The alleged wrongful purpose includes for servicing budget deficits, giving loans to federal ministries, payment of identity cards programmes and payment of severance benefits. Moreover, the 2016 audit report has raised a lot of complaints including decreasing allocation to audit function, poor overhead releases against already inadequate budget and neglect of audit queries.
h. Debt Profile
The budgetary allocation for debt service in the 2019 budget proposal is N 2.26 trillion representing 25.6 percent of the proposed budget. This represents the highest share of the budget allocated to debt service since Nigeria’s exit from the Paris Club of debtors in 2005/2006. There is the need for monitoring of Nigeria’s rising debt profile.
i. Outcome of the Budget
Measuring performance of budget through monitoring and evaluation is very important for every country. Monitoring and Evaluation can provide governments with a method of learning from past experience, improving service delivery, planning and allocating resources, and demonstrating results as part of accountability to key stakeholders. Measuring the performance of budget can occur at three levels:
Input level: How much of the budgeted amount was released and used in implementation.
Process:How was the activities carried out-Procurement process; are the activities happening as and at when due?
Output, Outcome and Impact:
Output is the immediate result of the activities e.g. how many kilometers of road tarred.
Outcome is the effect of the budget activities or any change attributable to the budget activities e.g. expansion of market as a result of road tarred.
Impact is change in people’s lives attributable to the budget. E.g improved quality of life as a result of improved income; improved livelihood and reduced accident from the road tarred.
There is the need to measure budget performance beyond the amount of money spent to measuring performance at the three levels of input, process and output/outcome/impact.
j. Service Wide Votes
Another huge issue with the 2019 budget is service wide votes. Service Wide Votes became part of the budgetary process in Nigeria from 2003 to 2007. It was actually introduced to improve budget credibility and enhance fiscal discipline. Service Wide Votes is made up of unallocated funds set aside to meet genuine budget details of which cannot be ascertained at the time of making the budget because of sudden escalation of prices, contract variation, natural disasters, etc.  The international good practice in budgeting is to set aside unallocated amounts for unforeseeable or indeterminate expenditure at the time of budgeting. But to promote transparency and accountability, it is recommended that “Contingency Budget” or service wide votes should be between 3 and 10 percent of the original budget. But service wide votes have increased steadily in Nigeria. It increased from N871 billion in 2015 (32.8%) to N1.14 trillion in 2016 (35.4%) to N1.3 trillion in 2017 (34.2 %) to N1.8 trillion  in 2018 (37.6%) and to 2.14 trillion(30.5%)  in the proposed 2019 budget.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
The budget is crucial in allocating resources and delivering services to citizens. In the last few years, there has been some improvement in the budgetary process especially in terms of citizens engagement, but a lot still needs to be done. There is the need to deepen citizens engagement with the budgetary process. Conscious efforts need to be made to create more awareness and advocacy for deeper citizens engagement in the budget process. There needs to be a systematic way to get citizens input into the budget through consultation, dialogue, town hall meetings, citizens charters and other tools. Secondly, citizens groups need to prepare evidence-based presentations to the National Assembly at National Public hearings to influence the process and content of the budget process. Thirdly, more citizens groups need to systematically track and monitor projects in the budget and submit report to the National Assembly for oversight. Fourthly, there is the need for the Ministry of Budget and National Planning and the Budget Office to institutionalise the participation of citizens groups in the MTSS process. Fifthly, citizens groups need to engage more with the audit process and engage in evidence-based advocacy based on the report of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
Finally, the Federal Government need to be responsive to the advocacy issues that have been raised by citizens groups over the years. The first issue is that of budget realism. The government need to amend the macroeconomic framework of the 2019 budget to be more realistic. The second issue is the need for more budgetary allocation to sectors that will have impact on the lives of citizens such as agriculture, health, education and infrastructure. The third issue is the need to eliminate items that can be considered as frivolous, inappropriate and unclear. Budget lines items should be clearly defined to remove any doubt and ambiguity. In addition, there should be geographical and gender balance for the budget. Furthermore, efforts should be made to reduce recurrent expenditure and service wide votes rather than increasing them.
Strategist, Policy Analyst and Development Expert

Chukwudi Akasike
The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group has called on government at all levels to consult Nigerians during budget preparation.
The budget tracking/monitoring group made this call during its one-day fiscal inclusion town hall meeting on Thursday in Igwuruta, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It argued that monies spent by both the federal, state and local governments belonged to the citizens and added that they (Nigerians) should know what their funds were expended on.
A communiqué signed by Mrs Blessing Ogbuji, Nnodim Gift, Mrs Juliana Onuoha and Coxson Queen Barine, added that government should prioritise human needs and strategic planning that engendered women’s right.
“Monies spent by the government belongs to the people, hence citizens must be consulted during fiscal processes by every tier of government.
“Government at all levels should place value and priority on (inclusive) human needs, livelihood and strategic planning.
“Knowledge about shadow budget as essential fiscal tool is relegated to the background and neglected in budget tracking and in the fight against corruption. Fiscal domination by men is a factor that hinders social harmony and encourages inequality.
“Exclusion of women in communal, cultural, traditional and political settings should be addressed through fiscal approaches and policies that promote inclusivity towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Participation of women in community projects alongside other social, cultural and economic sectors should be encouraged,” the group, also known as NDEBUMOG, said in its communiqué.
Participants at the event lauded NDEBUMOG and its partner, known as Oxfam, for taking such a programme to the hinterlands and semi-urban areas.
The participants pledged to be fiscally responsive within their areas and solicited for more meetings in semi-urban and rural areas.

YENAGOA – Some stakeholders in the Niger Delta have called for the capacity building of communities in the region to empower them on needs assessment and shadow budgeting to achieve development in rural areas.

They also demanded for the participation of women in community projects and other social, cultural and economic sectors for a better society.

They made their positions known in two separate communiques issued at the end of separate town hall meetings on community needs assessment and shadow budgeting organised by the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) at Igwuruta and Oyigbo, Rivers State, with support from Oxfam Nigeria’s Financing for Development Programme.

The participants who were drawn from Etche, Ikwerre and Oyigbo Local Government Areas of the state, observed that most communities lacked capacity to carry out needs assessment and shadow budgeting.

They stated that knowledge of shadow budgeting would empower community people fiscally in a democracy.

They also insisted that community women groups and community associations should be consulted as part of budget consultations to deepen participation in community development.

The communiques stated in parts, “Budget tracking should be taken seriously by communities in synergy with CSOs and responsive agencies of government “That government at all levels should place value and priority on (inclusive) human needs, livelihood and strategic planning, which engenders women’s rights.

“That exclusion of women in communal, cultural, traditional and political settings should be addressed through fiscal approaches and policies that promote inclusivity towards the SDGs.

“Budget of government should be opened for proper accountability, transparency and tracking by communities and other stakeholders.

“Projects are imposed on communities without considering their needs.”

SOURCE

Participants at town hall meetings organised by the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, with support from Oxfam in Nigeria for Igwuruta and Oyigbo communities in Rivers State have said communities in synergy with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and responsive agencies of government should take budget tracking seriously.
The participants at the one-day fiscal inclusion meetings said government at all levels should place value and priority on inclusive human needs, livelihood and strategic planning, which engenders women’s rights.
They also argued that women’s exclusion from communal, cultural, traditional and political settings should be addressed through fiscal approaches and policies that promote inclusivity towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They implored that women’s participation in community projects, alongside other social, cultural and economic sectors be encouraged.
They further said capacity building and sensitisations are needed to empower communities on how to carry out needs’ assessment and shadow budgeting, as such knowledge can help to fiscally empower the people in a democracy.

Human rights and community-based groups in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital on Wednesday called for public support for anti-graft agencies fighting to track down shady public and private officials, a task that has seen some investigators killed or faced with death threats.

The groups spoke at the evaluation of review of impacts of tracing and recovery of illicit funds and assets on beneficiaries held in the ancient city.

Representatives of the anti-corruption groups spoke on various threats faced by anti-corruption detectives including threats of deaths and kidnapping issued to them and their relations.

The event was organised by the Human and Environmental Rights Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) with the support of MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Foundation (OSF/OSIWA), TUGAR, National Orientation Agency (NOA) and PTCIJ. The programme was attended by several community-based organisations, civil society, media, and labour.

Participants also spoke extensively on how various HEDA trainings across the country have strengthened their capacity to track stolen funds and illicit assets.

Nigerians were also urged to show solidarity with corruption detectives, adding that the success of their actions is crucial to lifting Nigeria from misery and poverty.

Chairman, HEDA Resource Centre, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, said Nigeria has made progress in the anti-corruption campaign.

He argued that not only at the local level have assets been recovered, but also internationally.

“Nigeria is now like a shining light for Africa in the recovery of stolen assets. Nigeria started the process of engaging the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) which has led to the recovery of huge stolen funds from abroad and arrest of cyber criminals,” Suraju said.

The participants said the human rights community was happy about how EFCC has increased pressure on the United Kingdom to repatriate Allison Madueke, the former Petroleum Minister, believed to have stolen billions of dollars of public funds.

They went a step further to congratulate Mr.Ibrahim Magu on his recognition by FBI for his achievements in fighting cyber crimes.

At the technical session, officials of EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) shared gory experiences of threats and intimidation suffered in the cause of investigating corruption related

cases.

 The officials who wanted not to be named complained that politically exposed persons often threaten to eliminate corruption investigators. There have been reports of anti-corruption officials killed by suspected agents of corrupt persons.

 Other hurdles listed by the officials include the long process associated with the trial sessions aided by judicial bureaucracy and inadequate data making it difficult to trace stolen assets and political influences by elected officials.

 “We are frustrated by the judiciary, corrupt judges, lawyers and a civil service network that is noted for bad record keeping and stiff neck compliance with requests from anti-graft agencies,” an official from one of the anti-corruption groups stated.

HEDA Executive Secretary, Mr. Sulaimon Arigbabu, said Nigerians should collaborate with anti-graft agencies adding that public support automatically provide a form of immunity for anti-corruption detectives.

Other groups, who attended the training, were Niger-Delta Budget Monitoring Group, Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalism, among many others.

SOURCE

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) has called for expansion of government’s anti-corruption agencies, by co-opting Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the fight against corruption.This was part of its recommendations at a two-day training programme for CSOs on “Inclusive budget and Basic Economic Literacy,” with support from Oxfam, held at Umneak Hotels Ltd, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Participants were drawn from CSOs, media, community leaders, traditional institutions and Shadow Budget Groups, across Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Bayelsa and Rivers States.Recommending that government institutions should be strengthened through strong laws and good governance, group said: “Government and citizens must build strong institutions for a greater society. CSOs must intensify their efforts towards making people realise that power belongs to them, a factor, if well deployed during elections, through the media, lobbying and electoral justice should facilitate good governance for collective good.
“Civil Society actors must be steadfast and driven by passion to better the lots of society and be above pecuniary gains. Government should expand its anti-corruption agencies, such as, the Police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau and Fiscal Responsibility Commission by co-opting CSOs in the fight against corruption.”
According to the communiqué, there should be a performance dashboard in every state for measuring fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability, and that government should seek a new and sustainable means of paying its debts and reduce borrowing.
The group also called for gender equity in the implementation of poverty alleviation programmes, in such a manner, that will be beneficial to women and men. “Budget monitoring and evaluation should be an integral part of CSOs’ everyday activities to ensure that fiscal transparency on the part of government are implemented without hitches.
“Fiscal transparency and accountability should be introduced as a course of study in all secondary/ tertiary institutions to fast track the indoctrination of the concept among young people.”They observed that government institutions are weak and are not able to deliver their set goals, adding that CSOs are not doing enough to check the excesses of government as they became inactive after military rule in 1999.

In a bid to promote fiscal transparency and accountability in governance which reflect the needs of the citizenry, the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), with support from Oxfam in Nigeria, recently organised a series of town-hall meetings in some states in the South-South and South-East regions of the country. Abimbola Akosile presents some outcomes from the interactive sessions.
The need to open up the process of governance to citizens’ scrutiny in Nigeria has assumed a larger dimension. Likewise, the quest for transparency and accountability in budgeting process is fast becoming a sine qua non for any positive development process. For those states in the Niger Delta region, which have been beneficiaries of billions of naira from the 13 per cent derivation principle from the federal revenue allocations, many analysts feel there has not been any corresponding development to match the revenue inflows; hence the need for greater focus on the governance process.
These issues, among other development challenges formed part of the thrust of activities undertaken by a non-governmental, non-political and non-religious (national) organisation with wide regional network across the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), with support from Oxfam in Nigeria, to bring governance closer to the people at the community level and grassroots. The meetings were part of the activities of Oxfam’s Financing for Development – Strategic Partnership Program (SPP-II) being implemented by NDEBUMOG and other strategic partners.
Promoting Transparency As part of the SP-II activities, NDEBUMOG, headed by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. George-Hill Anthony recently undertook an inclusive budget advocacy visit to the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori.
According to Anthony, “NDEBUMOG envisions a Niger Delta where all public resources are maximally utilised for the benefit of all citizens and a mission to promote transparency and accountability for sustainable development in Niger Delta and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. “The aforesaid vision and mission, along with our aims and objectives has deepened our work largely to a national and international (strategic) interlocking with relevant stakeholders, groups and institutions.
According to him, “We have collaborative synergies and partnership with some agencies, locally and internationally including the African Development Bank, United Nations, DfID, World Bank, USAID, Budget Office of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance, National Assembly Budget & Research Office, OSSAP-SDGs, SMBEPs, National Assembly Committees, National Planning Commission, NGO Unit in the Office of the Senate President, States’ Legislature within the region, except, Delta State, among others.
“However, the communities remain our critical partners. Importantly, our organisation holds a Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.
“As part of the Strategic Partnership Programme’s five pathways for change and realising that the legislature is an important partner in the campaign towards fiscal influencing at the grassroots, we are here to seek broader partnership with the Delta State Legislature under your able leadership for a mutual partnership that shall be beneficial to both parties. “We are gearing for more of these collaborations with other parliaments across the country, including yours; for the sake of interlocking the grassroots on participatory (inclusive) budget with your assembly, among others”, he added.
Asaba Intervention As follow-up to the advocacy visit to the Speaker, a one-day Town Hall meeting on community needs assessment and shadow budget was organised on January 30 by the NDEBUMOG with support from Oxfam in Nigeria recently in Asaba, Delta State. Participants were drawn from communities and development clusters around Asaba in Delta State. The meeting is a communally-centred platform used for the mobilisation of community stakeholders, particularly, women, opinion molders, chiefs, youth leaders, aged-group leaders, leaders of community associations and development committees/clusters, faith-based groups, development officers and planners within the Local Government Areas around the (THM) cluster to the gathering, among others.
Presentations and interaction during the meeting were focused on: Strategic influencing through Oxfam’s pathways of change: perspectives on strategic partnership and financing for development; Community needs assessment and action plans: the connectors with the budget cycle for effective development at the grassroots; Community development action plans through shadow budget: approaches and methods; and Taxation and budget within the context of development dynamics.
Key points focused on: goals and motivation; actors and power analysis; Strategy design; projects planning and implementation; learning about fiscal architecture; Needs assessment and why needs assessment; the connection between needs assessment and budget; and how needs assessment affects women at the grassroots.
Other key points include: relationship between livelihoods, human needs, and empowerment of women through basic economic literacy; and Strategic partnership programme (SPP) and connection with sustainable development at the grassroots.
Following deliberations, the participants adopted action points and committed to implement and embark on actions below at community level as budget monitors:
These include: to engage Local Government Chairmen, especially Chairman of Ethiope East LGA on Eku/Abraka Road, which was described as a death trap. The road was contracted about two years ago but not done till date; the premises of Ethiope East LGA are in a state of disrepair and dilapidated and should be given the necessary intervention through repair.
They also resolved to identify abandoned projects and contractors handling the projects; embark on advocacy visit to the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning; develop a shadow budget to help with effective monitoring to avoid wastages; engage relevant stakeholders in budget monitoring; and engage in participatory budget advocacy visit to the Delta State House of Assembly.
The communiqué was jointly signed by the NDEBUMOG; Representative of Oxfam in Nigeria; Representative of CISLAC; Int’l Centre for Women Empowerment & Child Development; Aniocha North community delegates; Oshimili South and Oshimili North Community delegates.
Obio-Akpor Scenario Another one-day Town Hall Meeting on shadow budgeting and community needs assessment was organised by NDEBUMOG with support from Oxfam in Nigeria on February 2 at Elelenwo in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. Participants were drawn from communities and CBOs around Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt City Local Government Areas. The meeting was formally declared open by the Paramount Ruler of Elelenwo Clan, HRH, Ambassador Sunny Weli. Deliberations at this Town Hall meeting centred on budgeting, community needs assessments, and community action plans through shadow budgeting approaches. After presentations and deliberations, the participants observed and expressed concerns: that there is general lack of interest by communities in participation towards the budgeting process, due to lack of awareness by government; that budget documents are still being treated as top secret by government actors, as the documents are not accessible to the public; and that budgeting and fiscal processes lack community inputs and proper needs assessments. They also observed that government budgets hardly tackle community needs at all levels of government; and that communities in the Niger Delta have remained mostly under-developed in spite of huge resources from the region, largely due to corruption and fiscal indiscipline. The participants at Obio/Akpor resolved and recommended: that government at all levels should make the budget processes more open and transparent to ensure and encourage citizens participation; and that government at all level should make budget documents and other financial information open and accessible to the public and should further avoid politicising budgets. They also recommended proper community needs assessments as part of budgeting process to ensure the real needs of communities are incorporated in the budgets; and that there is need for massive mobilisation and sensitisation of the citizens for effective participation in budgeting.
Citizens were encouraged not to continue shying away from participation in the budget cycle and governance, as it is a collective communal responsibility to demand accountability and hold government accountable for implementation and deliveries of capital projects and programmes in their localities. NDEBUMOG and other CSOs were also urged to embark on advocacy to relevant government agencies, with the view to encourage them to advocate for open governance from the budget to audits, monitoring and evaluation.
Participants at the town hall meeting opined that there exists a huge gap between government’s budget and citizens’ needs. To them, the government and communities should therefore adopt the resolutions of the Town Hall meeting to ensure that budgets reflect the needs of citizenry.
The communiqué was jointly signed by Coxson Queen Barine; Gift Amadi; Ijumaka Kote; and Peace Peter of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group
Enugu Parley A third Town Hall meeting on shadow budget and community needs assessment was organised by NDEBUMOG in conjunction with Oxfam in Nigeria on February 8 at Bridge Waters Hotel, GRA, Enugu State.
The meeting was aimed at creating awareness about issues of participatory budget and the use of factsheets as a tool for fiscal lobbying, influencing and development of community action plans. It was part of the activities of Oxfam’s Financing for Development Strategic Partnership Program (SPP-II), being implemented by NDEBUMOG and other partners across Nigeria.
Participants were drawn from several sectors, including Local Government Representatives, legal practitioners, traditional rulers, CSOs, students, National Council for Women Societies and other professionals. The meeting was declared open by the Traditional Ruler of Uruku Kingdom, HRM, Igwe (Dr) Cornelius Nomeh, JP, the Eze Udo 1 of Uruku Kingdom.
The Enugu forum observed that citizens at the community level do not have interest in budget work and do not ask questions aimed at holding the government accountable. To the participants, such citizens treat budget and governance as exclusively a matter for those in power. Therefore, the need to hold government accountable on what happens in the budget circle is a collective responsibility and not the business of government alone, they observed.
It was also observed that government do not carry out community needs assessments before deciding on projects to be allocated in the budget on behalf of communities nor bother to find out, what the people truly needs, when and how they need it.
They also observed that the general lack of interest in the budget by communities and the failure to hold government accountable have created the opportunity for those in power to mismanage Nigeria’s commonwealth.
From the fact sheets presented to stakeholders during the meeting, it was observed that up to 80 per cent of line items allocated in the capital budget for Enugu State in the 2016 FGN’s Budget were never carried out.
Such, for instance, are: construction of block 3 classrooms with VIP office, toilets and furniture at Community High School Obioma, Udi LGA, allotted N15,000,000 was not constructed; construction of Road Network in FGC Enugu allotted N34,264,125 was not constructed; construction of Perimeter Fence worth N15,002,484 was not constructed as the school already has a fence. Also a sum of N293,145,984 that was allocated to improve the standard of education at FGC in Enugu was never utilised etc.
The participants resolved and agreed that monitoring the budget processes and implementation is a collective responsibility, as the governors or presidents may have the time to monitor budget.
To them, it is citizens responsibility to monitor budget through manpower development on budget processes and analysis, reporting to community leaders or civil society groups and through press conferences and walking up to relevant government agencies. “We will hold companies in our localities accountable for corporate social responsibility (CSR), ensuring that they carry out NEEDS Assessment in the communities before implementing community development programmes. Citizens also need to engage these entities to ensure that they pay their actual tax regularly”, participants added. To them, women should be sensitised on the need and importance of their involvement in shadow budgeting, as women and children are the most marginalised in Africa.
Participants demanded that the 2016 Federal Government’s budget as it affects Enugu State should be revisited with a view to implementing the projects contained therein. They commended NDEBUMOG and Oxfam for the meeting, which they said was an eye-opener for bringing such an important meeting to Enugu stakeholders.
The communiqué was prepared by a Communiqué Drafting Committee, including Dr. Godstime Okafor (Global Law Firm); Mrs. Nneka Ikeh (Legal Practitioner); Chioma Madukwe (Socio-economic Researcher); Barrister Ebere Chikezie (Legal Practitioner), and Dr. Joycelin Okubuiro (Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus). Barrister Chinasa Agu Ndubisi moved the motion for adoption of the communiqué and was seconded by Engr Alloysius Iloka.
Nsukka Meeting
The fourth Town Hall meeting on shadow budget and community needs assessment organised by NDEBUMOG in conjunction with Oxfam in Nigeria was held on February 10 at Jerry Marriot Hotel, Nsukka, Enugu State.
Participants were drawn from Local Government Areas around Nsukka, legal practitioners, traditional rulers, CSOs, youths, women groups, academia in Enugu North Senatorial District, among others. The meeting was declared open by the Traditional Ruler of Nkpunano, Nsukka Ancient Kingdom, HRM, Igwe (Dr) Ambassador Patrick Okolo, Chukwu Nwe Eze 1 of Nkpunano Kingdom.
There were presentations on community needs assessments and shadow budget made by a team of facilitators, which further elucidated discussions during the gathering.
Participants in Nsukka observed that majority of community stakeholders, do not participate in government budget process, due to lack of interest and opportunity to participate; and that community needs are hardly captured in the government budgets as a result of failure to incorporate and carry out community needs assessments in the budgeting process.
To them, budgeting processes are not transparent and budget documents are hardly accessible to the public, especially, Local Government Budgets; and that rather than tackling the needs of communities, government budgets have become avenues for corruption.
The participants also observed that many of the projects allocated to Enugu North in the Federal Government’s 2016 Appropriation Act, were either; not executed, abandoned or not completed. Most of the projects seem to be highly inflated and some duplicated, they noted. It was further observed that some projects executed by the World Bank were also contained in the 2016 Federal Government Budget.
It was also observed that health workers charge money for maternal and child services, whereas; such services have been declared as free by government.
Participants at the forum recommended that community needs assessments should be made an integral part of the government budgetary and fiscal processes at all levels to ensure that community needs are appropriately captured in the budget;
They resolved that government should not only make budget participatory, but should encourage citizens, including community stakeholders to participate actively in the process; that the 2016 Federal Government’s Budget should be revisited, so that the projects earmarked for Enugu State, which were either, not carried out or abandoned should be carried out to conclusion.
To them, the government of Enugu State should embark on the probe of its free medical scheme to fish out, for sanctions, those who collects money from patients, even when the treatments are supposed to be free; government at all levels should make budget documents accessible to the public, since budget is a public document; and hoarding of budget documents does not augur well for accountability, openness, and access to information.
The participants resolved to embark on budget advocacies, using the shadow budget techniques in order to attract development to their areas. They further resolved to embark on awareness campaigns in their localities to arouse the interest of community members for participation in budget and governance process.
The participants thanked NDEBUMOG and Oxfam for the Town Hall meeting, which they said was an eye-opener to them. The communiqué was jointly signed by: Mrs. Onyechi Tochukwu – Obimo Community/Dept of Economics, UNN, Nsukka; Dr. Uchechukwu Onah -Department of Educational Foundations, University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Mrs. Amadi Happiness of Nsukka Community, and Mr. Celestine Okwudili Odo of Oxfam in Nigeria.
Agbor Event A fifth Town Hall Meeting on fiscal influencing, shadow budgeting and community needs assessment was also organised by NDEBUMOG with support from Oxfam in Nigeria on February 15 at Agbor, Delta state.
The meeting was focused at creating awareness on issues of inclusive budget, community needs assessment, basic economic literacy, shadow budget, fiscal lobbying and community mobilisation for responsive governance. Factsheets were used to motivate participants on how to develop community action plans, including how to lobby for inclusion of such action plans in the budget through knowledge of shadow budget.
It was also part of the activities of Oxfam’s Financing for Development- Strategic Partnership Program (SPP-II) being implemented by NDEBUMOG and other strategic partners. Participants were drawn from communities around Agbor, women groups, youths, academia, including a few CBOs around Agbor, among others.
Following deliberations around issues of budget and fiscal processes of government, participants observed that citizens, especially, persons at the community level, hardly participate in government’s budget process or on other aspects of fiscal governance, due to lack of opportunity to participate.
They also noted that community needs assessment is crucial in budget making, as such, will ensure community needs are included across the budgets of all tiers of government. Presently, community needs assessment are hardly factored into government fiscal blueprints, which will negate the achievement of SDGs by Nigeria, they observed.
To them, political office holders, who ought to be representatives of the citizens, have detached themselves from the people they ought to represent, which makes it difficult for citizens to lobby for their inclusive budget needs.
They also observed that the manner in which the government handles issue of budgets, from conceptualisation, preparation, passage, implementation, monitoring and evaluation does not allow for transparency, and that budget documents are hardly accessible to the public, especially, at the Local Government level.
Participants also observed that rather than the budget being a tool that tackles societal problems, it has become a platform for looting of public treasury; and that many projects earmarked for Agbor’s cluster in the 2012 and 2013 Delta State Government’s appropriation, were not carried out. Some of such projects are reappearing in subsequent budgets; which could not be tracked, as most locations for the projects were not clearly stated in the budget document, they added.
Participants demanded that the government revisit 2012 and 2013 budgets to remedy non-implementation of projects that appeared for Agbor’s cluster in previous years, which were not implemented.
They recommended that government should incorporate community needs assessment as part of the budgeting process. “At the beginning of any budget cycle, governments should create forums for collecting and collating community needs. Such will make the government people friendly and purpose driven”, they added. To them, budget documents are public documents and should be made accessible to the public, rather than being treated as secret documents. People’s right to access information should be respected; Government should make the budget process open and participatory and should encourage citizens, including community stakeholders to participate through the process. “Citizens should begin to show interest in governance and should begin to ask questions on how they are being governed, demand accountability as a democratic prerogative, including the right to know and the right to participate in governance. “Government should ensure that projects contained in budgets are duly executed in line with specifications to avoid abandonment; political office holders should create avenues for regular interactions with the people that they represent. This will ensure that interests of the citizens are protected at all times”, the forum recommended.
Participants resolved to embark on awareness programmes to enlighten communities on the need to embark on budget monitoring as a civic duty; and to use knowledge of shadow budget and related techniques impacted on them at this town hall meeting as an advocacy tool to attract developments to their communities and resolved to begin the monitoring of budgets to ensure that projects allocated to their areas are carried out.
The participants thanked NDEBUMOG and Oxfam for the meeting, and pleaded with the organisers of the meeting to ensure such meeting holds periodically, maybe quarterly. They further requested that NDEBUMOG and Oxfam should regularly update them with budget/public financial information to enable them follow up on budget monitoring. The communiqué was jointly signed by Ogbeni Chris (Owa Community, Ika North East); Omate Stephanie (Ozoro Community, Isoko South); Orumgbe Sandra (Agbor-Obi, Ika South), and Philips Chinwe (Asaba, Oshimili South).

By
Dr. George-Hill Anthony- Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, NIGER DELTA BUDGET MONITORING GROUP
Inequality can be defined as lack of equality among people, race or class of interest.
Further, the contextual squabbles about inequality could be broadened beyond a people or a race to bureaucratic doctrinarianism, systemic subjugation, social-class contestation and economic dominance that is promoted by any state (power) directly or indirectly.
To drive the logic of this piece between class inequality and fiscal inequality is the fact that many in our society have not realized the political armament in the budget, which can be conjugated to neutralize present day class-upheavals, ethnic agitations, political dominance, gender injustices and psychological capture of a section of folks into perpetual subjugation as an (ill) reward for electoral loyalty from the plusses of dislocated budgetary crumbs, a model useful for agents of state’s capture against the victims of fiscal inequality within the contestation of Nigeria or Africa’s fiscal conundrum. It may be interesting to understudy how Brazil, Venezuela, China, Philippines and Malawi lifted millions of their citizens out of poverty within the context of fiscal architecture of governance, either; through the sensibleness of socialist, communist or populist rationality of governance that bridges the class gap or on fiscal personification of state power and resources (Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez era), which may have lifted many (Venezuelans) out of poverty but unsustainably with a relapsed, just as many of Nigeria’s National Assembly members personalizes constituency projects, being a trend across the three tiers of government in Nigeria, where political and bureaucratic actors allocate capital projects on the quirks and impulses of political flimsiness to promote a circle of fiscal rascalization and injustices that raises social tensions…
Nigerians must, therefore, bring to the front burner and tackle same within allowable democratic space, these factors; which promotes suffocative inequality within the populace. Some of the factors are:

•       Personalization of fiscal blueprints
•       Blend-padding of capital envelopes with smoky completed narratives
•       Radicalization of oppressive mentality against women through line mis- prioritization
•        Bullying of the executive with inappropriate democratic sentiments to give way for systemic promotion of fiscal injustices
•       Arm-twisting every arm of government, including the judiciary to let the NASS people go…
•       Restriction of inflow-outflow account to the confines of Accountant-General and Auditor-General’s cubicles in Abuja
•       Violation of the Public Procurement Act through non-constitution of National Council on Public Procurement

Some anti-corruption campaigners on Sunday warned against a feud between the acting chairman of the anti-graft EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
The two senior law enforcement officials have not openly castigated each other, but anti-graft activists say they are alarmed by recent “shadow boxing” that could truncate the anti-corruption drive of the Buhari government.
“What the country needs at this moment, particularly in the war against corruption, is focused leadership,” the campaigners said in a joint statement to PREMIUM TIMES Sunday.
“In our opinion, this is no time to give in to the wiles of inordinately ambitious fifth columnists.”
The statement was signed by Chido Onumah, African Centre for Media & Information Literacy; Olanrewaju Suraju, Civil Society Network Against Corruption; Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre; Mohammed Attah, Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative; George-Hill Anthony, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group; and Ibrahim Modibbo, Democrats of Conscience.
The activists said some recent actions of Mr. Malami have exposed his incompetence and desperation to deface the image of Mr. Magu, whose commitment to the anti-corruption war they lauded.
They condemned a recent opinion piece penned by Mr. Malami’s media aide, Salihu Isah, as “sweeping and grievous,” yet “without an atom of proof.”
Mr. Isah had accused Mr. Magu frustrating efforts to reform the country’s anti-corruption mechanisms, resulting in the suspension of Nigeria from Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, an informal network of national financial intelligence units.
The Egmont Group suspended Nigeria at a July 5 plenary in Macao, sending ripples through the country’s anti-corruption circles.
Some analysts argued that the development could severely weaken Nigeria’s ability to fight endemic graft, since it would mean that other countries would stop sharing crucial financial and other information with Nigeria.
Nigeria is slated to be completely removed from the list by January 2018 unless some immediate changes are implemented. Foremost amongst Egmont Group’s demands is the independence of Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit from the EFCC.
Although Mr. Magu maintained that the NFIU had not been compromised in any way by his commission, the Senate amended the NFIU law last month, splitting it from the EFCC.
The House of Representatives has not picked up the amendment, but Speaker Yakubu Dogara had spoken strongly against it.
“If we start granting autonomy to some of the units, and then instead of cooperating, we are having inter-agency rivalry, you will further frustrate the battle against corruption,” Mr. Dogara said last month.
It remained unclear if President Buhari will sign the amendment even if the House concurs with the Senate.
Presidential spokespersons Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES request seeking the position of the administration on the amendment.
In their statement Sunday, the activists absolved Mr. Magu of any wrongdoing in the Egmont Group fallout, slamming Mr. Isah for acting as Mr. Malami’s proxy to raise an issue which Mr. Buhari had already set up a committee to look into.
They also weighed in on a recent demand by Mr. Malamithat the EFCC give regular updates to the Attorney-General’s office on ‘serious cases’. (A case is considered serious if it involves N50 million and above, according to the EFCC regulations 2010.)
Mr. Malami had accused Mr. Magu of flouting the regulations by keeping serious cases away from him as the AGF. But the EFCC denied shutting the AGF out of its decision, saying it had cooperated fully with demands because it recognised the supervisory role of the Ministry of Justice over its activities.
The activists said Mr. Malami lacked moral rights to demand such updates from Mr. Magu because he had either bungled or failed to thoroughly prosecute so many cases since assuming office.
“Even in cases such as the ones involving judges arrested for alleged corruption by the State Security Service, the AGF has not fared well in prosecuting them,” they said.
In contrast, Mr. Magu had prosecuted hundreds of cases since he assumed office, the activists said.
“We don’t think the action of the AGF is in tandem with the anti-corruption agenda of Mr. President!” they added.

The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has concluded arrangements to terminate about six abandoned projects spread across the region with a view to enhance the development of the region.
The Minister, Uguru Usani, made this known while receiving the report on the audit and review of the East-west road and other project of its Ministry in Abuja.
Mr. Usani said that following the report from the Ministerial Technical Audit Committee on the contracts awarded from 2009 – 2015 in the Niger Delta, some projects were proposed for termination.
He listed the projects to include construction of OkpuhutaMbano Junction – Orie market –Lomara- Igwebulka (35km) – Abia State; Land reclamation and Erosion control project at OguduAbia Phase I, Abia State.
Others are Idoro-Eastern Itam Water Supply Scheme Akwa Ibom; Construction of Mbak Atai-Ikot Ntu-MkpetiOkuiboku road project (13.86km) Akwa Ibom State; Ukparam Water Supply Scheme and Construction and Supervision of Omelema – Agada II Road, Rivers State. Project Length 14.415km.
The minister said the projects were proposed for termination as a result of lack of capacity to complete the work as witnessed on site.
He listed the projects to include construction of OkpuhutaMbano Junction – Orie market –Lomara- Igwebulka (35km) – Abia State; Land reclamation and Erosion control project at OguduAbia Phase I, Abia State.
Others are Idoro-Eastern Itam Water Supply Scheme Akwa Ibom; Construction of Mbak Atai-Ikot Ntu-MkpetiOkuiboku road project (13.86km) Akwa Ibom State; Ukparam Water Supply Scheme and Construction and Supervision of Omelema – Agada II Road, Rivers State. Project Length 14.415km.
The minister said the projects were proposed for termination as a result of lack of capacity to complete the work as witnessed on site.
Mr. Usani said the committee juxtaposed its findings from project sites against facts retrieved from available documents domiciled in the departments that supervised the projects.
According to him, there were violation of contract award process, from the cycle of procurement planning to contract award. He said the committee noticed inconsistencies with the provisions of vital aspects of the Procurement Act.
“Prominent among other issues of violation were indiscriminate award of contract by initiating and benefiting departments without the leading and guiding role of the procurement department,” he said.
“Awards never took cognizance of availability of funds and annual appropriation provisions.”
The minister said the structure and content of some contract agreements lack checks and balances, saying that they hardly protect the interest of the Ministry in case of disputes.
He said the imminent picture of abandoned and uncompleted projects was as disturbing as the retinue of projects that extremely exceeded the dates of completion.
“This manifestly, emanated from inconsistency in government annual budgetary provision and lack of capacity to deliver especially where funds released do not correspond with performance.
“Most contracts were awarded with specific dates of completion but were not captured in subsequent appropriations,” he said.
Emem Odok, an architect from Cross River, described the policy as a waste of money.
“What is wrong with the government calling the contractors to order? The excuse by the ministry doesn’t hold water at all.
“Rather than terminate a project that is 45 per cent completed, why not terminate the contract and re-award the contract to another company that is most capable of completing it,” he asked.
“The ministry has practically abandoned the Calabar skills acquisition centre, these beautiful structures are wasting away and being destroyed by erosion.
“What measures has the government put in place to address such wastage,” she said.
Okon Udoh, a retired Civil servant, said the ministry has so many abandoned projects spread across the region, saying that the Federal Government should address the issue, if truly government wants to develop the region. (NAN)

We cannot continue to deceive ourselves as a nation and expect to make meaningful progress. This century is driven by the digital economy and knowledge industry. These two indexes are mass based. Countries that invest their annual budgets massively on education and vocational training would naturally take advantage of this digital-based economy. For example, South Korea, which was ranked as an underdeveloped economy along with Nigeria in the 1960s, today is the 5th largest economy in the world. The reason is not far-fetched; it made a conscious effort to invest massively in education and vocational training. To match words with action, that country invests roughly 60 per cent of her annual budget in these two areas. This is a country that does not have any known substantial raw materials. It chose to invest in the human capacity of the citizenry. What do we have in Nigeria? Our dear country has proposed to invest only three per cent of its annual budget in education when about 60 million Nigerians cannot read and write. Let us imagine how these millions of Nigerians would transform Nigeria if they have access to qualitative education and vocational training. Looking at this scenario, would you say we are prepared for diversification?  We must begin to do things differently if we are serious about diversification.
•Prof. Tunde Fatunde (Senior Lecturer, Lagos State University, Ojo)
It doesn’t show from this budget that we are really serious about diversifying the economy away from oil. We have yet to see major investments in agriculture and agro-allied industries that will help us diversify. There is no major initiative in tourism, there is no major initiative in solid mineral development, and we have not seen investments in these items that will give us comfort that we are committed to diversification. All the assumptions are based on reliance on oil revenues.
From the point of view of diversification, I don’t see something that calls for cheer. The good news, however, is that the capital expenditure component has been increased to 30 per cent on the average which is some improvement from what it used to be. It used to be 18 per cent and 20 per cent when we are lucky, but now it has reached 30 per cent which is good and should give us some hope. But we are still far from where we should be. This is because in China, Bolivia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, the reverse is the case. Capital expenditure is 70 per cent while recurrent expenditure is 30 per cent. Only a fool spends his entire income on just feeding with nothing left to plan for tomorrow.
We need to work harder and think smarter on these issues. Even the much talked about Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, this budget doesn’t really make much reference to it. With the budget just coming now, we would have expected reflections on the ERGP. Finally, it is looking as if our National Assembly can take the budget and rewrite it to fit their whims and caprices; it is very wrong. Our constitution is defective in the sense that they can literally get unlimited powers to rewrite the budget. The only proviso is that whatever they bring is financeable and once it is financeable, they can overrule the President. In civilised democracies, this does not happen. In the classic division of power, it is the Executive which wears the shoes that knows where it pinches. The role of the Parliament is to look at it and raise issues where there make amendments. •Dr Obed Mailafia (Economist/ex-Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria)
The fact that what we are investing in infrastructure in 2017 is less than what we invested in 2016 shows that the budget is actually not expansion, not pro-investment and not pro-growth. Forget about the figures in naira, you have to calculate the figures in dollars because most of the goods we import in terms of infrastructure investments are calculated in dollars, not in naira. So, Nigeria has to come up with a comprehensive master plan on how to regulate infrastructure investments because it is only by developing our infrastructure that our businesses will be globally competitive, and that is the only way by which the nation can truly begin to grow and diversify away from this mono-economy which our dependence on oil revenues represents.
It requires that we sit down in this country, brainstorm and agree on how to solve this problem. You can borrow money, but you don’t just go and borrow without a comprehensive master plan on how you intend to invest it and get return on that investment. Which critical infrastructure do you intend to invest in to develop the economy? There are companies who have $1tn in foreign reserve, we must look critically at the things we must do to reverse the situation we are faced with today because our population is growing. •Mr. Odilim Enwegbara (Abuja-based development economist)
The 2017 budget was anchored on pulling the economy out of recession and stagflation as well as taking the path of self-sustainable growth. What is important is not the budgetary amount set aside for funding support to agriculture which is not enough for a N100tn economy that seeks to diversify away from import dependency, but rather policy articulations that seeks to support public private partnership as well as direct private investment in agriculture and agro allied industries.
We need to focus on policies that support backward and forward integration and seek to make agriculture a business rather than just for self sufficiency.
Recapitalising Bank of Agriculture as well as $1.3bn anticipated off-shore investment to support the proposed Development Bank of Nigeria are areas that need to be fast tracked in 2017 to ensure that single digit interest rate funding to agriculture and agro allied businesses become a reality, thereby supporting Gross Domestic Product growth rate, reducing foreign exchange pressure for imports as well as minimising the impact of imported food inflation in our economy.
The National Bureau of Statistics data have shown that contribution of agriculture to nominal GDP for example, has grown higher than it was. This is positive and assuring as there is now ownership.  This, however, needs to be complemented by walking the talk in ensuring the 2017 budget fiscal stimulus is implemented as much as possible.
Nigeria has huge economic potential outside oil sector which is largely untapped due to the so called Dutch Disease that has, for years, made us lazy and always relying on a mono commodity called oil as a source of income, notwithstanding the fact that oil constitutes only 10 per cent of our Gross Domestic product.
There is potential for growth in non-oil export in most states and virtually all the states have one form of economic competitive advantage or the other.
For example, virtually the whole of Zamfara State is sitting on gold and diamond largely untapped with little going to illegal miners. The current economic reality is a good opportunity for us to diversify. •Mr. Rislanudeen Mohammed (Lead Fellow, Institute of Fiscal Studies of Nigeria and Managing Director, Safmur Investments Limited)
The 2017 budget is a fiscal rhetoric; it is the same circle that Nigeria has been in for some years now. So, I don’t think it is a strategic roadmap for redemption from the quagmire that we have found ourselves as a country.
Even the agriculture the government is talking about, we are aware that farmers, these days, are being kidnapped. In the area of diversification, insecurity is a problem because we have people, who have interest in agriculture, but they cannot go to farm as a result of insecurity. I think that the people that are running government are totally disconnected from the reality on the ground.   •Dr Georgewill Anthony (Executive Director, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group)

Goodwill Message by Oxfam in Nigeria at the Training for Community Women and Men on Livelihood Needs Assessment, Budgeting, Taxation and Influencing, Holding at Gold Value Hotel, Upper Chime Avenue, Enugu, March 14-15, 2017

The Commissioner for Gender Affairs and Social Develoment Honorable Princess Peace Nnaji, Mr. Nnanyelugo Dan Onyishi, Executive Secretary, Enugu State Economic Planning Commission, Mrs Mabel Chinwe Agbo SPA to the Governor on MDG/SDGs, Mr. Uche Nnadi SSA to the Governor on Domestic and Foreign Aid,  Civil Society Partners, Ladies and Gentlemen, please permit me to stand on all established protocols.

 It is with great pleasure that I deliver this goodwill message on behalf of Oxfam in Nigeria as we embark on this important exercise today. Let me start by expressing our profound gratitude to the Governor of Enugu State for allowing Oxfam the space that has made this training possible. Recall, between November 28 and December 1, 2016, Oxfam in Nigeria and its partners conducted a two Day training for selected MDAs across four states in Enugu on Resource Mobilization and Fiscal Governance. Subsequently, we held the second batch of the training in February 2017 and today, we are here again to continue the training support.

 Oxfam’s mission all over the world is to foster a just world without poverty. In Nigeria, Oxfam works with and through Civil Society partner organizations in the areas of Economic Justice/Livelihoods, Humanitarian programming, Advancing Gender Justice / Female Leadership and Good governance, adopting a rights based approach.  We do this guided by the three pillars that underpin our work – empowered citizens, fostering participatory, transparent and accountable governance and enabling men and women participate in and benefit equally from the process of development. We are only able to actualize this mission by working in collaboration with various actors and stakeholders – citizens, civil society organizations, international institutions, private sector players, governments amongst others. This is because the journey to a just world, and indeed a just Nigeria without poverty is one that no one entity can undertake alone. It requires broad based collaborations with everyone playing their respective roles to the best of their abilities. Governments must create an enabling context that expands the productive capacity of the economy, private sector actors have to commit to fostering markets that are equitable and deliver shared value to all, with citizens willing and able to actively engage with the governance process, and to be the drivers of their journey to a better life devoid of poverty.

The purpose of this training is to equip community women and men with the requisite skills, fiscal knowledge and information to be able to identify their Needs, prioritize them and link up with the relevant institution.

Specifically, the training has the following objectives;

• To strengthen the capacity of 200 women and 175 men on community needs and sustainable livelihood assessment in Enugu state within 3 years.
• To build the capacity of 200 women and 175 men on budget monitoring and preparation of shadow budgeting in Enugu state within 3 years.
• To facilitate the emergence of a critical mass of informed community members on fiscal issues through training in Enugu state  by June  2019.
• To promote the creation of linkages between community women groups, existing platforms on budget monitoring and tax justice.

These objectives align with the four Point Agenda of Enugu State Government, especially the agenda on enhanced social services and good governance. They also resonate with Oxfam’s mission and vision in Nigeria of actualizing a Just Nigeria Without Poverty.

The planned two (2) Day training is funded by Oxfam’s Finance for Development (F4D) project under the Strategic Partnership Initiative supported by the Dutch Government, and being implemented in four states of Nigeria: Enugu, Rivers, Delta, Lagos States and the FCT. The projected longterm outcome of the project is to create a situation of improved policies and practices of government and private sector to result in reduced poverty and extreme inequality through more effective and efficient management of Nigeria’s tremendous resources and increased citizen participation.

Oxfam in Nigeria is very happy to welcome you to this important training event holding today and tomorrow. We again express our heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Enugu State for collaborating with Oxfam to make this training a reality.  We also thank our partners (Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), and the KEBETKACHE Women Development & Resource Center) for their support and contributions towards ensuring that the planned objectives of this training are realized. We commend all the community women and men who have made time to participate in this training. We urge you to please utilize the opportunity being offered to enhance your knowledge in the issue areas to be discussed, for the improvement of your state, LGAs, and your communities.

Oxfam once more welcomes us to this great occasion and look forward to our effective participation in the training.

Thank you and God bless you all.

Mr. Celestine Okwudili ODO,

Programme Coordinator, Governance,

Oxfam in Nigeria

Oxfam’s Strategic Partnership Project-Financing for Development in  Nigeria

Overview of Training for  Community Women and Men on Needs Assessment, Livelihood,  Budgeting, and Influencing for Enugu State 

This training seeks to empower community women and men to participate in decision making, become active citizens and benefit from better living standards through increased availability of essential services.  The objective is to strengthen the capacity of 200 women and 175 men on community needs and sustainable livelihood assessment in Enugu state within 3 years. We  trained about 80 persons in January 2017. We have also trained in Rivers and Delta states. Altogether since we set out in September 2016, we have trained over 350 persons across the 3 projects locations –  Delta, Rivers and Enugu states.

  At the end of the 3 years we expect  the emergence of a critical mass of informed community members on issues of community needs assessments and budgets as well as taxation .

create a situation of improved policies and practices of government and private sector to result in reduced poverty and extreme inequality through more effective and efficient management of Nigeria’s tremendous resources and increased citizen participation.

There are 5 pathway of change in this project namely; Improved Policies of Government, Improved Policies of Private Sector, Strengthened CSOs, Increased Citizens’ Voices and finally building Stronger and wider Alliances. We are more concerned with strengthened civil society organizations and increased citizens voices. All of you beneficiaries are carefully selected to represent Civil society, local communities, market women, cooperatives, small scale farmers, artisans, traders, persons with disability, faith based organizations etc. It is our expectation that this project and the efforts all the Oxfam partners have put in will result in improved policies and practices of government; it will reduce poverty among community members and will increased our voices particularly the way we relate and engage with government officials and / or Ministries.

Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre is conducting this training but the trainers are officials of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG); both Kebetkache and NDEBUMOG are  part of the local partners of  Oxfam Novib.  We welcome NDEBUMOG and specifically thank them for their impactful training since we started this process.

The training will include lecture on introductions to budgeting, needs assessment,  monitoring and evaluation and there will be practical sessions on needs assessment and budgeting. It is will be highly participatory and interactive every body has a safe space to discuss freely.

We welcome all of you to the training and appreciate the cooperation of the Enugu state government through the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);  the Enugu state Economic Management Team for their support and full participation in the project.  On behalf of Kebetkache I want to express our goodwill to Mrs Oluka, the Perm Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs we learnt she was involved in a car accident and has been hospitalised. We wish her a speedy recovery.

We also deeply appreciate Oxfam Novib, particularly Mr Celestine Odo, without Oxfam Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre wouldn’t be training right now in Enugu state.

For the two days that we will spend together here, I urge all of us to take everything here seriously. You have a responsibility to learn and take back to your group or community to effect desirable changes.

 Thank you and welcome!

Kebetkache Nigeria

State governments have been advised to consider the idea of collaborating especially at the regional levels to tackle the current sharp reduction in revenue occasioned by the drop in global oil prices.
They have also been advised to do more in promoting accountability and transparency in government so that their activities are not carried out in secrecy.
The advice was given by 106 participants at a two-day training for Ministries, Departments and Agencies from Enugu, Delta, Lagos and Rivers States on resource mobilisation organised by the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group in Enugu. A copy of the training’s communique was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday.
The participants also urged state governments to ensure that taxes are used judiciously for the benefits of the people, especially the poor.
The communique read, “We encourage subnational governments to engage in intergovernmental collaboration, especially at the regional level, to provide a solid platform to overcome the current squeeze occasioned by sharp drop in revenue.
“Joint projects/programmes by subnational governments can be designed to scale up investments to cover more communities as well as ensuring increased benefits to the citizens.
” Subnational governments should develop smart strategies for formalisng the informal sector, particularly the non-oil sector. Governments need to provide active support to both SMEs and large industries, especially in the area of value chain development, in order to improve revenue mobilisation and fiscal independence.
“Subnational governments should put systems and strategies in place to ensure that our taxes work for the people, especially the poor.
“This will act as an incentive against tax avoidance. We seek tax reforms that promote an ICT database system, fair representation, transparency and progressive tax laws, policies and practices (e.g. tax to service agreements) capable of addressing poverty and inequality.
“Lagos State leadership in this respect is highly recognised and recommended for other states.”
State governments were also asked to work out strategies for improving service delivery by transforming their internal processes and providing exemplary leadership to the people.
They were urged to make their budgets participatory, people-centred and gender-sensitive.
“Subnational governments should adopt best practices in promoting transparency and accountability in governance.
“Citizens and non-citizens need to demand that the budget and other fiscal documents be made open and posted at the public domain for easy monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes.
“Governments should optimise the potentials of ICTs in this regard,” the communique added.

The Niger Delta area in Nigeria was, for centuries, before the 1950s, a zone of peace and an environment of easy, leisurely life, as well as merry living. It was a region with an abundance of livelihood opportunities for its inhabitants. Today, however, it is described, in some quarters, as a “boiling point”. It has become the epicenter of conflicts, corruption and other crimes. It is the hub of all sorts of illegal trafficking—in crude oil, in arms and ammunition, in drugs, and even in human beings. It is, in short, the hotbed of insecurity and instability. The previously friendly natural environment of the region has been polluted,degraded, destroyed and, therefore, become hostile to human, animal and plant habitation, existence or survival. Livelihood opportunities in the region are now few and far between. And human life in the region is nasty and short.
Yet, paradoxically, the Niger Delta is, in fact, naturally, a locale of abundance. It is rich in natural resources: luxuriant mangrove forests, a variety of fishes, arable land, and immense amount of hydrocarbon deposits. Its peoples, owing to the region’s proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, were among the earliest beneficiaries of western education in Nigeria and many of them are highly educated. The earliest Nigerian training colleges and secondary schools were established in the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta is also financially wealthy: in terms of resource revenue derived from it and used to swell the national coffers and also in respect of public revenue flowing into it from the national treasury. The Niger Delta is by far much better off than most other regions of Nigeria. To cap it all up, there is no dearth of development and financial plans in the region. From the famous 15- Year Niger Delta Development Master Plan, constructed with the support of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), through the Annual Budgets of the Ministry of the Niger Delta, the Annual Budgets of the State Governments in the region, and the Annual Budgets of the Local Governments in the region, one would expect to see a spectacular rate of development in the region. But is that the reality in contemporary Niger Delta?
This important question is what the book, THE BUDGET TRUTH, sets out to answer. Emanating from the productive mills of the research industry of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), the book is a priceless mine of empirical data and insightful analysis. Its sixteen chapters contain invaluable knowledge on methods of impact analysis, proportions of capital projects, in the region, completed, uncompleted, on-going and with unascertained status, and recommendations on how to solve the problems thrown up by the study on effective budgeting and budget implementation.
The report encapsulated into this book is divided into 16 chapters. The first chapter captures the background of the Niger Delta Question, which brought to bear, the quest for the development of the region, and the realities for fiscal accountability, which are quite essential for the region, since trillions of Naira in allocations have so far not transformed the region. Other chapters are interesting for any reader. On 19 July 2014, the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG) forwarded a proposal for the SDGs to the Assembly. The proposal contained 17 goals with 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues. These included ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests. On 4th of December 2014, the UN General Assembly accepted the Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report which stated that the agenda for the post-2015 SDG process would be based on the OWG proposals. This Book shows the connection between budget monitoring, vis a vis budget tracking, with sustainable development. Within the SDGs, these facts are well amplified repeatedly in aspects of inclusiveness, a fact, further reinforced along the targets. Inclusiveness is one of the most lacking credentials of Africa’s democracies, including Nigeria. Participatory budget is part of inclusive governance with certain precepts, which includes but is not limited to: access to information, transparency, accountability, fiscal justice and inclusion, gender equity and several elements of social accountability, which have all been gulped down by corruption. The SDGs and the role of the civil society towards attainment of it by 2030 form the opening chapter for this Book.
The issues of transparency, accountability, anti-corruption, along with addressing fiscal injustices in the region, must be tackled before this development can become a reality, hence, the existence of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, as a regional organization, which exists to bridge the gaps.

Following our earlier Press Release concerning the unfolding drama vis a vis denials and argument by some persons; that budget padding is a part of “normal” legislative privileges, hence, their argument that the matter should be left as in-house legislative matter of the House of Representatives to resolve, we have decided to put fresh facts before the public concerning what budget padding is, its implications for larger society, just to let the public know that such is a fiscal crime against a country and humanity.

1. Budget padding is a systemic disease and works like a contagious virus, which has capacity to sully MDA’s expenditure plans and records through procurement maneuverings, data mutilation, audit fragmentation, which affects every citizen, in the first instance. Secondly, it eats up scarce resources, causes syphoning and diversion of resources and poor implementation of appropriation plans. Budget padding is different from “legislative privileges” of nominating constituency projects into the national budget. No one should try to use advocacy jargons to mislead the public. Covetous hypocrisy is a form of corruption.
2. Being a feral fiscal disease, budget padding spreads through fiscal lifelines, assisting individuals and agencies responsible for this malfeasances to hijack budget envelopes, distorting expenditure-plans and cost templates, thereby; frustrating the core elements of MDAs’ fiscal architecture and projections within the Medium Term Sector Strategies as encapsulated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the very law, passed by Nigeria’s National Assembly. At the stage of budget conceptualization through the fiscal forecasts transmitted through the Fiscal Strategy Paper, being a process that captures several bureaucratic corridors of the MDAs, such are usually done with the axiomatic prayers, which says, may the democratic-god stand by this fiscal document, as unto God we commit (you) document, as we (MDAs) transmit thee to the National Assembly... Unfortunately, such fiscal materials are thoroughly abused through shrewd expenditure line tailoring that has put the lives of millions of ordinary citizens in perpetual sufferings, rather than the expected democratic redemption.
3. When padding takes place, automatically, several line items have their original cost ballooning beyond actual cost within the MDA’s expenditure plan. Several mutilations take place, leading to sundry “genuine” projects being inserted, irrespective of whether such “projects” were subjected to sectoral strategy cost or not. Obliquely, when such padded items are signed on as national appropriation by Mr. President, the burden of cash for line items are then passed to respective MDAs, who are compelled, bullied and mandated to award jobs for such padded items, be it; consultancy, services or supplies. Mostly, the padded items are with no needs assessment, beneficiary analysis, expenditure etiquette or sectoral gauge.
4. In order to succeed at getting the funds out, various procurement units of the MDAs are subjected to enormous pressure, as they are “normally” expected to “follow” the Procurement Act in the award of the padded jobs. These jobs are normally advertised… This is the stage, where padded “interests” must chase their figures. Many parliamentarians would not also forgive the Speaker; if s/he reshuffles the leadership of various committees without allowing for financial year “oversight” to enable persons concerned to “protect” their padded items within such a fiscal year. NDEBUMOG hopes this is not why Nigerians pay for empty seats during legislative days, with many of the parliamentarians not seated in the chambers. Are they chasing something…What are they chasing outside the chambers?
5. Curiously, when the jobs/contracts as “appropriated” are finally “awarded”, a good public expenditure evaluator can weigh-in on the fact of why the lowest bidder may not get jobs/contract as contemplated by the Public Procurement Act, PPA, since the highest “responsive” bids can also get such jobs/contracts. MDAs are further strangulated in the bid to get such contracts and monies out within the tenets of the PPA and thresholds permissible for each agency’s accounting officer. It could be interpreted as a sour point of conflict between some legislators, political office holders and top bureaucrats, whose voices have been swallowed by Public Officers Protection Act and Official Secret ghosts.
6.  Given an abridgment of expectations from legislative oversights, any discerning mind could see serious conflict of interests here, including; why many NASS members hardly make good pro-poor impact with the tool of legislative oversight at their disposal. Nigerians and patriots within the National Assembly, must therefore, unite and not miss this opportunity of using the embarrassing budget padding scandal in the House of Representatives to demand total overhaul of the entire budgetary processes, breaking undemocratic secrecy vis a vis inclusion and alignment of interests of a few persons within the legislature.
7. We urge the Executive Arm of government to conduct a pre/post submission situational analysis on the 2016 Appropriation Act; as such, will help to identify actual projections submitted, credible constituency projects included and the padded items in question. Procurement Officers can then conduct cost-integrity checks through their in-house expenditure plans per each envelope to extract evidence for prosecution.
8. If the budget processes are not reformed, transformed, opened up, re-jigged, made inclusive and all embracing for the interests of citizens, whose sense of participation have been ignited through this scam, then the opportunity of redeeming the budget process by our democratic generation is gone…
9. The APC as a Political Party should recognize Hon. Abdulmunim Jibrin’s constitutional rights and his entitlement to freedom of speech. We are convinced that Hon. Jibrin is ready to go to Prison, as there is provision for a N460, 000,000 prison project –– the Construction of New Satellite Prisons (CoA-NPS0117015758) at Nafada, Bagoro, Kabacha, Tambuwal Gwaram, D/Kudu in the 2016 Appropriation Act under Ministry of Interior that any of the actors that may be convicted can serve their prison terms. They knew the old prisons are already too congested…
10. Anticorruption agencies, must, therefore, be allowed to do their work concerning the scam in question. However, the matter involves billions of naira and some actor’s political future depends largely on it, hence, the thoroughness that the investigation demand cannot be underplayed. Attempts could also be made to compromise investigators. Nigerians should keep their eyes open! President Muhammadu Buhari should spare no stone in demanding a thorough investigation. This is not about the independence of any arm of government; after all, Mr. President may have signed a compromised budget document against his wish “for Nigeria to move forward”.

Signed

Dr. George-Hill Anthony

Executive Director

Dated 3^rd August, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
At a time Nigeria is roughly at a standstill due to atrocities of corruption of some individuals, which were “celebrated” in the previous government, we received with outright denunciation, news report in today’s Punch Newspapers of Thursday, 28th April, 2016, that; part of suspected looted funds in hard currency, were traced by the Economic and Finance Crimes Commission (EFCC) to a particular bank that had some civil society groups in the country, which monitored the last elections, among those that benefitted from such a squandamanic slush. It is commendable to see EFCC tackles the monster of corruption with the belligerence so deserves, as corruption has killed millions, while many are rendered hopeless in a country that wealth can go round…
In view of the fact that corruption hasn’t spared any sector of Nigeria’s survival disequilibrium, we hereby, request the EFCC to urgently publish the list of the said civil society organizations that were involved in this national shame. Such groups must also refund the money so collected, along with prosecution, without the excuses of (any) claiming, they were not aware the money was from national treasury. We have noticed earlier, that some NGOs that benefitted from “procurements” at the ONSA were published along with other “beneficiaries”. EFCC should do same on the “Election Monitors”. We are not surprised to hear about this concerning election observation in the country. But Nigerians, majority, who are victims of corruption must bond together to salvage the country and give hope to the upcoming generation. The country has finally entered the era of show me your friend, i will tell you, who you are!
Even as excruciating suffering is hitting on the masses daily, with years of cancerous corruption partly responsible for magnitude of sufferings, the governing government of this moment needs to run with realistic remedies and not experimental sampling.  It is necessary to further state, that curiously, Nigerians are observing MTN’s penalty deflectors evolving, including persons associated with it. Nigerians are no fools!
Finally, NDEBUMOG is not impressed about the mind boggling figures, which the NDDC is said to be indebted to hundreds of contractors to the tuned of hundreds of billions for capital projects, without measureable infrastructural justification for such huge debts. All Niger Deltans should begin to ponder on the fact, a lot of Nigerians, are beginning to see the region’s problem as caused mostly by people of the region. NDDC should, therefore, begin a pro-people (redemptive) process at salvaging the region through synergies with other stakeholders. The global sympathy for the region’s woes is waning and it should not be lost.

Signed:
George-Hill Anthony
Executive Director
Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group
Dated 28th April, 2016

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission made staggering discoveries in the process of investigating the alleged fraud relating to the diversion of $2.1bn meant for prosecution of the war against Boko Haram.
The PUNCH learnt on Tuesday that the EFCC had discovered that the total anti-insurgency money diverted by various personalities and agencies was over $15bn.
The $2.1bn represents the arms cash placed under the Office of the National Security Adviser, then headed by the immediate past NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
Ex-military chiefs, including a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.); and a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), had been quizzed for their alleged roles in the arms scam.
Badeh and Dasuki are currently standing trial on charges relating to the alleged fraud.

The attention of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group has been drawn to the statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, where she was quoted to have said, “…the looted funds would be returned to where they were stolen from”. In fact, this is an embarrassment to Nigerians. We want to believe the Honourable Minister was misquoted.

For the records, budgetary or fiscal application is a process. Such a process, include; following an interlocking fiscal template, from conceptualization, tabulation, surgeries for the envelopes, passage, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, impact assessment, among others. Therefore, funds looted from the public treasury, were not just taken out from various bank accounts of the government but had followed a process. Somewhat, measures for such process, include, a  public procurement mechanism, where funds were processed for procurement purposes, and thereafter,  such funds, channeled out and were either misapplied, ill-applied, not applied, partly applied or systemically corroded or mercilessly looted from government covers.   Therefore, any fund so looted, cannot go back to “where it was looted from” without a process. Already, the budget circles for any particular year in question, which the funds were looted from, have closed (except 2015 FY). Further, some of the capital procurements that may have been used to loot such monies may have been for envelopes far beyond a single FY. What it means, therefore, is that, further funding for such related projects, must be re-mechanized in subsequent budget circles(s) for the affected agencies, which the funds were looted from, hence, the monies, said to be refunded cannot out rightly go back to where it was taken from.

 It would further interest Nigerians to know that, some projects that funds may have been padded or looted from, may either, have been poorly executed, abandoned or without prioritizations, beside, the purposes of looting the funds in the name of such so-called projects in the past. Meaning, a whole lot must be re-interrogated concerning the looted funds, beyond thinking, it goes back to where “they were looted from”. Such returned funds must be channeled into the national budget again for appropriation from the National Assembly before it can be reused. The story about Abacha Loot comes to mind here and Nigeria must avoid a repeat…

Signed:

George-Hill Anthony

Executive Director

Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group

The Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, on Wednesday recommended the recovery of about N183bn being funds meant for the development of Niger Delta but which was allegedly diverted for other purposes.
Ukura stated this when he submitted three special audit reports to the clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa.
The Auditor-General explained that the amount was discovered in the periodic checks carried out by his office on the activities and programmes of the Niger Delta Development Commission between 2008 and 2012.
He said N70.4bn was paid as mobilisation to various contractors who never reported to site while N90.4 was the extra-budgetary expenditure for head and Sub-heads without approval by the legal authorities.

There are many reasons why millions of Nigerians sleep hungry without food. Corruption is the leading reason, among others, hence, President Mohammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight shall be judged according to how the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) resource disease afflicting millions of Nigerians is handled by Mr. President.

The NRGI Report here provides the unbundling of NNPC should no longer be delayed. Time is ticking!

Please click the links below to download the full report and the annexes thereto.

 INSIDE NNPC OIL SALES-THE NRGI REPORT

Annex A. The Case for Eliminating the Domestic Crude AllocationAnnex A. The Case for Eliminating the Domestic Crude Allocation

Annex B NNPC’s Oil for Product Swaps

Annex C Government to Government Sales

On July 11, 2015
By Caleb Ayansina

 AT A 1-DAY WORKSHOP BY NDI FOR CSOs/NGOs ON BUDGET MONITORING FOR THE MDGs HANDBOOK

Article is available on request.

Article is available on request

Article is available on request

Article is available on request

REPORT OF THE 4TH PHASE NATIONAL SENSITIZATION ON THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT (SOUTH-SOUTH ZONE) 2012

DELT4SLOG II TRAINING WORKSHOP REPORT FOR CSOs AND MEDIA

On the 17th of January 2007, NDEBUMOG entered into a MoU with Action Aid International- Nigeria for a project on “Campaign against Election Violence in Nigeria”. Part of the objectives for the project was to include:

• To Influence public attitude and behavior against electoral violence through the use of antiviolence message.
• To encourage and empower men, women and youth to organize and avoid electoral violence in their communities.

Subject to the powers of the memorandum, NDEBUMOG was to execute the project for Action Aid International- Nigeria on behalf of Oxford University of UK. Therefore, four (4) strategic locations of two (2) Controls and two (2) Treatments (Locations) were assigned NDEBUMOG as principal areas of Campaigns during the project.
In line with the above modus, NDEBUMOG supervisors accompanied PSI enumerators to a Pre- Campaign Survey of the locations primarily targeted at identifying Fifty (50) sampling households on the basis of a pre and post assessment surveys during the project, including these Fifty (50) households also being key focus target during the Campaign proper.

The last decade in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has witnessed widespread destruction, killings, hostage talking, monumental human and environmental degradation and unabated generalized violence that continue to widen the scope of people’s vulnerability. Efforts made at various levels to address these have yielded little or no fruit.
The failure of several initiatives to arrest the widely spreading conflicts and the fast growing needs in the region affirm that no quick fix answer to the problem will endure. It is often said that no matter how gifted and experienced a barber may be, he/she cannot cut a client’s hair in his or her absence. Just as a barber needs his client(s) to manifest his expertise and dexterity, so also, all initiatives need the participation and cooperation of concerned people or stakeholders to succeed.

“The opening Challenge of Civil Society Budget work” explained Jim St. George of the International Budget Project (IBP), “is to take fundamentally boring topic and make it interesting”. For most people, a budget is just a stack of pages crammed with numbers, unintelligible, uninteresting and unimportant. However, behind the numbers are some of the most crucial issues that a community or a nation must address – the quality of its schools, the availability of health care, income support, services for children and women, investment in infrastructure assistance with housing and many other public concerns.

NDEBUMOG Review of NDDC Master Plan for Poverty Eradication

The Regional Accountability Centre, hereby write to convey our appreciation to all stakeholders who have intervened both on our side and on the side of Federal Ministry of Environment following the release of the above Public Statement to Nigerians.
Frankly speaking, we have engaged both Ministries (Niger Delta and Environment, though the latter informally) on this subject matter before now. The leadership of Federal Ministry of Environment have however requested for fair-hearing, based on the fact that we had gone to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs for harmonisation advocacy without embarking on a similar visit to the Federal Ministry of Environment to draw their attention to the said issue of budget duplication before drawing the attention of the whole world that “the Federal Ministry of Environment is deceiving Nigerians”.

NDEBUMOG Regional Accountability Center is using Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by the United Nations General Assembly resolution (2200A XXI) of 16th December 1966 with entry into force on the 23rd of March 1976 to assert this intervention on Nigeria’s 2020 Vision.
The Minister of National Planning and Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission (NPC), Senator Sanusi Daggash was quoted recently as saying “it would cost, at least, N12 trillion or $ 100 billion dollars” to drive Nigeria at joining the top 20 global economies by 2020. This is too deceptive and Nigerians shouldn’t take the statement seriously.
NDEBUMOG Regional Accountability Center is using Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by the United Nations General Assembly resolution (2200A XXI) of 16th December 1966 with entry into force on the 23rd of March 1976 to assert this intervention on Nigeria’s 2020 Vision.
The Minister of National Planning and Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission (NPC), Senator Sanusi Daggash was quoted recently as saying “it would cost, at least, N12 trillion or $ 100 billion dollars” to drive Nigeria at joining the top 20 global economies by 2020. This is too deceptive and Nigerians shouldn’t take the statement seriously.
Where that Minister derives his faulty projections from isn’t well situated with best practices about how to emerge as best economy?
Vision 2020 cannot work in Nigeria going by the riotous approaches which policy formulators in Nigeria generate flip-ideas. For example, what are the accurate and factual data indicators used by government for their 2020 Vision? Can the National Bureau of Statistic give us situational analysis of how the Federal budget(s) since 1999 have impacted on a Community like Ndon Ebom in Uruan Local Government of Akwa Ibom State, Soku in Rivers, Odi in Bayelsa etc? How many Nigerians are we? Are we 120 million, 150 million or 200 million people?
Fiscal projections cannot work without marching it with accurate population projections, and which has to go line-by-line with Gross Domestic Annual Growth (GDAG) rates, Budget Discipline, Yearly Performance Indicators, Social Audits, Gender Impact Disaggregated Audits, Pro-poor Legislative Impact Audits, among others. These are all clear benchmarking tools which should guide fiscal policies towards Vision 2020.
Vision 2020 cannot also come-by without massive societal re-orientation among Nigerians. That is, changing our mindsets that nothing good can come out from our beloved country. Policemen take bribes and Customs do to allowed contrabands and fake materials flood our country. The power sector has perpetually been hanged by corruption. Contracts are awarded by top elites in government according to the wishes of their zooming pockets (and not for the good of the masses).Infact, policy regulators have destroyed our country. NDEBUMOG commends the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) on their ingenuity to list problems of the Nigerian mindset for discussions during the coming # 14 NES in October, 2008.
Moreover, chapter II of Nigeria’s Constitution embeds the “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principle of State Policy, with Section 14 (1) clearly stating thus “the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be based on the principles of democracy and social justice. Where are the (true) principles of democracy and social justice in Nigeria? Majority of our citizens are still excluded from programmatic governance activities and interventions till date.
Section 16 (2) of same chapter II highlights that “ (a) the promotion of planned and balance economic development (b) that the material resources of the nation are harnessed and distributed as best as possible to serve the common good (c)that, the economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of the wealth or means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals”.
Sadly, Nigeria’s economic policies and even the entire economy are in the hands of few individuals. Millions of youths’ are roaming the street daily for jobs. Therefore, Vision 2020 cannot work without stimulating massive employment that has to go hand-in-hand with measurable social security. But social security cannot work without an effective National Identity Management System. The woes of Nigeria’s National ID Card Project comes to mind.
Therefore, we urge the National Assembly in Nigeria to demand the 2008 Budget Performance Report from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) before considering the passage of 2009 Federal Budget. They should do this going by line-by-line defense across the MDAs. This should be the only basis at guiding them to properly situate the expected 2009 Federal Budget to be Pro-poor. And can Nigeria achieve Vision 2020 when the Capital allocation that touches the lives of the poor most isn’t fully accessed as at the last quarter of the fiscal year?
NDEBUMOG equally draws the attention of the House of Representatives in particular, and the National Assembly in general, to a vital Section of the Procurement Act which needs urgent amendment. We implore the House of Representatives to amend that Section but please leave amending sections targeted at the Civil Society or Media exclusion within the Procurement framework already captured in the Procurement Act. The Civil Society and the MEDIA are the watchdogs where even our Honourable(s) in the House shall fall back for protection when their tenure(s) are over. Rather than removing the Civil Society and the Media, our National Parliamentarians should look critically and amend Section 14, Part 3 of the Act, if not, there maybe Presidential abuse of such unimaginable powers in the Act.
The National Assembly should equally look critically into the procedural templates of the Due Process Procurement system in Nigeria as it deals with the following:

• Projects Policy files
• Original Contracts Bills of Quantity
• Contracts Drawing
• Etc.

Leading civil society organizations working in the extractive sector have welcomed the compliant status attained by Nigeria at the recently concluded EITI conference in Paris from March 2-3, 2011.
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) in a press statement signed by its Executive Director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, congratulated NEITI for a job well done, but cautioned that compliant status is not an end in itself. Auwal Rafsanjani emphasized the needfor continuous deepening of EITI implementation in Nigeria through strict implementation of NEITI Act, implementation of remediation gaps observed from previous NEITI audit reports and increased civil society engagement in EITI process.
The Country Coordinator, Open Society Initiative West Africa (OSIWA) Mr. Dayo Olaide equally congratulated NEITI and various stakeholders who have championed the validation crusade and called for sustained efforts to meet public expectation on NEITI’s new status. In a similar vein, Mr. Dauda Garuba of Revenue Watch Institute, while congratulating NEITI observed that there is much to do in the post-validation phase of NEITI and called on CSOs to continue deepening EITI implementation in Nigeria through strong collaboration, monitoring and oversight.
In her commendation of NEITI and the efforts of all stakeholders towards achieving compliant status for Nigeria, the National Coordinator, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Ms Faith Nwadishi, also called on oil companies operating in Nigeria to be more committed to EITI process through cooperation with NEITI to improve on the quality of its audit reports. Ms Nwadishi commended NEITI’s exhibition and outing at the just concluded EITI global conference in Paris.
On his part, Chairman of Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Extractive Industries Forestry and Fisheries in Nigeria (CATEIFFN) Mr. George – Hill Anthony commended the new team in NEITI and the NSWG for meeting all the EITI conditions at record time. George – Hill Anthony said now is the time for NEITI to make its impact felt by an average Nigerian, through its work in the extractive sector.
The Country Director of the World Bank, Mr. Onno Ruhl welcomed NEITI’s compliant status with a pledge to support NEITI with necessary resources to implement its post-validation programmes.

1, Zambezi Crescent,
Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street,
Maitama, Abuja.
T: +234 9 2910362
F: +234 9 3146193
E: info@neiti.org.ng

AN ADDRESS OF NDEBUMOG DELEGATION TO THE JOINT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (JDA) BETWEEN NIGERIA AND SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE ON THURSDAY 7TH APRIL 2011 AT THE JDA’S OFFICE, ABUJA-NIGERIA
Protocols:
On behalf of the Board of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group-Regional Accountability Centre, Port Harcourt, and members of some of our partnership organisations’ in this delegation, let me thank the Board of the JDA for acceding to our request for this visit. It is an opportunity to discuss issues of extractive-accountability within the Joint Development Zone (JDZ), for the overall benefit of citizens of both countries.
Our organisation was founded in July 2009 by a Pan Niger Delta Youths’ NGO-the Commonwealth of Niger Delta Youths; following concerns on how to hold the Communities, States and Local Governments in the Niger Delta accountable for fiscal derivation from Abuja and on attractable benefits from the OCs operating in the Niger Delta to our communities. We are a legal entity and an elected member of NEITI’s Civil Society Steering Committee, elected member- National Coordinating Committee (NCC)-Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s civil society Anti corruption Revolution Campaign (ANCOR), elected Steering Committee member-National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP), including our having the national leadership of the Coalition for Accountability and Transparency in Extractive Industries, Forestry and Fisheries in Nigeria (CATEIFFN) for the elected tenure ship of 2010-2011.
We have associate partnership with some government agencies, and a critical partnership with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), OSSAP-MDGs, among others. Our mission is to promote transparency and accountability in public resource management through pro-poor budgeting and anti-corruption campaigns for sustainable development in the Niger Delta and democratic consolidation in Nigeria.
As you may already know, Sao Tome and Principe Exclusive Economic Zone is a massive area that encompasses approximately 160,000 square kilometres. It is a frontier region that sits South of (our) Niger Delta, and West of Gabon salt basin, retaining similarities with each of those prolific hydrocarbon regions. Sao Tome and Principe are islands in a North-East to South-West trending chain of island extending offshore from Cameroon into Eastern Gulf of Guinea. Sao Tome and Principe are located in between prolific hydrocarbon regions, lying approximately 200 kilometres South of Nigeria and directly west of territorial waters of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
We are here for specific reasons, key among which is the inability of many civil society actors in Nigeria to know what exactly is happening in the zone. As it is, oil extraction in the zone is not covered by the NEITI Act or in the much anticipated PIB, with the zone being an autonomous entity within an enclave of Nigeria and STP. Since the era of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, up to the era of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, our organisation has advocated and is still advocating for a creation of a Joint Nigeria-Sao Tome EITI Commission. It is our belief that such a commission would bring about disclosure on acreages, dividend, liabilities, DC, CO+ PO, CSR, among others to ordinary citizens of both countries. Information about happenings in the JDZ is not available for Nigerians. The yardstick used by your JDA at deciding your CSR, especially as it affects scholarship to Nigerians is not measurable by the civil society. Actuality of information about Block 2, 3, 4, among other issues concerning the PSC within the Zone is not also available.  It therefore calls to question how ordinary Nigerians would be able to know what their stakes are, concerning the millions of US Dollars, which have been committed by our government for prospecting within the zone.
We are aware that in February 2007, Exxon Mobil exercised certain preferential rights to take 40percent of Block 1 at a cost of $49 million dollars based on the high Bid of Chevron’s $123 million dollars. However, the company declined to exercise its preferential rights to 25percent in the two other Blocks. Subsequently, in April 2004, Environmental Remediation Holding Corporation (“ERHC”) exercised its preferential right to take 30percent of Block 2, 20percent of Block 3, 25percent of Block 4 and 15percent of Block 6, from all, which unlike Exxon Mobil, were exempted from paying signature bonuses. ERHC also decided to take 15percent and 20percent stakes in Blocks 5 and 9 for which signature bonuses were payable. Block 1 was awarded to Chevron with 51percent, Exxon Mobil 40percent, and Equity Energy Resources 9percent. The signature bonus of $123 million dollars was expected to yield Sao Tome and Principe, $49 million dollars being a roughly estimated eighty percent of Sao Tome and Principe’s GDP.
The First Bidding Round was declared officially closed with only the Block I award. Officials announced that they were not satisfied with the bids tendered for the remaining Blocks and that a second Licensing Round for Block 2,3,4 and 6 would be organized in the near future. JDA officials also said additional testing would be conducted on 5, 7, 8 and 9 before those Blocks would again be put on auction. After lengthy negotiations, the parties finally signed the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Block 1 on the 2nd of February, 2005. However, till date, a copy of the PSC has not been made available to the public. NDEBUMOG does not know if the Nigerian Extractive Industries Initiative (NEITI) has accessed it either.
More interesting, is the subject matter of how much really is Sao Tome indebted to Nigeria? This is because, in 2009 another $10 million USD was given to STP as loan, upon the fact Nigerians are not aware if the earlier millions of dollars loaned to STP by the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been paid back. We are therefore eager to know if that particular sum was paid back and how much is the exact aggregated figure owed Nigeria by STP due to associated oil exploration activities in the zone? The answer should be within the shelves in your office here, hence we are here, and we are hopeful that we will find the answer here. Inability to know this further makes it difficult for all Nigerians to know when exactly dividends from oil exploration within the zone would start yielding dividend. We also want to know which account of government would host such payment. Is it going directly to the CRA or to a Dedicated account with CBN? Or a Joint account by both countries?
While thanking you for this audience granted our delegation, we want to request that the JDA should also set up a Civil Society Desk towards marrying the interest of the larger civil society within your organogram, that is, to make it easy to reach your office just by a telephone call for information, as it is done by BPP, EFCC and NEITI. It would also be appreciated if JDA can choose to so brief Nigerian Civil Society quarterly or twice a year about happenings within the zone.
Thank you for your attention.
George-Hill Anthony
Executive Director-Niger Delta Budget
Monitoring Group/Leader of delegation
Dated 7th April, 2011

EVALUATION OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE: Nigeria Case Study

Fuelling the World – Failing the Region? Oil Governance and Development in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea – by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

A whiff of controversy appears to be trailing the selection of two firms by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to conduct the audit of the oil and gas as well as solid minerals industries.

NEITI at the weekend named Sada Idris & Co. as the company selected to conduct the oil and gas industry audit for the period between 2009 and 2011 for a fee of N226.6 million, while Haruna Yahaya & Co. is to carry out the first solid minerals audit for 2009 and 2010 at a total cost of N137 million.

But some civil society groups have accused the agency charged with the responsibility of promoting transparency and accountability in the country’s extractive industries of neglecting transparency in the selection process that threw up the two firms considered largely unknown.

The president, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), George-Hill Anthony, noted that the process adopted by NEITI in the selection of the two companies appeared to have ignored the core pillars of EITI, particularly the need for openness, transparency and accountability in its activities.

“NDEBUMOG is a total stranger like every other Nigerian on how the auditors were selected. I only learnt about it on television,” Mr. Anthony said.

He said the lack of involvement of civil society groups and the media as observers in the bid opening, and final technical and financial bid evaluation has strengthened the fear that the two companies did not emerge through a transparent process.

Questions have also been raised by other civil society organizations against the experience and the technical capacity of the companies to handle a complex assignment as the audit of the country’s oil and gas industry and the solid minerals sector.

The Director, Communications of NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji, who described the two companies as “reputable indigenous and independent auditing firms”, however said their selection process followed international competitive bid criteria, which include public advertisement in both local and international media.

According to Mr. Orji, out of a total of 22 companies that submitted expression of interests (EOIs) for the oil and gas audit, eight met both criteria contained in NEITI and Public Procurement Acts, adding that final bids were accompanied with details about technical partners with expertise in various sections of the industries. The list of the 22 companies that submitted EOIs was not disclosed.

Though he said a similar procedure was followed in the selection of the consultant for the solid minerals industry audit, the director did not say the total EOIs harvested and the number that were finally selected to submit bids.

“The Technical and Financial Evaluations carried out by a seven-man committee under a rigorous quality and cost-based procurement selection methods,” Mr. Orji said. “In the exercise, the two companies emerged as preferred bidders and were accordingly recommended to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for vetting and issuance of Due Process Certificates of “No Objection” leading to Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval. The projects were accordingly approved by the FEC on Wednesday 17th, January 2012 for award of contract.”

He said the emergence of the two firms was a positive statement on the ability of indigenous firms to compete favorably with international companies to redress national challenges, adding that the 2009-2011 oil and gas audit would bring NEITI up-to-date in compliance with the rules of global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and NEITI national mandate.

The two projects are expected to be completed on or before the end of the year.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/3544-controversy_trails_neiti_selection_of_auditors.html

• HOW THE MINISTRY PAUPERIZE THE PEOPLE

FOLLOWING the creation of the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, expectations of all and sundry were high about the possibility for that ministry to turn-around development of the region, but ironically, the existence of the Niger Delta Ministry is yet to such translate the people’s hopes into reality.

In 2009, a projected figure of N51, 000,000.00 (Fifty One Billion Naira) was budgeted for the Ministry by the Federal Government. Out of this, Local Travels and Transport was given N122.1Million, while International Travel and Transport was allocated N100 Million. In the same year, projected expenditure for Local Training was N98 Million, Security Services and Allied Matters N710 Million, Refreshment and Meals N50 Million, Security Vote (Including Operations) N35 Million, Niger Delta Coastal Road N300 Million, Peace and Security Employment Corps N500 Million, amongst others. Importantly, Lot(s) One to Four of the East West Road gulped N28 Billion in that fiscal year. Housing Scheme and Mortgage was N500 Million.

For the 2010 Federal Appropriation (Amended Act), the Niger Delta Ministry got an estimates of N86.2Billion, with N205 Million budgeted for Travels and Training, N175 Million for Maintenance (General), N162.8 Million for Training (General), Security and Allied Matters N700 Million, Sea Boat Fuel N34 Million, Generator Fuel Cost N25 Million, Refreshment and Meals N30 Million, including meeting with Youths and Elders N90 Million. Further, New Town/Industrial Park Development got N1.9 Billion, with the cumulative Lot(s) of East West Road taking about N30 Billion in that fiscal year, amongst others.

In the 2011 Appropriation (Amended Act), a total of N55.2 Billion was allocated to the Ministry. From that amount, the Ministry’s overhead for the said year was put at N2.4 Billion, while Travel and Transport (General) was allocated N250 Million. Training (General) was allocated N1 Billion, which covered ‘Non-militant  Training Sensitization and Mobilization’, Security got N495 Million. N41.5Billion (blanket allocation for Construction and Provision for Roads- Chat of account:23020114). Refreshment and Meals got N12Million, Erosion and Flood Control (without spot pin) N5.2Billion, Research and Development N100 Million, with an allocation of N1 Billion as ‘Fund for Economic Empowerment, Training and Post Training. There was also another N975 Million as ‘ Fund for Economic Empowerment’ in 2010.

In the 2012 Budget Proposal of the Federal Government, the Niger Delta Ministry is projecting to spend N59.7 Billion. Out of this amount, over N449 Million is for Travel and Transport (including International Travels and Training, which is split into two subheads). Overhead expenditure of this Ministry for 2012 is projected at N1.7 Billion. Further, Maintenance of Office Furniture for 2012 is projected at N118.5 Million. Expenditure for Security Services is projected at over N371 Million, Refreshment and Meals N31.9 Million.

Let us commend the effort of the Budget Office of the Federation for the improvement on the project site tracking and spot identity of projects in the 2012 Budget Proposal by MDAs. In spite of that, it is unfortunate that there are still very unacceptable figures in this Ministry’s 2012 Budget. Take for instance the N4.2 Billion allocated for Research and Development and another chat location figure of over N700 Million for Computer Software Acquisition, which should be totally re-allocated to other matters in line with the procurement reality of fiscal discipline. What was the N100 Million allocated for Research and Development used for in the 2011 Budget of this Ministry? What is computer software that would cost about N800 Million?

Curiously, there is another N547 Million for ICT Networking Centres and Connectivity for the offices of the Ministry in the nine states. Meaning that, over a Billion Naira would be use for ICT and Computers by this Ministry in 2012. If the Ministry doesn’t already have Internet access, how come N20 Million was allocated for Internet access charge by the Ministry in 2009? What also did the Ministry spend the N431 Million for ICT Connectivity Centre for in its 2010 Budget? Is this not fiscal indiscipline and an assault on the suffering people of the Niger Delta? There are other questionable allocation(s), to be talked about later.

Between 2009 to 2011, about N92 Million in aggregate had been allocated to feeding alone within this Ministry. If the projected estimate of N31.9 Million for Feeding and Refreshment as captured in the 2012 Budget proposal is given a legislative bite, then this Ministry alone would be spending over N150 Million for Feeding and Refreshment within a period of four years, when over a million people or more cannot afford a square meal daily in the Niger Delta the ministry was created to develop. There is also the about a Billion Naira expended by this Ministry on Training from 2009 to 2011, which is also outside the N1 Billion for Non-militant Training and Sensitization. These figures are enough at training hundreds of our young people in the Niger Delta and with additional incentives like revolving (monetary) grants for capacity stabilization. For now, only the Ministry can explain what derivable gains these figures have added to human capital development within the Niger Delta. There was another N1 Billion as ‘Fund for Economic Development,’ which was allocated in 2011. Therefore, if the N449 Million further allocated for Training in the 2012 budget is allowed to go, then, closed to about N3 Billion would be expended by this Ministry at the end of 2012 Budget circle on Training alone.

At a time when Defence budget is taking a huge chunk of Nigeria’s budgetary provision, it is sad and totally unacceptable to see government Ministries competing with the security agencies for security line-budgets that are directly expended by these MDAs themselves. Between 2009 to 2011, a total of N2.4 Billion had been appropriated for security alone by this Ministry. If the N371 Million projected for 2012 is added, close to N3 Billion shall be expended on security. At the same time, the State Governments, Local Governments, Oil Companies, Military Formation(s) (JTF) additional sums daily on security. The N3 Billion here described is outside another hundreds of millions budgeted by this Ministry for Oil and Gas Asset Protection Programme,’ which is still under security but given another name and budget heading.  These huge funds can do for an entire year Budget of some LGAs in the Niger Delta.

What is happening!  The question begging for answer is: Why is the Federal Government and the Niger Delta Ministry spending Billions on security in a region where government is spending so much on amnesty programme? Is this huge security expenditure for crime suppression, economic exploitation or for provision of stable social environment and peace? What also did this Ministry spend the N50 Million it allocated for study, design and Technology Centre on in 2009? NDEBUMOG is interested to know where the Technology Centre is located within the Niger Delta. It must have been completed and in used by now…

It is commendable to see that this Ministry’s expenditure on ‘Generator Fuel Cost’ is reducing from N32 Million in 2009, N25 Million in 2010 to about N5 Million in 2011. But how come separate Ministries seem to be maintaining their own Generators in a Federal Secretariat that is supposed to be centrally powered? Let us now take a look at this Ministry’s capital projects for 2012. Built in the 2012 Capital expenditure of the Ministry is the Idoro Eaten-Itam Water Project for N400 Million. There was already a N50 Million allocated for this same project in 2011. What was the N50 Million allocated in 2011 used for?

The Owerri Urban Water Scheme is another fiscal setback. In 2010, the Project was allocated N292.5 Million. In 2011, another N50 Million was allocated and another N500 Million is projected for this project in 2012.  This shows that from 2010 to the 2012 fiscal year, over N842 Million is projected for this single project at Owerri Urban. The people of Imo State should find out which of the government is actually spending money on this project and if the taps are flowing in Owerri? Other water projects include the Ubane Utanga Water Project in Cross River State, which was allocated N150 Million in 2009, N195 Million in 2010, and N50 Million in 2011 with another N516 Million projected for same project in the 2012 Budget. That brings it to a total of about N911 Million within four years. Where are the huge sums previously allocated for this project? Same applies to Ukparam Water Project in Ondo State. That project got N100 Million in 2009, N97 Million in 2010, and N50 Million in 2011, with another N177 Million projected for in 2012.  Cumulatively in four years, this project could gulp N424 Million Naira. Moreover, Niger Deltans are curious to know which Community (Isiokpo?) in Ikwerre Local Government benefitted from the N195 Million (2010) and another N50 Million in (2011) and (Ibaa?) in Rivers State 2011. A Community like Alesa in Eleme Local Government has suffered rolling and duplicitous allocations of huge sums for project(s) the people never saw, or heard of. For this, we demand that Ministries, Department and Agencies should pin-point the exact location of any project, the clan and local government of where such projects are located. Niger Delta Ministry’s N100 Million in 2011 for (Eleme?) Water Project without any clear location is questionable.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is budgeting N244 Million for a major ‘Water Works’ in Alesa Clan, out of which N36. 6 Million had been committed to the Contractor and with a Budget of N48.8 Million approved as part of this in 2011 NDDC Budget. This is crime against humanity, considering the fact that, Niger Delta Basin and Rural Development Authority (NDBRDA) has (claimed to) be spending Tens of Millions for the same Alesa Water Project since 2006. Why suffocate the local people this way? Same Alesa Community was given a Budget Line of N50 Million in 2011 for Land Reclamation in a community that is not riverine? Or is it the Pond in the Community that the N50 Million was spent to reclaim? This same Ministry earlier had allocated N50 Million each   for Shoreline Protection and Canalisation of Aleto and Ekporo Communities in Eleme Local Government in 2011.

Shockingly, these communities are upland with fairly good soil topography. Can the Ministry of Niger Delta and NDDC intentionally allocate figures to projects, which an Agency like the Niger Delta Basin and Rural Development Authority (NDBRDA) had also claimed intervention on? Is this duplication due to absence of inter-agencies intelligence and synergy? If the (MDAs) have held Budget Town Hall Meetings within the region, they could have known the truth of the situation.

The N973 Million projected as allocation in 2012 for Construction and Provision for Water Ways should be buried by the National Assembly, including many other questionable figures. What did the Ministry do with the N30 Million allocated for ‘Construction and Provision of Waterways’ to do in 2011?

On Electricity, a project for Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State was allocated N200 Million in 2009, N263.2 Million in 2010, N50 Million in 2011 with another N200 Million projected for it in the 2012 Budget, which would bring it to over half a billion (that is, over N700 Million) within the period. This should interest the people of Khana and the Local Government Authority there.

Erei Electrification Project in Cross River State was allocated N100 Million in 2009, N97 Million in 2010, and N50 Million in 2011 with another N200 Million allocated to same project in the proposal for 2012. For the Peremabiri- Ogbokiri Electrification Project in Bayelsa State, N200 Million was allocated in 2009, N195 Million in 2010, N50 Million in 2011, with another N400 Million projected for same project in the 2012 Budget proposal. This adds up to a total single expenditure projection of N845 Million by 2012.

NDEBUMOG is curious to know why this Ministry is indisposed to holding Budget Town Hall Meeting(s) within the region, but would rather continue with allocating figures to many of the projects that do not exist? The excuse(s) of lack of AIEs releases from the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) isn’t holding water, since the Federal Ministry of Finance has not been releasing MDA by MDA disaggregated Budget Performance Reports to Nigerians.

As at 2009, several Billions was allocated to Skill Acquisition Centres by the Ministry as chain-figures. N2.7 Billion was in 2009 Budget as a line item. There was also another allocation of N200 Million for a Skill Acquisition Centre in Akoko-Edo in Edo StateN127 Million Mosogar Skill Acquisition Centre, N200 Million for Oguta, Imo State, and N300 Million for Ikwerre in Rivers State, N800 Million for Technology Centre in Eleme Local Government Area, excluding design and prototype which was allocated N50 Million that year. In 2010, a lumped sum of N8.7 Billion for the same Skill Acquisition Centres was proposed. By 2011, another N2.5 Billion was allocated for the same set of Skill Acquisition Projects, with N5 Billion also projected for the same projects in 2012. Cumulatively, about N11 Billion would be expended on this set of projects if the allocation for 2012 is allowed. There is need for an investigation.

On Road Construction, we want to be excused from the confusion and mess going on around the East-West Road. Only Mr. President can factually inform Nigerians about how much really is being spent on this Road.

For other Roads Projects, the 21.9 Kilometres Ekparakwa-Ukanafun-Ikot Ubo-Aba Road was allocated N500 Million in 2009, N975 Million in 2010, N10 Million in 2011 with another N900 Million projected for this same road in the 2012 Budget. Still on Roads, Omelema- Agada Road in Rivers State was allocated N100 Million in 2009, N975 Million in 2010, and N200 Million in 2011, with another N900 Million for same road in the 2012 proposal.  Why are huge sums given one single project year in and year out? The essence of the Medium Term Sector Strategies and MTEF has been rubbished and the whole National Budgeting Framework turned up-side0dowm? We can go on and on and mentioned so many Roads Projects that have appeared and reappeared in this Ministry’s Budget from 2009 till date. The point is, where is the money going to? If these figures are actually for capital projects within the region, there could have been massive construction projects going on at the same time in the region.

In concluding our analysis of these budgets, let us once again take a look at some Shoreline Protection of this Ministry, with many of such funny enough for alarming curiosity.

Land Reclamation/Shore Protection in Kurutie Community in Gbaramantu Clan Warri South West, Delta State, Efiat Community in Mbo Local Government of Akwa Ibom State and Ikuru Town in Rivers State was allocated N1 Billion in 2009. This same project and budget line got N2.4 Billion in 2010, N10 Million in 2011, with another projection of N411 Million for these same line projects in 2012. The Executive and Legislative arm of government are all funny.  Is there any cost relationship between this line project in Efiat Mbo and the one NDDC Budgeted N1.6 Billion for at Mbo Naval Base? Already, N248 Million was approved for this in 2010 and N198 Million also approved by NDDC in 2011?

Between NDDC and the Niger Delta Ministry, which of these agencies actually spent money on the Ekeremor Shoreline Protection in Bayelsa State? NDDC has budgeted N3 Billion as the rolling cost for this project, out of this, N450 Million was approved in 2010 and N150 Million in 2011. At the same time, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs Budgeted N390 Million for same project in 2010, N10 Million in 2011 and is projecting another N25 Million for the project in their 2012 Budget proposal.

Twon- Brass Land Reclaimation and Shore Protection was allocated N97 Million in 2010 by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, N10 Million in 2011 with a projection of N28 Million in 2012. NDDC’s  Budget line for Jetty/Shoreline Protection covering Akassa, Okpoama, Twon-Brass and Odioma, all in Brass requires urgent reconciliation. The urgency is because the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs is projecting to spend N110 Million in the 2012 Budget on Construction of New Jetties each at  Brass, Nembe, Ekeremo (Torogbene Primary School) and Amasoma, all in Bayelsa State with the NDDC having many projects related to Shoreline at these places. Interestingly, the Bayelsa State Government budgeted N100 Million for the Okpoama Foreshore Canalisation. NDDC had also projected N2 Billion for the Okpoama Shore Protection, but is yet to commence serious activity.

Finally, a comprehensive Desk Review of NDDC, MNDAs, States and Local Governments Budget within the Niger Delta could reveal a catalogue of wastage and fraud. We have taken time and resources to present this because we feel there is need to radically define the way government budgets are formulated and applied.

Relying on Sections 1 (1-2), 2 and 3 (1-4) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, NDEBUMOG shall be taking other steps to interrogate budget performances of MDAs working in the Niger Delta. However, we request, the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to put in place, a mandatory requirement, which compels MDAs to present a community-centred and endorsed Needs Assessment Reports for all new Capital (Construction) Projects. Such should be accompanied by the minutes of Community Budget Town Hall Meeting(s) endorsed by representative(s) of communities, with documents to accompany request for approval for MDAs Procurement Plans to the BPP, such Community representative(s) also should endorse Satisfactory Project Completion Memos of Communities which shall be attached as addendum, with request for Issuance of Job Completion Certificates and final payment.

Signed:

Tina John

Communications Office

Regional Accountability Centre

And

George-Hill Anthony

Executive Director

The recently released Poverty Profile for Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics is alarming and scaring… We are worried. Is revolution eminent in Nigeria? What are the factors generating poverty in Nigeria (?).In the opinion of NDEBUMOG Regional Accountability Centre, the answer revolves around chronic systemic corruption. Please click below to download the report as released by National Bureau of Statistics.

The accusation and counter-accusation of bribery in the House of Representatives Committee Probe of the Capital Market is mystifying. As Nigerians continue to demand sanity within the public governance space, please download below, the Security and Exchange Commission’s Memo authorising the released of millions of Naira to the disbanded Committee that was handling the Probe.

FAROUK LAWAN SUBSIDY PROBE COMMITTEE REPORT
NDEBUMOG, working in concert with other of our Civil Society allies, hereby makes the above report available to all those following our anticorruption work. Who do we trust in a situation like this…?

A team of experts and officials of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (Regional Accountability Centre)commenced a Budget Tracking Desk Review for the DELT4SLOG at Asaba, Delta State from the 9th to 13th of January 2012.
Following a huge Desk Review discovery as was exposed between the above dates of the assignment proper, a carry-over of the assignment was necessary for the Secretariat, with staff having to work extensively at covering3,094 project(s) discovered during the (residential) Desk Review mentioned above but which could not be tabulated accordingly in Asaba for completion.
Moreover, there were delays associated with the inability to secure Etche Local Government Budget 2010 for the Desk Review. As it stands, Etche Local Government Budget could not be accessed and this would necessitate the removal of that LGA from from the budget tracking. The fiscal documents of Isoko-South, Yenagoa and all the covering State(s) (Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers) was secured independently by NDEBUMOG with support and efforts of our allies and customary partners within the Niger Delta.

By Ifeanyi Izeze

Initially, it was more convenient to believe that the plethora of complaints of inactivity and allegations of misappropriation of funds which has now become a daily chant were orchestrated by disgruntled contractors, marginalized communities and disenchanted indigenes but the sophistication of the protests which most times now come with real facts and figures is a pointer that if the federal government does not intervene now, the Niger Delta Ministry as an institution and even the spirit behind the Enabling Act may be completely destroyed not by people from outside region but “sons of the soil.”

In October last year, a meeting of Ijaw leaders and elders commendably initiated by the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson devoted attention to the deterioration in the Niger Delta and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack non-performing members of his cabinet especially those from the South South. This obviously was because the Ijaw leaders were becoming genuinely worried by the failure of political appointees from the President’s South-South region to carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the people’s expectations.

Top Ijaw personalities, who attended the meeting from Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom, argued that people in the region seemed to have a low rating of President Jonathan’s performance because some appointees from the area had not done enough to enhance the image of the President. Niger Delta Ministry was specifically blamed for the very slow pace of development in the region citing the parlous state of the east-west road as benchmark of inaction by responsible authorities.

If the reason for the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was to develop the region, can any of us from there honestly say that under the current dispensation, the area has witnessed any form of meaningful uplift in infrastructure development to match the monies budgeted and as released? Where in the region can anyone attest to a meaningful impact of this Ministry in terms of people-oriented development projects?
How can we throughout these years cry that people from outside the region never took the problems of infrastructural deficit and outright neglect of the area beyond lip service and deceptive political jives and now we have been given a full Ministry with “sons of the soil” in charge only to worsen the fortunes of the area. If another president comes when Jonathan serves out his tenure, where are we going to derive the moral stand to accuse them again?
Did the Rivers state governor Chibuike Amaechi suggest the governors of the Niger Delta states be allowed to take over the construction of the East-West Road with each state taking up the segment within their domain? If Amaechi ever said that, he should be commended no matter what any section of the region thinks or feels. What was wrong in the proposal and in what way does that statement amount to Amaechi arrogating himself powers that did not belong to him? Or how does such comment amount to disrespecting President Jonathan? Sycophancy abi?
The impact of the federal government’s intervention in the region which the perilous state of the entire stretch of the East – West road correctly depicts should be a source of not only genuine concern but of shame to every indigene of the area in the central government especially those running the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. Do we need anybody to remind us that this road has obviously become a big reproach not only to Orubebe himself as the Niger Delta Minister but to President Jonathan? What the Minister does not know is that rather than portray Amaechi as a kibitzer, if the federal government now wakes up to feign seriousness on the road project, the credit will go to him (Amaechi) for being bold to say is as it were. Mark my words!
Since the only reason the Minister had adduced for inactivity of his Ministry has been inadequate funding, any reasonable person would have expected him, to seize the opportunity dangled in the proposal that Niger Delta states execute sections of the road within their various areas and then seek refund from the Federation Account.
As rightly said by the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group in its latest report on the 2013 Budget, captioned, The Niger Delta, Our Land, Our Ministry, Our Budget, Our Suffering: “It is saddening that, at a time Niger Deltans are holding strategic political positions in Nigeria, the region is not doing any better. If our people cannot accelerate the development of the area, would Niger Deltans in future have the moral justification to ask other people to come and develop the area? And even as the Federal Government continues to experiment with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, so is the Ministry equally making itself look unserious to budget envelopers.” How true!
When Orubebe took over the ministry in 2009, N51 billion was budgeted for the Ministry by the Federal Government. Out of this, Local Travels and Transport was given N122.1 million, while International Travel and Transport was allocated N100 million. In the same year, projected expenditure for Local Training was N98 million, Security Services and Allied Matters N710 million, Refreshment and Meals N50 million, Security Vote (Including Operations) N35 million, Niger Delta Coastal Road N300 million, Peace and Security Employment Corps N500 million, amongst others. Importantly, Lot(s) One to Four of the East West Road gulped N28 billion in that fiscal year. Housing Scheme and Mortgage was N500 million.
For the 2010 Federal Appropriation (Amended Act), the Niger Delta Ministry got N86.2 billion, with N205 million budgeted for Travels and Training, N175 million for Maintenance (General), N162.8 million for Training (General), Security and Allied Matters N700 million, Sea Boat Fuel N34 million, Generator Fuel Cost N25 million, Refreshment and Meals N30 million, including meeting with Youths and Elders N90 million. Further, New Town/Industrial Park Development got N1.9 billion, with the cumulative Lot(s) of East West Road taking about N30 billion in that fiscal year, amongst others.
In the 2011 Appropriation (Amended Act), a total of N55.2 billion was given to the Ministry. From that amount, the Ministry’s overhead for the year was put at N2.4 billion, while Travel and Transport (General) was allocated N250 million. Training (General) was allocated N1 billion, which covered ‘Non-militant Training Sensitization and Mobilization’, Security got N495 million. N41.5 billion (blanket allocation for Construction and Provision for Roads- Chat of account: 23020114). Refreshment and Meals got N12 million, Erosion and Flood Control (without spot pin) N5.2 billion, Research and Development (on whatever) N100 million, with an allocation of N1 billion as ‘Fund for Economic Empowerment, Training and Post Training (to ghosts and witches in the region). There was also another N975 million as ‘Fund for Economic Empowerment’ (to astral beings).
In the 2012 Budget of the Federal Government, the Niger Delta Ministry got N59.7 billion. Out of this amount, over N449 million was for Travel and Transport (including International Travels and Training, which is split into two subheads). Overhead expenditure of this Ministry for 2012 was projected at N1.7 billion. Further, Maintenance of Office Furniture for 2012 only was N118.5 million. Expenditure for Security Services was over N371 million, Refreshment and Meals N31.9 million.
Looking at the Ministry in the Federal Government’s 2013 budget, N63.4 billion was projected with cost centres as blurred as they were all very unreasonable. Is it not worrisome that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs should put N305 million in its 2013 budget as security vote? As asked by the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, “Does the Ministry want to raise an independent army? Or, is the Ministry not utilizing or benefitting from the services of the SSS, the Police, and the Armed forces, etc?” There was over N700 million for this Ministry on security in 2010, N495 million in 2011 and N301 million in 2012. So between 2009 and 2013, Security vote alone will gulp over N1.8 billion an amount that’s more than the annual budgets of three rich local government councils. Haba!
How many can we discuss? Is it the youth related matters that got N2.7 billion in 2009; N8.7 billion in 2010; N2.5 billion in 2011; and N3.4 billion in 2012 with another N3.5 billion projected for this in the 2013 budget? So between 2009 and 2013, about N20.8 billion was set aside for the “Youths.” These budgets were aside the billions of naira being pumped into the amnesty program which implementation the Presidency curiously detached from the Ministry. Then factor-in what the NDDC receives annually, you will agree we have been grossly robbed by people who should protect the interests of the region.
Meanwhile, the Minister told journalists in Uyo on Thursday 17 January that the federal government after sinking over N134 billion still needs over N200 billion to complete the East- West road by December 2014. This is just a smart excuse for failure because where is the Federal Government going to get N200 billion in this year and next year’s budget to actualize Orubebe’s dream? What the Minister in effect is saying is that the road would not be completed in the lifetime of Jonathan’s administration except the Hausa/Fulani people will allow him another term. Abeg, make all of una go rest!

Ifeanyi Izeze, Abuja, can be reached on:
iizeze@yahoo.com