DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
There has been an upsurge in the activities of oil theft in Nigeria. That upsurge reverberated more tragically in August 2019 when the National Economic Council (NEC) headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo alleged that 22.6 million barrels of oil estimated at $1.35 billion were ‘stolen’ between January and July 2019. NEC, as alleged by its federal committee on pipeline vandalism headed by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, drew attention to Nigeria’s potential risk of losing $2.7 billion worth of oil in two years. Two profound studies by the Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) have also put the country’s loss to oil theft at N4.57 trillion between 2015 and 2018 and $41.9 billion between 2009 and 2018 respectively. While there is clarity on what is covered in the figures above, there are a whole lot of other dimensions and trends that were not taken into account when counting the loss to oil theft in Nigeria.
As occupants of the space between public domain of government and the private realm of the family, the coalition of Civil Society Organisations hereby represented in this memorandum see this public hearing organised by the House of Representatives AdHoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft in Nigeria as an opportunity to beam the searchlight on those other sources of leakages with a view to redressing the drain that oil theft has become on the Nigerian economy.
This memorandum is organised into six parts. This introduction, which provides context and background to the issue, is followed by a section on the dimensions and characters of oil theft. Section three presents the players in the nefarious business, the markets and instruments of conveyance of stolen oil. Section four speaks to the divergent figures often bandied around, including the most profound and recent data.  This is followed by a section on the impacts and opportunity costs of Nigeria’s loss to oil theft. The last section presents conclusion and solutions aggregated from lessons learned from the experiences of other countries and what has failed in past efforts in redressing the problem in Nigeria.

SECTION TWO: DIMENSION AND CHARACTER OF OIL THEFT IN NIGERIA
Beyond the usual tendency to view oil theft from a single lens, a critical assessment of the Phenomenon in Nigeria has revealed clear dimensions and characters as presented in the table below:

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

Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEUMOG) has called on the Federal Government to jettison its plans of increasing the Value Added Tax (VAT) but to block financial leakages, illicit flows and capital flights in all sectors of the economy.

This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the group’s two-day workshop in Akwa Ibom State.

The communiqué was signed by the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. George-Hill Anthony; Olakunle Oyegoke of Ondo State Tax Justice and Governance Platform; Ugochi Ehiahuruke of Anambra State Tax Justice Platform; Ogunjobi Olalekan of Ogun State Tax Justice Platform; Stiv Obodoekwe of Port Harcourt Shadow Budget Group and Mfon Esua of Uyo Shadow Budget Group.

“Federal Government should step up effective security apparatuses, which will provide enabling environment for a thriving economy. Rather than an increase in VAT, the government should block leakages, illicit financial flows, capital flight in all sectors by stimulating citizens-ownership of the anti-corruption crusade,” the statement read in part.

The workshop, which drew over 90 participants on the fiscal concern, especially budget and taxation, across the country, was sponsored by NDEBUMOG with support from Oxfam Nigeria.

It called on various state governments to domesticate and simplify Nigeria’s tax laws, encourage implementation through service delivery and make public, such tax laws and policies to help fair tax education.

The participants urged states to launch and support Open Governance Partnership (OGP), as such would fast-track development, through participatory democratic accountability.

“All government transactions in Nigeria should follow due process, accountability, transparency, and value for money,” it added.

The communiqué called on civil society organisations to build their capacities on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) for a better understanding of the budget processes and real-time monitoring and evaluation service delivery indicators.

Stakeholders at the event raised concerns about the neglect of education by all tiers of government, which has brought an additional burden on the people, as parents are forced to send their wards to private schools at exorbitant costs.

The Niger Delta Monitoring Group, a non-governmental organisation, with support from Oxam in Nigeria, has appealed to the Federal Government to rescind its decision to increase the rate of valued-added tax.

It asked the government to rather block all financial leakages, illicit flows and capital flights in all sectors of the economy.

This was part of the recommendations contained in a communiqué issued by the Executive Director of the group, Dr George-Hill Anthony, at the end of a two-day Impact Harvesting Gathering and Co-Hearing event in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

According to the recommendations made available to our correspondent on Monday, the group called on the Federal Government to step up effective security apparatuses to provide an enabling environment for the economy to thrive.

The recommendations read in part, “The Federal Government should step up effective security apparatuses, which will provide enabling environment for a thriving economy.

“Rather than an increased in VAT, government should block leakages, illicit financial flows and capital flight in all sectors by stimulating citizens-ownership of anti-corruption crusade.”

800 persons yesterday completed training on budget monitoring, evaluation, tracking and women’s right by a non-profit-organization so that they will become equip with capacity that will make them hold contractors in their localities execute projects awarded to them by government as specified in the bill of quantity (BOQ)

In a brief discussion with journalists at the end of a two days training exercise for 75 participants Calabar yesterday, Executive Director for Kebetkache Women Development Resources Centre (KWDRC),Emem Okon urged participants to apply the knowledge gained at the workshop so that projects captured in government budget in their localities are implemented according to specification so that the people will not be short-changed.

She charged the participants who were drawn from community based organizations CBOs, nongovernmental organizations NGOs and civil society organizations CSOs from four states of Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Enugu state to engage Government ministries, departments and Agencies (MDAs) so as to make the government of the day become responsive to problems and issues plaguing their localities in their states for subsequent implementation.

Speaking on the theme; capacity building training on livelihood, community needs assessment and shadow budgeting the executive director stated that, with the training, problems arising from issues of taxation, gender responsiveness budget, would now become a thing of the past as knowledge acquired from the workshop is going to help participants make government in their localities address problems that will brew up development if they are able to influence the government to capture such projects in its budget.

On the total number of persons to be train before the organization winds up its activities, Okon stated that the organization’s target has concluded arrangement to train about 1,500 persons who will be carefully selected from several communities from four states of the federation.

She said that the training of 75 persons which ended in Calabar at the weekend has brought the number of persons equipped with budgeting/taxation knowledge to 800.

“My expectation is that having gained so much knowledge on Information from yesterday and today, on issues of taxation on issues of budget, on issues of gender responsive budget that, they will go back, step down the training to other community members.

“I believed that they will begin to engage with Government ministries and departments to ensure that their community problems and issues are captured in the government budget.

“And that they are not just captured in the budget but they are implemented.

“We expect to see that two way communication between communities and the Government to address issues of communities, assessing social services and also having project that will address health, education, even provision of water in the communities.” The DG maintained.

The Executive Director averred that the training being a part of the Oxfam Novy financing for development projects is organized by Kebetkache given the fact that the NGO is a local partners working with Oxfam with resource persons drawn from the Niger Delta budget

Monitoring Group to teach participants on how to participate in the formulation of Government budget, monitoring, evaluation and implementation to ensure that projects captured in the budget with regards to their communities are implemented as specified.

She said that if women were fully integrated into the decision making process with regards to issues of governance, Nigeria would be a better place to live.

“Though in this project there is emphasis on having increased number of women taking part in decision making, contributing to budgeting and also monitoring the budget and ensuring that the interest of women are addressed by government budget”.

To hit the target of training 1500 people, the executive director stated that the training have to be extended to marginalized groups like the physically challenge so that they can also be equip with skills on how to ensure that the interest of women is addressed by government budget. But we are looking at hat inclusiveness, so that no gender can be discriminated again when it comes to issues of governance.

When asked why the organization was formed Emem said, that the aims and objectives of the organization is for promotion of women’s right, developed the leadership capacity of women and ensure that women participate in all processes of governance with regards to development in their communities.

Government budget is not gender sensitive. We discovered that government was not making enough provision for maternal health. So that is why the target of the training is to promote that Participation. So “we are working towards getting the voices of women to be reflected in Government Budget.

Budgeting is an annual ritual in Nigeria, with its presentation and passage usually with fanfare. Ironically, the same energy that is used in celebrating the presentation and passage by stakeholders is often not deployed into preparing and monitoring the implementation of the budget. Preparing and monitoring the implementation of the budget is critical, especially for it to make the right impact.

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) has been crisscrossing the southeast and south-south, building the capacity of critical stakeholders on the importance of being part of the budget process during preparation and implementation.

Between August 20 and 21, 2018, NDEBUMOG with support from Oxfam organised a 2-day training programme for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on “Inclusive budget and Basic Economic Literacy” in 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 State.

During the training, the participants observed that government institutions are weak and are not able to deliver on their set goals, because practices, laws and policies are not working.

They also noted that CSOs are not doing enough to check the excesses of government, while politicians do not understand that civil rule is about democracy, processes and rule of law.

Observing that there is growing hopelessness in the land as citizens are becoming subjects, rather than active citizens, the participants stated that governments does budget but do not monitor its implementations, and as such, undermines the principle of fiscal transparency and accountability.

They also observed that government has not been fiscally responsible as a result of its propensity for borrowing, while anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) are being controlled by the government in power.

In moving forward, participants suggested that government institutions should be strengthened through strong laws and good governance, since good governance is key against social and economic uncertainties and reduced corruption in the society.

They also want government and citizens to build strong institutions for a greater society; CSOs should intensify efforts towards making the people to 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.

“There should be a performance dashboard in every state for measuring of fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability.

“Government should seek a new and sustainable means of paying its debts and should reduce the propensity for borrowing.

“Government should mainstream gender equity in the implementation of poverty alleviation programs, 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 in order 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 the teeming population of youths and young people.”

Not wanting to leave out those at the grassroots with regard to the importance of a transparent and inclusive budget process, NDEBUMOG held a two-day training workshop on “Gender Responsive Budgeting and Inclusive Budget” for selected Local Government Areas and related MDAs from Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu and Rivers State on the 30 and 31st of August, 2018.

It was part of Oxfam’s Strategic Partnership Programme of Financing for Development scheme, which is currently being implemented in a few countries and Nigeria by Oxfam through its strategic partners. The training was aimed at building capacity and knowledge of participants on gender responsive budgeting, gender equity and responsive line items in the budget with necessary social (infrastructural) pillars through constructive influencing, gender justice and inclusivity across the MDAs.

The event was attended by some state Directors of Economic Planning, HODs- Statistics, Directors of PRS, HODs- Budget/Appropriation/Finance, HODs-Monitoring and Evaluation, Planning Officers, Gender Desk Officers, Account/Finance Officers, among others, from LGAs, MDAs and Houses of Assembly’s Officers responsible for Local Government matters. Selected persons from NDEBUMOG Shadow Budget Groups were also nominated to participate.

The participants at the training observed that statistics and data integrity are essential to monitoring impact of budgetary interventions; that gender sensitivity and responsiveness are relegated to the background, at times, unconsciously by government agencies; that there are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offices across 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. Ironically, Sustainable Development Goals are yet to be mainstreamed into government’s budgets. Consequent upon this, the impact of SDGs is yet to be felt across the country and that although budget is an Appropriation Act that should easily be accessed; obtaining the document should not be as difficult as it seems, especially, at the Local Government level.

They also stated that though LGAs are a separate tier of government, their finances are being controlled by the states, which often makes it difficult for the LGAs to deliver developmentally to the communities, reason the need for Local Government autonomy should not be underplayed.

They therefore recommended that authorities responsible for budget making should consciously ensure that gender justice is mainstreamed with gender equity fundamental in all the budgetary and fiscal processes.

The participants also advised that agencies with monitoring and evaluation roles should connect, synergize, and collaborate with communities and CSOs for the monitoring of projects’ implementation.

“Budget implementation and performances should be 100 percent. Fiscal laws should emphasize value for money, and make it compulsory for the Executive to publish contracts awards, including BOQs, locations and other relevant information for fiscal transparency.”

They called on the National Assembly to reactivate, accelerate and pass relevant constitutional amendment for LGAs autonomy, which will make it easier for the Councils to be held responsible for all funds accruable to the Councils.

The participants noted that building of Technical knowledge, skills and stakeholders’ capacity are required to engage in the budgetary processes, monitor, track and evaluate for effective results, hence; government, NGOs, CSOs and others should collaborate for crosscutting capacity strengthening.

Babatunde Fashola, minster of power, works and housing, says there are aspects of the 2017 appropriation act that violate the constitution, suggesting that the judiciary may have to explain how far lawmakers can go in altering the budget.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo had questioned the extent of changes made to the 2017 appropriation bill by the federal lawmakers, who replied that the national assembly acted within the law and is not a rubber-stamp body.
But in an interview with TheCable at the weekend, Fashola said there may be need for judicial interpretation to lay the controversy to rest, pointing out that some of the projects included in the budget of his own ministry were a violation of the constitution.
“In a federal example like ours, nobody should be scared to have a judicial interpretation of the limits of the power the parliament can exercise during appropriation,” he said.
“It is the law that affects our day-to-day developmental expectations. My view is that I don’t think parliament has the power to increase the budget because parliament does not collect taxes. Budget has expenditure as it has revenues, and if executive has formed the view about earning and borrowing subject to the approval of the parliament, I think it is only fair to say we won’t push you beyond what is reasonable. If executive says it is unreasonable, there is room for consultation but to unilaterally increase the budget is not something that lies in the power of the parliament, although they can reduce it.”
The former governor of Lagos state, who is a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the issue of separation of power should not be taken out of context, maintaining that the three arms of government are “inter-dependent” and no arm can be absolutely independent, if not the business of government will never be carried out.
VIOLATION OF LAW
Fashola said: “I don’t think that they can sit down and legislate projects that are not federal projects, that would be doing violence to the constitution because there are three levels of government. The local and state governments have their responsibilities and the federal government should be building federal roads not state roads.
“In my budget, you will find things like motorised boreholes, primary health care centres. That is a violation of the constitution, it shouldn’t be in the appropriation law of the federal government. If the judiciary decides that it is the national assembly that should make the budget and hand it over to the executive to implement, so be it.”
He said he cannot argue “fairly” that a legislator has no input to make into the developmental plan of a nation “but the question is how and when”.
“I had cause to appear before the committee of the house of reps and I even presented a paper at their invitation because they were planning to pass a constituency project law and they were doing a hearing on the bill and they were planning to create constituency offices and I said they shouldn’t do it, it’s not necessary because there are institutional capacities within our national framework for this kind of thing,” he said.
“When the president submits the budget and these committee hearings start, everyone is excited and we are going from one committee room to the other, you’ll wonder what we were doing then. That is the place I expect that issues about projects that affect constituencies to be brought up but the issues to be taken on must be federal issues.
“A federal legislator’s constituency project must be a federal matter otherwise you’ll be encroaching into the territory of the state legislator, that is my argument.”
TAX PAYER’S MONEY
Fashola said a lot of money is spent on those committee hearings only for the outcome to be significantly different from what was agreed upon.
“They provide water, snack, media coverage and various things, that is tax payer’s money being spent. After all of that, you expect everything to be fine and that all of the things that you have discussed will be reflected in the output of the budget,” he said.
“What happens is that there is another committee called the appropriation committee and I don’t know how they brief each other but when your budget returns, it is different from the budget that you discussed and defended. You don’t recognise it anymore.
“When I was defending my budget, we didn’t discuss boreholes or primary health care centres, now I have hundreds of them in my budget. I have new roads that are state roads, I inherited over 200 roads when I became minister that we are trying to complete and even the right to add something must be in a context of our national development.
“We have reports from previous administrations that there are thousands of uncompleted projects in Nigeria. Those projects must affect constituencies and those are what we want to focus on and complete those that have started. Some of the roads don’t have a design so they can’t be built this year. What I would have suggested if they were federal roads is that the contract for their design be awarded so that next year, we can award them and start building”.
He advised that the outcome of committee hearing be summarised into a one or two-paged communique so that they form part of the documents that are submitted to the appropriation committee “so that if any new issue arises, it is only fair to call the ministry back to say we want to do this. It is unfair after defending your budget that the committee unilaterally decides to chop off this and that and apply it to areas that were not previously discussed with you, without considering if you have the manpower to do it”

 Abuja

Nigerians Demand Immediate Action on Transparency, Accountability and Your Support for the Fight Against Corruption

The National Assembly is an important arm in the triangular governance structure of Nigeria. As the arm of government responsible for making laws for the country, and following up with oversight functions to ensure compliance by other arms of government, the centrality of the National Assembly in a democracy cannot be overstated.

Within the National Assembly, the Senate is the lead chamber responsible for many important decisions of the law-making body. This also places the Senate President, as the Chairman of the National Assembly. It is for these reasons that we choose to address this letter to you, and by extension the 108 other Senators.

Recall that through individual citizens and coalitions of civil society organisations, Nigerians have for a long time been expressing desire for a National Assembly that is responsive, responsible and fully accountable to the people whose interests the members ought to represent.

However, with all the entreaties, advocacies and agitations,the Senate has failed to lead in providing the needed leadership for a more accountable system both within the National Assembly and in the larger governance architecture.

It is in furtherance of these agitations that we find it expedient to once again engage the Senate leadership on these pro-people demands as enumerated below:

1. Opening-up the National Assembly budget to public scrutiny:

Transparency is key to operating an orderly and accountable system. It is an essential ingredient in the fight against corruption. It is for this reason that citizens in a democracy have a fundamental right to know and ask questions where necessary. For this same reason,Nigerians have been advocating for openness and accountability in the operations of government. It is commendable that the 8th National Assembly recently compelled such hitherto opaque agencies like FIRS, CBN and NNPC to subject their budget to scrutiny. It is,therefore, important that the National Assembly follows the rule it has set for other agencies and institutions by making its own budget open for public scrutiny.

2. Cutting running cost:

The Senate has been accused of maintaining a bloated budget. Considering the prevailing economic situation in the country, we urge it to do an immediate review of its budget and spending, streamlining it in consonance with not only the present realities of the country but the everyday living conditions of majority of Nigerians.

3. Commitment to transparency and accountability through asset declaration:

We urge you and other principal officers of the Senate to show commitment to transparency and accountability by publicly declaring your assets. We demand urgent status declaration of pensions and gratuities received by former Governors and Deputy governors presently in the Red Chamber and receiving multiple housing and transportation allowances both as former state executivesand serving Senators. We also urge you as the leader of the National Assembly to set an example by making your declaration of asset public.

4. Investigate allegation of corruption against the Senate leadership:

You would recall that a few weeks ago, a rights group, Citizens Action to Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN) accused you, your deputy, as well the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his deputy, of using the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to perpetrate financial fraud totaling over six hundred and thirty million Naira. For the sake of probity and the integrity of the Senate, we urge an independent inquiry into the allegations. Such unattended accusations have the unsavory effect of undermining the public standing of this important organ of governance.

5. Demonstrate commitment to the fight against corruption:

One of the cardinal objectives of the current government of which you are a principal officer is the fight against corruption. You will agree that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is central to the government’s anti-corruption effort. As the leader of a Senate that has on several occasions expressed its commitment to the war against corruption, it is important that you put in place the necessary mechanisms to ensure that the issue of a substantive chairman for the EFCC is dealt with as expeditiously and transparently as possible.

6. Expedite the passage of the Special Crimes Courts Billand other anti-corruption related bills.

The objective of the Special Crimes Courts Bill, as stated in its title, is: “An Act to provide for the establishment of a Special Crimes Court as a superior court of record to allow for speedy trials of certain offences, including economic and financial crimes, terrorism, money laundering, corruption offences and for related matters.”The lack of passage of this bill and other related bills is delaying the adjudication of criminal cases. It is, therefore, imperative to have these specialized courts and other laws enacted in good time.

7. Sir, we respectfully demand immediate action on the issues raised hereabove. These actions must go beyond the usual platitudes and politically correct assurances. This is a first step in pressing for these demands. We are, therefore, giving the Senate two weeks from the date of this letter, to show good faith in addressing the issues raised above.
8. If the Senate fails to act swiftly on these issues, we will be left with no option but to mobilize Nigerians from all walks of life to mount an occupation of the Senate.

Do accept, distinguished Senate President, the assurances of our highest regards.

Signed,

Olanrewaju Suraju: Civil Society Network Against Corruption

Jibrin Ibrahim, PhD:

Auwal Musa Rafsanjani – Executive Director – Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)

Eze Nwagwu – Say No Campaign

Faith Nwadishi – Executive Director – Centre for Gender and Development

Yunusa Zakari Ya’u: Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)

Chido Onumah – Coordinator –  African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL)

Naseer Kura – Executive Director – Basic Rights Action (BRA)

Debo Adeniran – Executive Director – Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL)

Kemi Okenyodo: Partners WestAfrica, Nigeria​

Ibrahim Modibbo – Executive Director – Democrats of Conscience

Shamsideen Yusuf – Centre for Democracy and Development

Muhammed Attah – Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative

Dr. George-Hill Anthony – Niger-Delta Budget Monitoring Group

Dr. Bunmi Awoyemi – Citizen United for Peace and Stability (CUPS)

Emeka Betram – Executive Director – Person with Disabilities Action Network (PEDANET)

OPEN UP NASS BUDGET TO PUBLIC SCRUTINY, CSOs TELL SARAKI

A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) under the auspices of Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) has asked Senate President Bukola Saraki to open up the National Assembly budget to public scrutiny.

The CSOs, in a letter, which was submitted to Senate President, gave two weeks ultimatum to the Senate to address the issues raised because of they called its failure to provide leadership for a more accountable system both within the National Assembly and in the larger governance architecture despite all the entreaties, advocacies and agitations.

Olanrewaju Suraj, who read out the content of the letter to journalists at a news conference in Abuja, said the organizations were ready to mobilise Nigerians from all walks of life to mount an occupation at the Senate if the upper chamber of National Assembly fail to act swiftly on the issues.

The organizations and personalities that signed the letter included Dr Jibrin Ibrahim, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani – Executive Director – Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Eze Nwagwu – Say No Campaign, Faith Nwadishi – Executive Director –  Centre for Gender and Development, Yunusa Zakari Ya’u – Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Chido Onumah – Coordinator –  African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), Naseer Kura – Executive Director – Basic Rights Action (BRA) and Debo Adeniran – Executive Director – Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL).

Others were Kemi Okenyodo: Partners West Africa, Nigeria, Ibrahim Modibbo – Executive Director –Democrats of Conscience, Shamsideen Yusuf  – Centre for Democracy and Development, Muhammed Attah – Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative, Dr. George-Hill Anthony – Niger-Delta Budget Monitoring Group, Dr. Bunmi Awoyemi – Citizen United for Peace and Stability (CUPS) and Emeka Betram – Executive Director – Person with Disabilities Action Network (PEDANET).

They said since the 8th National Assembly recently compelled such hitherto opaque agencies like FIRS, CBN and NNPC to subject their budget to scrutiny, it is important that the National Assembly follows the rule it has set for other agencies and institutions by making its own budget open for public scrutiny.

They also implored the Senate to do an immediate review of its budget and spending, streamlining it in consonance with not only the present realities of the country but the everyday living conditions of majority of Nigerians.

They further urged Senate President and other principal officers of the Senate to show commitment to transparency and accountability by publicly declaring their assets.

“We demand urgent status declaration of pensions and gratuities received by former governors and deputy governors presently in the Red Chamber and receiving multiple housing and transportation allowances both as former state executives and serving Senators. We also urge you as the leader of the National Assembly to set an example by making your declaration of asset public,” the letter read in part.

To demonstrate commitment to the fight against corruption, they advised Senate President to put in place the necessary mechanisms to ensure that the issue of a substantive chairman for the EFCC is dealt with as expeditiously and transparently as possible.

• Call For Council Inauguration

• Say No To Upward Review Of Contract Mobilisation Fee

The need to insulate politicians in government from the award of juicy contracts to themselves, cronies or firms in which they have interests, with the attendant consequences of inflation of contract sums, which robs government of value for money was the driving force behind introduction of the Due Process mechanism during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, which latter culminated in the enactment of the Public Procurement Act of 2007. The act establishes the National Council on Public Procurement, (NCPP) as the regulations Authority for the monitoring and oversight of public procurement, as well as the harmonization of the existing government policies and practices by regulating, setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in the country.

The Act establishing the Council, though proposed and passed by the National Assembly in the latter days of the tenure of Obasanjo’s government in May 2007, it received assent on June 4 2007, shortly on assumption of office by former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (now late), who was supposed to immediately inaugurate the Council to take over the business of public procurement through competitive bidding, through the supervision of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), which according to the Act is merely the Secretariat of the Council, akin to what the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is to the National Council on Privatization (NCP), headed by the Vice President, which oversees all privatization activities in the country.

Unfortunately, more than nine years after the enactment of the Law, the Council, which former President Yar’Adua failed to set up, which his former Vice President and latter successor, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan equally failed to set up after almost six years in office, has thus provided opportunity for the politicians at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to continue to hijack the role of public procurement.

Indeed, most Nigerians expected that one of the earliest actions the administration of the President Muhammadu Buhari, who had promised to clean the Augean stable, would be the immediate inauguration of that Council to instill transparency and accountability in public life. But fifteen months after, that is yet to be seen, as his ministers continue to constitute themselves into contracts approving body, without exercising effective monitoring of the activities of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), to ensure that envisaged malfeasances as articulated in the Act establishing the Council are either prevented or where established infractions are noticed, appropriate sanction are meted in accordance to the Law.

Part 1 (2) of the Establishment Act of the Council listed its membership as follows:The Minister of Finance as Chairman; the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; the Head of Service of the Federation; the Economic Adviser to the President; six part-time members to represent Nigeria Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management; Nigeria Bar Association; Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture; Nigeria Society of Engineers; Civil Society; the Media; and the Director-General of the Bureau who shall be the Secretary of the Council.

The Act added that notwithstanding the provisions of Section (2), the Council may co-opt any person to attend its meeting, but the person so co-opted shall not have a casting vote or be counted towards quorum.Part 1(4) Act said the President shall appoint the Chairman and other members of the Council.

Part 2 (a – f) of the Establishment Act listed the functions of the Council to include: “consider, approve and amend the monetary and prior review thresholds for the application of the provisions of this Act by procuring entities; consider and approve policies on public procurement; approve the appointment of the Directors of the Bureau; receive and consider, for approval, the audited accounts of the Bureau of Public Procurement; and “approve changes in the procurement process to adapt to improvements in modern technology” ; give such other directives and perform such other functions as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of this Act.”

Also considered highly unethical include; the possession of: “a direct or indirect interest in or relationship with a bidder, supplier, contractor or service provider that is inherently unethical or that may be implied or construed to be, or make possible personal gain due to the person’s ability to influence dealings; entertains relationships which are unethical, rendering his attitude partial toward the outsider for personal reasons or otherwise inhibit the impartiality of the person’s business judgments ; places by acts or omissions the procuring entity he represents or the government in an equivocal, embarrassing or ethically questionable position ;entertains relationships compromising the reputation or integrity of the procuring entity he represents or the government ;receives benefits by taking personal advantage of an opportunity that properly belongs to the procuring entity he represents or the government ; creates a source of personal revenue or advantage by using public property which comes into his hands either in course of his work or otherwise ; and discloses confidential information being either the property of his procuring entity, the government or to a supplier, contractor or service provider to unauthorized persons.

The implementation of the public procurement principle in the country without the requisite Council, which should carry out the policing or over sighting of the Bureau has continued to attract criticism from the civil society community as well as finance and economic experts, with some alleging that the absence of a supervisory council as conceived was responsible for the low level of budget performance year in year out. Others yet accused the Bureau of corruption and favoritism contract awards and have maintained calls for the quick inauguration of the Council to supervise its activities and punish offenders, bearing in mind that the penalty for the commission of the above listed infraction carries in some instances a five year jail term without option of fine and in other cases, fines ranging huge sums of money.

Some of the envisaged malfeasances which the Council is supposed to keep an eye on the BPP staff in their day to day exercise of procurement activities to avoid compromise as provided for under the Act in Part Eleven under Code of Conduct include: making requisition for or planning of procurements; preparing solicitation documents; receiving offers in response to any form of solicitation towards a procurement or disposal; evaluating and comparing offers confidentially and in complete neutrality; protecting the interest of all parties without fear or favor; and obviating all situations likely to render an officer vulnerable to embarrassment or undue influence.

In 2013, the World Bank raised an alarm that the Nigerian Government had refused to draw down on a $450m facility meant to institutionalize the operations of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) regime in Nigeria, aimed at reducing the cost of infrastructure financing in the country from public resources, apparently due to the selfish enrichment through public contracts inflation and other fraud, which are not common in a PPP arrangement.

The World Bank Sector Manager, Finance and Private Sector Development (Western & Central African countries), Mr. Paul Noumba who expressed the Bank’s shock said the faculty had then been lying fallow for the past three years, signifying the lack of interest of the Nigerian Government in the PPP regime which was introduced by the late President Musa Yar’Adua Administration.

The Guardian equally learnt from sources close to the World Bank and the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the PPP regulatory agency in Nigeria that part of the seeming failure of the ICRC pioneer Director General, Dr. Mansur Ahmed to deliver on his mandate was the allegedly masterminded by the MDAs functionaries who effectively ‘blocked ‘ their projects from the ICRC for preparation and execution under the PPP window and insisted that the projects be funded direct from Government’s allocation where they would have total control of resources and award for the projects.

The World Bank source who asked not to be named said: “It’s really disturbing that the Nigerian Government with a huge infrastructure deficit appears not to be interested in PPP, which could save her a lot of money to tackle other challenges. The Government has even frustrated the World Bank’s attempt to collaborate with her on some projects to set example on the benefits of a PPP.

“Specifically, we approached the Government to lease the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway to us on a PPP, arrangement, that was about three years ago. They foot-dragged. When we realised they were not too enthusiastic, we said okay, lets unbundle it, give us the Lagos-Shagamu section while the Government does the Shagamu-Abeokuta section, still they turned down the offer and latter offered it to Babalakin, which they have also terminated and the Road has remained in bad shape with the attendant risk to road users,” added the source disturbingly.

Mr. Paul Noumba said that Nigeria was the first country, which the World Bank picked for a pilot project for PPPs but regretted that for three years, funds released for the purpose then had been lying fallow. He explained that because of the non-utilisation of the fund, the World Bank had decided to restructure and scale it down to USD$25m at the first instance to take care of technical assistance and capacity building while in phase two, it would release USD$85m. The initial ratio was USD$150 million and USD$300m.The immediate past Director General of the Bureau, Engr. Emeka Eze, however, refutes these claims, insisting that activities of the Bureau remain transparent and within the best international standards.

He explained that in an effort to improve budget implementation by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, the Bureau decentralized the approving authorities along certain threshold sum, thus empowering either the parastatals or the Ministries to award certain contracts without necessarily having to wait for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approvals.

He listed the rolling threshold within which the accounting officers in the ministries or agencies of Government can undertake awards after the tendering procedure has been faithfully undertaken by the resident TendersBoards: for ministries, from N5m to less than N100m to be approved by the Permanent Secretary who is the accounting officer; for parastatals and agencies, from N2.5m to less than N50m, except in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and agencies where they are empowered to award contracts ranging for N1.40b, but less than N2.7b for ministerial tenders ; N540m and above, but less than N1.4b for the Group Executive Council of the NNPC Headquarters Tenders Board and N270m, but less than N540m for agencies within the refinery, petrochemical , production and corporate supply chain tenders boards of the NMPC agencies.

According to Eze in a circular to all MDAs: “The Bureau of Public Procurement wishes to observe that by these new thresholds, greater procurement responsibilities have been placed on the Ministries, Departments and Agencies while the Bureau would be paying greater attention during post-procurement reviews in compliance with Clause 16(13), Part IV (Fundamental Principles for Procurements) of the 2007 Public Procurement Act, which states that: “Copies of all procurement records shall be transmitted to the Bureau not later than 3 months after the end of the financial year and shall show:-information identifying the procuring entity and the contractors; the date of the Contract award; the value of the Contract, and, the detailed records of the procurement proceedings.”

He further clarified that: “Only projects in excess of N300m for Works and N100m for Goods & Services qualify for Pre-qualification. In other words Ministries/Department / Agencies (MDAs) should go straight to invite Bids for Tender for projects costing less than N100m for Goods (Supply Items) and N300m for works (Construction).

Now, reacting to the current request being planned by President Buhari for emergency powers on budget spending, a public finance expert and social justice advocate, Mr. Eze Onyekpere, who is also Lead Director, Center for Social Justice (CENSOJ), faulted the President’s move and rather advised him to immediately put the Council in place to enable it deliver on the public procurement vision. Eze also faulted the agitation for the upward review of the contract mobilization percentage, saying the current level of 15per cent was the internationally acceptable threshold.

Eze, who x-rayed the activities of the BPP since its establishment pointed out some observed loopholes: “As lofty as these goals are, the agency created about a decade ago still grapples with ability to comply in total with the core objectives as envisaged by law, leading to outright subversion of the nation’s public procurement standards.

“Although these objective appear clear in black and white, observers, especially potential investors who have had a bitter taste of the shoddy compliance with these ground rules are of the opinion that something must be done, and urgently to address the situation, especially at this time when the economy is in dire need of resuscitation. “For this purpose, the Federal Government was recently reported to be seeking additional powers through legislation on a bill known as Emergency Economic Stabilization Bill 2016’ to reflate the nation’s economy. The bill, which is yet to be presented to the lawmakers, is expected to grant the president sweeping powers to formulate a rapid economic recovery plan within a year to jump-start the economy.

“Some of the powers sought by the bill include: amending the procurement processes to support stimulus spending on critical sectors of the economy; making orders to favour local contractors/suppliers in contract awards; reduce the process of sale or lease of government assets to generate revenue; allow virement of budgetary allocation to projects that are urgent without recourse to the National Assembly; to embark on radical reforms in visa issuance at Nigeria’s consular offices and on arrival in the country and to compel some agencies of government like the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the National Agency for Foods Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and others to improve on their turn around operation time for the benefit of business, among other requests.

“The Public Procurement Act in its present form and state is one of the most beautiful laws ever made in Nigeria. It is an Act to establish the National Council on Public Procurement and the Bureau of Public Procurement as the regulatory authorities responsible for the monitoring and oversight of public procurement, harmonizing the existing government policies and practices by regulating, setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria; and for related matters.”

Eze continued: “Government officials have always complained that the processes involved in implementing the Act is cumbersome and time consuming. They cite the time lag for preparation of documentation, advertisements, assessment of bids, etc. The alternative, which they advocate is a fallback to the old ways of procurement based on whims and caprices, rather than rules. If the rules are abrogated, what will be the basis for public procurement decisions? Essentially, government officials do not want restrains and rules in the way and manner they award contracts. But if they follow the rules stated in the Act, from procurement planning, pre-qualifications (where necessary), invitation to bid, etc., there would be no major challenges.

“No law is perfect, but a law needs to be worked and implemented to see its flaws. Right from inception, the executive (including previous administrations) signed the law, but refused to fully implement it. The National Council on Public Procurement being the policy arm of the procurement function was never constituted, whilst attempts have been made to subvert other provisions of the Act. The Bureau of Public Procurement, which was supposed to be the technical arm and the secretariat of the Council was established and has been working without the oversight of the Council,” he said.

According to Onyekpere, the present economic challenges facing the country are partly result of refusal to entrench “evidence and rules based approach to public procurement.” He said if MDAs start the process of procurement planning on time, they would not have any major challenges in following through the process up to the award of contract.

On the issue of upward review of mobilization fee for contractors up to 50%, the lawyer cum activist argued that there is no basis for the review, but maintained that 15% mobilization was in line with world best practices.

“Again, no reasonable contractor or service provider needs 50% mobilization fee. The current 15% mobilization fee is in order and is in line with international best practices. Thus, if anyone is asking for the abrogation of the process so as to facilitate the award of contracts, that person is simply asking for a license to mismanage and misappropriate public resources. This should not be allowed to fly. Payment of contractors starts from appropriate works, services, generation of certificates and effective supervision by MDAs down to the processing of payment,” he said.

In his own intervention, the Executive Director of Niger Delta Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), Dr. Georgehill Anthony expressed disappointment that President Muhammadu Buhari has not inaugurated the Council yet and urged him to do it immediately, before he completely loses whatever remaining confidence the people have in him.

Accordingly, before constituting the Council, he advised that the 2007 Act should be amended to insulate the Finance Minister, who is provided for in the Act as Chairman or even the President to head the Council, to insulate them from the influences of politics and ensure that ordinary Nigerians ultimately benefit from the provision.

Dr. Anthony said: “ We the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Community in Nigeria thought that that was the first thing President Muhammadu Buhari was going to inaugurate as part of institutional efforts to check corruption. It is hard to believe that he could disappoint us this way. In fact, we advise that the Act should be amended to make an independent professional from bodies conversant with public procurement to head it, so that there can be checks and balances. We do not want politicians to head that Council, to check against the current situation where ministers and the rich political class who are the owners of the companies who bid for contracts preside over the affairs of the Council or the Bureau to feather their nests at the expense of ordinary Nigerians.”

2016 FEDERAL APPROPRIATION FOR MINISTRY OF NIGER DELTA AFFAIRS AND MATTERS ARISING

Following the recent revelations of his involvement in the padding of the 2016 budget, the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) has called on the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara to immediately resign from his position.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Executive Director, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, Dr. George-Hill Anthony on Monday in Port Harcourt.

Recall that Hon. Addulmumin Jibrin, a lawmaker from Kano State and former House Committee chairman on Appropriation, had revealed that the speaker of the House of Representatives, HoRs, Hon Yakubu Dogara, colluded with his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Whip, Leo Ogor to allocate up to ₦40 billion to themselves in the 2016 National Assembly budget.

The group described the action as an “abuse of office and a betrayal of trust”, adding that Jibrin’s allegation should “not be swept under the carpet”.

The statement read, “We at the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, NDEBUMOG, are worried over the shocking and scandalous revelations on Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s involvement in the padding of the 2016 budget. It is shameful that such attempt to defraud the country of a whooping N40b through the manipulation of the budget could be contemplated by elected officers under a government that has promised to crush corruption and at a period the government has been complaining of dwindling revenues. It is a gross abuse of office and a betrayal of trust.

“Although the lawmakers have denied the allegations, saying Mr. Jibrin was expressing the scorn he felt after being sacked as chairman of Committee on Appropriation, we are of the view that such revelations, which have eroded the morality and integrity of the entire House of Representatives, should not be swept under the carpet. It should be thoroughly probed, and if the officers mentioned in the alleged scam are found culpable, they should be made to face the full wraths of the law. This is the only way the House of Reps could regain its trust and integrity.

“We commend Addulmumin Jubrin for these revelations, although his attempt to draw public sympathy from the revelations came rather too late. There is no doubt that he would have continued to conceal the atrocity, if not that he fell out of the favour of the speaker and other principal officers of the House.

“Interestingly, reasons many Nigerians suspected over the years for the insistence of the National Assembly that the power to “appropriate or re-appropriate” on the National Budget is “theirs” have now been confirmed by the Jibrin’s revelations. They have argued always that they are appropriation lords; trying to bully and hack the Executive to allow them {the National Assembly Members} have their way at the detriment of millions of Nigerians just because they want to allocate public funds among themselves at will.

“It is not a secret that many Nigerians trust the Lower House (HoRs) more than the Senate. Unfortunately, such pro-poor trust is already at the risk of being lost, if majority of the members of the HoRs fail to come together immediately to remove all the principal officers mentioned in this messy affair. We wait to see how majority of the HoRs members, who are young Nigerians, would allow their “padded political loyalty” flush-away their political future. The integrity of the entire House of Representatives is at stake, if the officers in question are not removed immediately for a thorough investigation.

“Therefore, we demand that Speaker Yakubu Dogara and all the principal officers mentioned in the scandal should immediately resign, even if “collective interest” of the parliamentarians’, rallies around them in the opposite. Again, the scandal in question demands a thorough probe and the suspected accomplices cannot be the judges in their own case.

“Nigerians should note possible remedial actions of the Political Parties that the actors in question represent and reward the parties accordingly with their votes, if the Political Parties that the actors represent fail to take necessary remedial actions aimed at deterring such inglorious acts in future.”

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, NDEBUMOG has demanded the resignation of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and all the principal officers mentioned in the N40 billion budget padding scandal.

Below is NDEBUMOG statement.

“We at the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, NDEBUMOG, are worried over the shocking and scandalous revelations on Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s involvement in the padding of the 2016 budget. It is shameful that such attempt to defraud the country of a whooping N40b through the manipulation of the budget could be contemplated by elected officers under a government that has promised to crush corruption and at a period the government has been complaining of dwindling revenues. It is a gross abuse of office and a betrayal of trust.

YAKUBU DOGARA SHOULD RESIGN AS THE SPEAKER OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

 We at the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, NDEBUMOG, are worried over the shocking and scandalous revelations on Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s involvement in the padding of the 2016 budget. It is shameful that such attempt to defraud the country of a whooping ₦40 billion through the manipulation of the budget could be contemplated by elected officers under a government that has promised to crush corruption and at a period the government has been complaining of dwindling revenues. It is a gross abuse of office and a betrayal of trust. 

 Hon. Addulmumin Jibrin, a lawmaker from Kano State and former House Committee chairman on Appropriation, had revealed that the speaker of the House of Representatives, HoRs, Hon Yakubu Dogara, colluded with his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Whip, Leo Ogor to allocate up to ₦40 billion to themselves in the 2016 National Assembly budget. 

Although the lawmakers have denied the allegations, saying Mr. Jibrin was expressing the scorn he felt after being sacked as chairman of Committee on Appropriation, we are of the view that such revelations, which have eroded the morality and integrity of the entire House of Representatives, should not be swept under the carpet. It should be thoroughly probed, and if the officers mentioned in the alleged scam are found culpable, they should be made to face the full wraths of the law. This is the only way the House of Reps could regain its trust and integrity.

We commend Addulmumin Jibrin for these revelations, although his attempt to draw public sympathy from the revelations came rather too late. There is no doubt that he would have continued to conceal the atrocity, if not that he fell out of the favour of the speaker and other principal officers of the House.

Interestingly, reasons many Nigerians suspected over the years for the insistence of the National Assembly that the power to “appropriate or re-appropriate” on the National Budget is “theirs” have now been confirmed by the Jibrin’s revelations. They have argued always that they are appropriation lords; trying to bully and hack the Executive to allow them {the National Assembly Members} have their way at the detriment of millions of Nigerians just because they want to allocate public funds among themselves at will.

It is not a secret that many Nigerians trust the Lower House (HoRs) more than the Senate. Unfortunately, such pro-poor trust is already at the risk of being lost, if majority of the members of the HoRs fail to come together immediately to remove all the principal officers mentioned in this messy affair. We wait to see how majority of the HoRs members, who are young Nigerians, would allow their “padded political loyalty” flush-away their political future. The integrity of the entire House of Representatives is at stake, if the officers in question are not removed immediately for a thorough investigation. 

Therefore, we demand that Speaker Yakubu Dogara and all the principal officers mentioned in the scandal should immediately resign, even if “collective interest” of the parliamentarians’, rallies around them in the opposite. Again, the scandal in question demands a thorough probe and the suspected accomplices cannot be the judges in their own case. 

Nigerians should note possible remedial actions of the Political Parties that the actors in question represent and reward the parties accordingly with their votes, if the Political Parties that the actors represent fail to take necessary remedial actions aimed at deterring such inglorious acts in future.

Signed

Dr. George-Hill Anthony

Executive Director

Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group

Dated 25th of July 2016, @ Port Harcourt,

www.nigerdeltabudget.org 

The Executive Director, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, George-Hill Anthony, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that all looted funds recovered by his administration are accounted for.
The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group is a civil society group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region and has been involved in programmes to engender resource accountability in the region.
In a statement Sunday, Mr. Anthony faulted the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, for saying “looted funds would be returned to where they were stolen from”.
He insisted that Mrs. Adeosun must have been misquoted on the matter but added that Nigerians would be thoroughly embarrassed if indeed she made the statement.
“For the records, budgetary or fiscal application is a process. Such a process must follow an interlocking fiscal template from conceptualization, tabulation, surgeries for the envelopes, passage, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, impact assessment, among others,” Mr. Anthony said.
Funds looted from the public treasury were not just taken out from various bank accounts of the government but had followed a process, the group said.
“Somewhat, measures for such process, include, a public procurement mechanism, where funds were processed for procurement purposes, and thereafter were either misapplied, not applied, partly applied 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.”
Mr. Anthony also argued that some of the capital procurement that may have been used to loot such monies may have been for envelopes far beyond a single fiscal year.
He, therefore, advocated the inclusion of the looted funds back into the budgetary system and then use them to address the needs of the country or fund some of the projects for which they were originally meant for.
For instance, he argued that the funds be included in the budgets of the agencies from which they were looted and used in carrying out projects they were meant for.
He said, “These monies said to be refunded cannot out rightly go back to where they were stolen.
“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 or abandoned.”
While reminding Nigerians about how the Sani Abacha loot was misapplied, Mr. Anthony said every recovered loot must be channeled into the federal and states budgets before they are used.

George-hill Anthony is an executive director, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), and expert on budget tracking and monitoring. In this chat with The Guardian, he shared some of the anxiety out there regarding the yet to be discussed budget 2016.
At this time of the year, we ought to have commenced hearings on budget 2016. But there is nothing like that. Is that healthy?
HONESTLY, there is a lot of anxiety within the civil society, particularly, those of us working on the fiscal governance sector, as it concerns the possible direction that the government is headed on budget 2016. Constructively speaking, I want to believe that government at the centre would not want to toy with Nigerians on matters of fiscal inclusion, in a way that was demonstrated by the previous government.
Interestingly, there are diverse tools, which the civil society shall coalesce to benchmark the government at the centre on matters of citizens’ inclusion. Participatory budget shall be part of it, and as such, inclusion engenders transparency. Unfortunately, as we speak, there is a total blackout from the government on the policy direction or framework, which would give birth to the macro-economic projections for budget 2016. The government cannot whimsically flag a possible zero-based budget for year 2016, but only to rely on bureaucratic cranking to tailor the templates. Such has left the country with fiscal ruins in the past… Nigeria has depended heavily on incremental budget over the years, which either, zero-based or incremental, can be predicated on Section 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 19 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.
Constitutionally, the window exists through Section 91, 93, 124, 125 and 135 of the Constitution, as amended, for the government to conceptualise whatever framework for the budget. However, keeping millions of Nigerians and the civil society in suspense regarding the direction of government does not augur well at consolidating participatory democracy. However, in fairness to the PMB Government, let us believe, the government is still being carried away by the unimaginable rots the APC government inherited. It should, however, be noted, the way a baby learns to walk, could determine, if the child would have bowleg, knocked- knee or unique steps.
We are yet to have the Presidency forward the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) 2016-2019 to the NASS for debate and inputs. Is this also healthy?
As a government, which took over power on a mantra of doing things differently for collective public good, one is still trying to track the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) shadows for 2016 budget, believing strongly, any Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) for 2016 budget shall evolve within the fiscal architecture of existing law. If the 2016 budget is forwarded to the National Assembly any moment from now as expected, there are indications, such would be in flagrant disregard to Section 13 (2) (a) of the FRA, which is a window provided by law for consultations of citizens, including the civil society and the media. Discussions within a section of the civil society, even last week, have not showed signs the processes are well blended towards the budget 2016. However, it is not late for the government to do the right thing. These are all evolving indicators that Nigerians would use to benchmark the Buhari’s government. For now, this law has partially been complied with, though not substantially, as it concerns the budget and the citizenry.
We hear the government wants to finance budget 2016 with a total of N8 trillion, but we are not told, where the funding will come from, knowing that oil revenues have whittled considerably?
Lack of communication,, insufficient communication could cause a populist government to lose enormous goodwill. The government at the centre must guide against this, since Nigerians are becoming more politically sophisticated each passing day. Instinctively, part of the information that is flying out there, concerning how the government want to fund the 2016 budget, is that, the over N1trillion of MTN’s penalty, artificial disruption to fuel supply, preparatory to final removal of subsidy are said to be avenues to free money for the government to pay N5,000 to unemployment benefits. We are told there could be a possible bullying of millions of Nigerians to stifle them to part with taxes, maneuvering PPPs, among others, are peddled as avenues to raise money for the 2016 budget… Lack of adequate and effective communication has created the space for these rumoured communication.
I think there are avenues, which the government can generate enough funds to fire up the budget, effectively from 2017, within an all-inclusive strategic plan. Part of it is trimming down frivolous overheads, marrying all agencies’ personnel into GIFMIS, bridging enveloping system with zero budget mechanism, through cost-spot templates on projects with huge capital outlays, narrow expenditure LIs and PPPs, including, ongoing reforms within the Customs Service and several other agencies generating billions, but using same as slush funds, even while same agencies are still drawing funds from the federal budget, etc.
Obviously, Budget 2016 could come with some delay. Will that be good, knowing that Budget 2015 has not performed?
The government is exhibiting extreme vigilance for the conceptualisation, formulation, passage and possible implementation of 2016 budget. The government can be excused for that, especially, 2016 budget, being the first budget for the President Buhari-led government. Be that as it may, I think the government cannot get 2016 budget right, no matter how fast or late.
For the Buhari government, 2016 is a reconciliatory budget for the government and every process of reconciliation, coupled with so much fiscal conflicts, expectedly takes a lot of time to resolve. In the process, many of the ongoing projects are likely to be cancelled, funds recovered, others may be varied, restructured, redesign, vired, and so on.
So, the 2016 budget, in my opinion, would have several turbulent waters to cross, particularly, as some interest of the opposition party within the National Assembly may also want to use the legislature to exert itself for survival towards 2019.
Therefore, it would be an uncommon political dexterity for the government to get the budget passed before April 2016. Even if it does, I am sure, President Buhari would further take some time to study what was passed to make sure, he does not sign padded envelopes, which may affect his integrity at the point of implementation.
How will you ask the government to act, as well as what priorities will you set regarding the budget?
No government can operate outside the fiscal and constitutional expenditure realities. I would advise the government to pay more attention to stimulating economic growth, which cannot be achieved without measurable fight against insecurity, not just insurgency. Many entrepreneurs prefer to hide their money, rather than being kidnapped without anyone coming to their rescues. How do we generate jobs then, when government alone cannot do it? Government must restore the sanctity to human life, which has fast becoming too cheap for ordinary citizens. The government needs to also correct groaning injustices, which the GENCOS and DISCOS in the power sector are inflicting upon Nigerians; such should go along with reforms for stable electricity and equitable tariff.
Further, the government should not also overlook revival and massive social infrastructure, including, qualitative transformative education and the Niger Delta question.

HERE IS NDEBUMOG 2015 INCLUSIVE BUDGET TOWN HALL MEETINGS CAPITAL PROJECTS MASTER-LIST FOR STAKEHOLDERS.

The document here is the 2015 Capital Projects Master List and Allocational Analysis within the Niger Delta, produced by our organization (the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group), which covered four States of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers State within the Niger Delta.

This Masterlist and Allocational Analysis attached here covered 47 Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Akwa Ibom State, and have 855 capital projects covered in Akwa Ibom, State in this document. Also, 35 Ministries, Departments and Agencies were covered in Bayelsa State, with 258 capital projects, while 22 Ministries, Department and Agencies with 1,391 capital projects were covered for Delta State.  Rivers State has 93 Government Agencies covered with 2,445 capital projects reviewed.

Furthermore, there is a total of 348 Federal Government’s capital projects spread across four States in the Niger Delta, even as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has 1,620 capital projects captured accordingly. There are 131 descriptive graphs with indicators gauge at providing sectoral leads.

You would find the document interesting on matters democratic accountability and inclusive governance.

The Executive Director, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, (NDEBUMOG) George-Hill Anthony, has called on civil society groups working on fiscal governance and accountability, to build capacity in understanding the International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) package, if the war against corruption must be won.

Anthony stated that civil society groups, working in the area of transparency, could not track public spending, retirements and audits because they have limited understanding of how IPSAS truly works.

READ MORE

Abimbola Akosile examines ongoing efforts at promoting expenditure line-tracking for States and Local Governments in the Niger Delta, which is being coordinated by the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG)

Setting the Tone
Analysts and experts have always noted that budget tracking and monitoring, as components of expenditure line-tracking, are vital processes to ensure transparency and accountability in governance. Conversely, this process, if efficiently managed, is also capable of reducing corruption in government processes.
This tool for good governance was the focus of a regional non-governmental organisation, the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), led by Mr. George-Hill Anthony, when it embarked, with the support of Oxfam, on a recent regional exercise to deepen expenditure line-tracking for States and Local Governments in the Niger Delta, in Phase III of the ongoing expenditure-tracking project.

Worried by the seeming slow pace of community development efforts in the Niger Delta, despite huge funds budgeted for the region by private and government bodies, the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) has called for a pragmatic, all-inclusive approach to needs assessment.
This was contained in a communiqué issued after a one-day community town hall meeting on inclusive budgeting organized by NDEBUMOG, with support from Oxfam in Nigeria. The meetings were held across Bayelsa State, including Elebele in Ogbia Local Government Area; Amassoma in Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor Local Government Areas; Yenagoa in Yenagoa Local Government Area and Kaiama in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area.
Participants at the meetings urged the government include communities in the process of budget preparation and and implementation and to carry out proper baseline studies and needs assessment before projects are sited in communities.
For indigenes of Ogbia Local Government Area to feel the impact of community development, it was resolved that, “Communities in Ogbia LGA should be encouraged to develop a framework for prioritized projects to guide developmental processes in the communities. The ongoing dualisation of Yenegwe- Kolo- Nembe Road and Opolo-Elebele Road, which terminates at Elebele should be extended to link other communities in the cluster. Government should, also, expedite action to complete projects within record time.”
The communities, therefore, appealed to NDEBUMOG to organise capacity building on budget monitoring for the Kolo Creek Development Foundation.
For Amassoma cluster it was resolved that “There should be extension of electricity to areas that have been developed from the point of last electricity wiring in Amassoma. Also, the abandoned Amassoma Civic Centre project should be completed. Government was advised to apply due process in the procurement and bidding for contract awards and implement fully the state’s Fiscal Responsibility Act. Also, quality and specification should be adhered to and community people included from start to finish of projects.

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group is advocating a number of reforms to eliminate problems of abandoned projects in Bayelsa State

THE Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, NDEBUMOG, with support from Oxfam, is working towards ensuring inclusive in project execution and budgeting in Bayelsa State. To achieve its aim, the NDEBUMOG on May 27, organised a town hall meeting with people of Elebele community cluster which includes Amorokeni, Kolo I,II and III, Emeyal I and II, Elebele, Imiringi, Otuasega,Oruma, Ibelebiri and Etegwe II communities  in Ogbia local government area of the state.

The group observed that in Elebele cluster there were no good road infrastructures and government projects at the public primary and secondary schools did not include the provision of adequate facilities and other instructional materials. The project for the electrification of Oruma and Otuasega communities contained in the 2012 and 2013 budgets had nothing on ground. It said due process was not followed in the procurement and bidding for capital projects awards.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

The South South edition of the 2nd National Sensitisation and Enlightenment Programme on the implementation of the Public Procurement Act 2007, organised by the Bureau of Public Procurement took place at Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt on the 17th September 2009. Over 300 participants from Civil Society organizations, Government establishment, traditional councils, professional bodies, youth groups, religious bodies, the media, Customs, and the representative of Nigerian Police attended the event. Dignitaries at the event included; His Royal Highness, Sir Chief J. D. Nkpe, the Paramount Ruler of Alesa Eleme, Dr. Sofiri Joab Peterside of Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS), Port Harcourt, Dr. Abiodun Adeniyi who represented the DG of BPP, ACG Odele M. O, represented the ACG of Customs Port Harcourt Zone and ACP Bashir Makama who represented the Commissioner of Police Rivers State Command. The aim of the forum was to sensitized citizens in the zone on how and the need to engage the implementation of the Public Procurement Act

The Joint Development Zone (between Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe in the gulf of Guinea) is formerly a disputed deep-water coastal area south of the median line between Sao Tome and Principe and Nigeria. In order to avoid a prolonged legal conflict with respect to the area, Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe reached an agreement in August of 1999 to jointly explore and exploit the hydrocarbons in a 28,000 square kilometer zone, the (JDZ).

NDDC 2010 Supplementary Appropriation

On the 17th of June 2009, Governor Timipre Silver signed the Bayelsa State Public Procurement Act into Law. The Act is expected to regulate all Procurement regime and practices of the government of Bayelsa State.

The Petroleum Industry Bill, currently being considered by the national legislature, reflects the most comprehensive review of the legal framework for the oil and gas sector in Nigeria since the industry began commercial operations in the 1960s.
Civil society groups working on the Niger Delta and with communities in the oil producing areas welcome the initiative to review and revise the legal framework. This provides an important opportunity to ensure that the social and human rights impacts of the oil industry are adequately addressed. The lack of effective regulation of the social and human rights impacts of the industry has been a significant problem for decades and addressing this issue was one of the main recommendations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in its 2002 decision on the Ogoni Communication.

The Niger Delta receives trillions of Naira from the Federation Account. But there is no apparent accountability process in the region. National Parliamentarians from the region who are in Abuja have not shown enough of representation of the people. They have shown more that they are representing themselves, with their hearts put tightly in their expansive pockets. It is for this reason that they were unable to argue on behalf of the region during the 2009 budget debate. They sat there (sleeping), and the FCT got a budget of N159 billion, while the new Niger Delta Ministry got N51 billion.

NDEBUMOG Regional Accountability Center is following with keen interest the investigation into the alleged misappropriation of $16 billion Power Sector/National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) expended in the power sector during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
We are alarmed, pained and saddened by the heartless-greed of some Nigerians who colluded with their foreign allies in the fraud, which the ongoing probe had exposed. We commend the House Committee on Power and Energy for their courage and boldness they have exhibited in carrying-out the probe.
Article available on request

THE attention of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) has been drawn to the advert placed on page 65, 66, and 67 of Thisday Newspaper Monday, August 2nd 2010. In the said advert, the Federal Ministry Environment is requesting for Invitation to Tenders from contractors and consultants for (some of) the Ministry’s 2010 Capital Projects. This is to draw the attention of Nigerians, particularly the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), and the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) about the fraudulent nature of the Federal Ministry of Environment’s advert of 2nd August 2010. The ongoing processes to award the said contracts exposes how the money of Nigerians are being frittered away. Many of the advertised projects are duplicated and already listed for the Niger Delta Ministry.
Further, during the recent Medium Term Sectoral Strategy (MTSS) Session for 2011-2013, (we) the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group drew the attention of the Budget Office of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to the duplication of many projects which have appeared in the 2010 Federal Budget for Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and same time appeared for the Federal Ministry of Environment. Upon our drawing the Niger Delta Ministry’s attention to the duplication, we were assured that, both Ministries (Niger Delta and Environment) would meet to sort out the duplications. Surprisingly, the Federal Ministry of Environment came out and advertised for Pre-qualification of Contractors for the duplicated projects.
For authenticity, these are some of the duplicated projects advertised by Federal Ministry of Environment:
Lot A

• Erosion Control along Nassarawa Ekabo Road, Calabar (A37)

• Erosion Control Works along Marine Beach, Calabar, Cross River State (B4)
• Sand Filling/Shore Protection at Tombia (Iwoama) Rivers State (B10)
• Adiabo Erosion Control, Cross River State (B39)

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) Regional Accountability Center is worried by the seeming indisposition of the National Assembly to invoke Section(s) 59, 80, 82, 83 and 89 of Nigeria’s constitution at making the Executive arm of government repent from the habitual disposition of taking Nigerians too far on fiscal budget radicalism.
Until the National Assembly overcome its beggarly bargaining on issues of the national budget and waking up to see non-implementation of same as an impeachable offence, then, the Executive arm shall continue to toy with the budgetary processes for a long time to come.

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) Regional Accountability Center is worried by the seeming indisposition of the National Assembly to invoke Section(s) 59, 80, 82, 83 and 89 of Nigeria’s constitution at making the Executive arm of government repent from the habitual disposition of taking Nigerians too far on fiscal budget radicalism.
Until the National Assembly overcome its beggarly bargaining on issues of the national budget and waking up to see non-implementation of same as an impeachable offence, then, the Executive arm shall continue to toy with the budgetary processes for a long time to come.
The failure of the National Assembly in asking the Executive for the Mid-Term (review) report of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) or which policy the previous budget for 2008 was situated or the policy direction for the coming 2009 budget portrays this government in bad light. NEEDS I is moribund. NEEDS II and marrying the 7 Point Agenda had problems at surgery and the CEEDS crashed before landing. A solution to this is the full implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. This Act should not be tinkered nor amended by the National Assembly but should be tested.
The National Assembly should stop sounding patronizing but should rather invoke power(s) of the above Section(s) of the constitution at engaging the Executive about its rights to annual budgetary issues and framework.
Importantly, NDEBUMOG reject vehemently and in its entirety, the proposal by the Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund (PTDF) to build the ‘National College of Petroleum Studies’ in Kaduna State . We demand that this College be urgently relocated and sited in the Niger Delta to forestall a protracted restiveness of generations of Niger Deltans yet unborn with the Nigerian State. The site at Kaduna should be used as Museum of Oppression . We await a categorical statement from the Presidential Committee on the Niger Delta in this direction.
Further, NDEBUMOG urges Governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo State to as a matter of urgency, unveil his Accountability Charter to the people of Edo State. Oshiomole’s Civil Society background should guide core Community Accountability elements toward the Charter.
We are also saddened by the fact that, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State rolled the drums of false celebration at marking the 10th Anniversary of the PDP in a State like his (Akwa Ibom), where majority of the citizens go to bed with empty stomach without food. Governor Akpabio should inform Nigerians of how much it cost Akwa Ibom State to host that event.
Lastly, we demand that all our Governor(s) in the Niger Delta should concentrate on delivering democracy dividend to the people. The ‘Dutch Disease’ is biting harder with our concrete demand for a permanent cure. A State or two seems to be jump-falling at tracking development goals but which is isolated in the absence of a credible Civil Society mainstreaming.

George-Hill Anthony,
Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG)
NDEBUMOG Regional Accountability Center:
Port Harcourt, River State

The International Secretariat of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has denied Nigeria a Validation (Certification) of being a “compliant” country under the score line-indicators of EITI certification framework.

The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (Regional Accountability Centre) and the Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Extractive Industries, Forestry and Fisheries in Nigeria (CATEIFFN) are not in any way surprised with this latest development in view of politics, inefficiency and dwindling expectation that has become the lot of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Unfortunately, countries like Ghana and Mongolia have been given validation, but Nigeria, which was the first country in Africa to subscribe to the international EITI principles suffered validation humiliation due to actions and inactions of some actors within the extractive sector in Nigeria.

Dreams of many stakeholders about NEITI are fast fading and gradually being eroded. We believed strongly that if not for the strong character of Prof. Asisi Asobie (the current Chairman of NEITI), by now NEITI could have become a historic story of biblical ‘’Sodom and Gomorra’’. NEITI has been subsumed by the intrigues of civil service bureaucracy, have a disdain for civil society and ineptitude which generally is part of Nigeria’s setback. The voices of the Civil Society and the Private Sector with the attendant partnership which the NEITI Act promotes are gradually being weeded off by actors in government who have seen NEITI as a government agency rather than an independent public accountability watchdog in the extractive industry.

The infighting and absence of a strategic direction to oversight every subsector in the industry has seen an over-concentration on the oil industry. The Mining Sector is still very far from salvation or an intervention from NEITI. Even the concentration on Oil and Gas subsector is only seen within the Upstream operations alone. The Downstream which has a lot of impact on the day-to-day life of the ordinary Nigerian have not had any positive intervention from NEITI. NEITI is yet to come to practicable terms of Section 2 (b), (c) and (d) of the Act that established it. The same goes for Section 3 (a), (c), (f) and (g) of the Act.

In conclusion, we commend the international EITI Secretariat for this bold action which we hope would help Nigeria to redress faulty steps on the EITI process. In this sense, we hope that the NEITI will work with civil society as partners to address the governance and (EIs) accountability issues which currently plague it. In the same vein, we call on the Presidency and the relevant Committees of the National Assembly to take necessary steps in resolving the issues which have led to this denial of validation so as to avoid final isolation from the global EITI family of which Nigeria has been a leading light.

Signed: George-Hill Anthony
Executive Director-Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group &
National Chairman, Coalition for Accountability and Transparency in Extractive
Industries, Forestry and Fisheries in Nigeria (CATEIFFN)

Alhaji Sani Shehu
Chairman- Miners Association of Nigeria &
Vice Chairman, Coalition for Accountability and Transparency in Extractive Industries,
Forestry and Fisheries in Nigeria (CATEIFFN).

www.cateiffn.org, www.minersassociationofnigeria.com

 THE Nigerian National Assembly was not patriotic in their passage of this year’s fiscal Appropriation Bill, an accountability group, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), has said. They have accordingly pleaded with President Goodluck Jonathan, not to implement the budget

To this end, the group is pressing the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) very strongly not to approve a Warrant for the release of the National Assembly’s 2011 Capital Vote, which has been paddedly increased to N232. 7 billion against what was originally projected being N111.2 billion from President Goodluck Jonathan.
Executive Director of the group, George-Hill Anthony, said in an on-line statement to AkanimoReports, that President Jonathan should approach the Supreme Court for an interpretation of who controls the ceiling and envelope-allocation within the national budget?
”The Commander in-Chief can actually do this without being tie to legislative political ransom by that arm of government’’, the group said. NDEBUMOG is however, of the opinion that, the Budget Office should slow down on Warrant Releases on Capital until a new legislature is inaugurated by May 29^th 2011.

SUNDAY, 04 DECEMBER 2011 00:00 BY ALABI WILLIAMS SUNDAY MAGAZINE – SUNDAY MAGAZINE

George-Hill Anthony is executive director, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group and national chairman, the Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Extractive Industries, Forestry and Fisheries in Nigeria. He is also on the board of the National Procurement Watch Platform, the Anti-Corruption Revolution Campaign (ANCOR) and the liaison person of NEITI Civil Society Steering Committee. He told ALABI WILLIAMS that the BPE probe is only a confirmation of what people already know.

PAST probes by the NASS only generated a lot of media hype without the expected results. So, how much hope do you place on this BPE probe?

I do not have confidence in the probe(s) from the National Assembly, until possibly the 7th National Assembly is able to re-stimulate public confidence. The capitalistic and greedy interests of our politicians cause them to look the other side while there are revelations.

The revelations from BPE probe are a reinforcement of what ordinary Nigerians on the streets are aware of, but they want exposés to go beyond mere mention.

What should be done to ensure that the recommendations of the committee are not swept under the carpet, as usual?

The recommendations should be sent to the EFCC and circulated to all the Student Union Governments in the universities across the country. The EFCC and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation should initiate criminal proceedings against those found guilty from the BPE probe.

Unfortunately, sustainable pillars of democracy, which include the rule of law, human rights, economic justice, among others, are all being destroyed in Nigeria. Therefore, there is no hope that corrupt politicians would not continue to procure judgment to the detriment of the people.

How transparent do you think the Bureau has been in carrying out its assignment of privatizing public enterprises?

We have heard stories of corruption in Nigeria’s privatisation process over a decade now, and yet, there is no conviction of any high profile personality associated with it. The probe is just a legislative stage-play, unless the National Assembly moves further and publishes names of all those that benefitted from the process.

They should dig further to unearth those who maybe shadowed from public exposures. But I am inclined to believe that it is when members of the National Assembly are broke, that is when they initiate probes. I may be wrong, anyway. But that is how I feel, as a Nigerian.

THE decision to sell non-performing public companies was really not a well-debated topic. Some Nigerians still don’t understand why government should sell and why companies sold are not performing. What is your attitude to the entire sales process?

The shares of many of the privatised entities were devalued to make them attractive to some corrupt business actors. At some instances, assets of the privatised companies were unpaired to prevent full disclosure of the core value and thereby facilitate easy asset splitting.

Upon the completion of privatisation of any entity, the investor would wait for some years and then begin the backward movement of assets-stripping, liabilities and market depreciation.

It is foolish and nonsensical to have privatised the companies without protective clauses in the agreements. Those articles could have spelt out that Nigerians, through the government, would take back any company privatised but which does not make profit and generate a certain number of jobs after a given period. Such also could have attracted a demand from the investors to ensure a good operational environment, through the provision of infrastructure.

Civil society watchdogs were intentionally secluded from monitoring the privatisation processes from a structured administrative mechanism of the BPE. Today, social dislocation caused by persistent insecurity arising partly from lack of jobs and social security is giving room for a (possible) looming revolution in Nigeria.

Where should we go from here: to continue to sell or to change tactics?

All the problems surrounding the failed privatisation exercise are caused by corruption. Regrettably, there is no political will from the government to fight elitist corruption through the building of massive prisons.

Building more elitist prisons is better than the budgetary allocation of N133.1 million for the purchase of two Black Maria and 11 mini Black Maria vehicles, which would be used to convey (mostly) poor felons. This is what the Interior Ministry budgeted in the Appropriation Amendment Act 2010. I think we need more prisons for our elite prisoners.

Over-bloated Security envelope

THE whole chorus of transformation has turned out to be a misnomer, going by the details of the 2012 budget proposal. No nation can transform with 72 percent of its annual budget going for recurrent expenditure. For the operators of government to reel in such percentages over the years, is an indication that just a few in the political class are sucking the budget.

Surprisingly, anticorruption agencies are yet to take critical look at agencies of government, which have been beneficiaries of bloated expenditures.

• Summary of 2012 Appropriation Bill
• Details of 2012 Appropriation Bill

For Nigeria to transform rapidly, the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), is of the opinion that the national budget should be restructured, with the recurrent not exceeding 30percent. The reality is that, a bogus recurrent is a waste pipe that assists bureaucrats who make projections without margin templates. It is certain that operators of state would fret over a 70/30 percent ratio for capital over recurrent. But the reality is that an unchecked recurrent, without impact on governance means people are collecting salaries and overhead for doing nothing and not stimulating growth in other sectors.

NDEBUMOG Regional Accountability Centre have consistently said, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stinks. Such was captured in our various report in the past, particularly, ‘THE OIL DRUMS OF BLOOD AND THE COMPLICATIONS OF NEITI’S 2005 AUDIT…

Please find below, the KPMG (Audit) Report of the NNPC which should interest Nigerians.

Fellow Niger Deltans and Nigerians, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is here again. It is a Bill that would positively or otherwise affect the human generations after us. All of our communities, people and stakeholders must therefore show interest by looking into this Bill critically. NDEBUMOG is already working on a Memorandum on the Bill as shall be presented to the National Assembly.

Take you own steps about the Bill today!

FRITTERING AWAY TRILLIONS IN NIGER DELTA-Punch Newspaper Editorial Friday, 4^th January,2013

A frontline Niger Delta politician and proponent of the region’s cause, Chief Edwin Clark, turned the critic when he took potshots at the governors of the region last week for achieving so little despite the enormous resources put at their disposal in the past 13 years. Clark’s unusual belligerence towards his “kinsmen” came after he learnt that not less than N7.282 trillion of derivation money had been squandered by the governors since the 13 per cent policy became operational. The amount of money wasted is quite staggering. It is time for the people to know that good governance will not just come until they fight for it. They must start showing more than a passing interest in how their tremendous wealth is being utilised.

Clark, a prominent Ijaw leader, recalled that the minimum 13 per cent derivation policy was enshrined in the 1999 Constitution “by the Federal Government to address the infrastructure deficit and neglect of the oil and gas producing communities.” But rather than bring faster development to the people of the host communities, they have continued to wallow in abject poverty while politicians from the area, especially the governors, bask in obscene affluence. In 2008, the Rivers State Government’s N377 billion annual budget alone far exceeded the entire central government budgets of most West African nations. In place of life-changing projects that could bring succour to the people, the governors have embarked on projects to promote vain self-aggrandisement. A good example is the recent purchase of private jets by the Rivers and Akwa Ibom state governors.

Some governors in the region are incurably corrupt. Unfortunately, the people themselves appear to be comfortable with the level of corruption that has deprived them the basic comforts of life, which their position as oil-producing communities rightly confers on them. While they lack the will to hold political office holders to account, feeble attempts by federal institutions such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to check corruption have always been met with stiff resistance, even by the people. Governors accused of presiding over the theft and mismanagement of several billion dollars are venerated by them.

When, for instance, the former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepriye Alamieyeseigha, was arrested in London for money laundering, the people came out to protest and asked for his release. When eventually he outfoxed the London Metropolitan Police and found his way back to Nigeria, reportedly disguised as an Ijaw maiden, he was received by his people with pomp and circumstance. The same goes for James Ibori of Delta State. Armed youths once successfully fought off EFCC officials who had gone to his home town, Oghara, to effect his arrest, while elderly women reportedly took to the streets, naked, to protest and warn that their “son” be left alone. Ibori would later secure a questionable court judgement, exonerating him from any corruption charges, only for him to be jailed for the same offences by a London court, which described him as “a common thief.” The $15 million with which he allegedly attempted to bribe the former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu – an allegation he vehemently denied – is now a subject of litigation, with Delta State trying to claim ownership of the money. To escape prosecution, a former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, obtained a perpetual injunction at a high court.

Developmental reports on Niger Delta have been shockingly awful. In 2006 the United Nations Human Development Index Report described the Niger Delta as “a region suffering from administrative neglect, crumbling social infrastructure and services, high unemployment, social deprivation, abject poverty, filth and squalor, and endemic conflict.” The report went on to say that “for most people of the Delta, progress and hope, much less prosperity, remain out of reach. If unaddressed, these do not bode well for the future of Nigeria or an oil hungry world.”

As of 2009, it was estimated that oil had generated about $600 billion revenue since the 1960s. But not much has changed since then, as attested to by the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group. In its Analyses of the 2013 Budget Proposal of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and Related Matters, the group said, “The decline in the HDI has been steeper for the Niger Delta than the rest of Nigeria. In addition, the high earnings of some oil industry workers lead to localised price distortions, driving up prices and so constraining the purchasing power of ordinary people and making it difficult for many to meet the cost of basic needs such as housing, health care, transport, and goods, making poverty more pervasive than conventional figures reveal.”

Agreed that some governors say they are now attempting to reverse the ugly trend, the speed is still slow and the priorities awkward. Complaints about having to deal with a difficult terrain have become trite amid unending reports of fraudulent diversion of public funds. What, for instance, has difficult terrain got to do with a governor that was caught with raw cash of up to 100 million pounds in a London street or one that was convicted and whose mansions dot different parts of the world?

Clark has hit the nail on the head. But then, there may not be any remarkable change until the people themselves genuinely demand revenue transparency, diversified investment for long-term goals and public accountability from their governments. Latching on ethnic solidarity to defend and rationalise bare-faced theft by public officials is uncivilised and backward. Niger Delta states should learn good lessons from Norway by developing prudent strategies and institutions to avoid injecting oil revenue directly into governance and white elephants.

http://www.punchng.com/editorial/frittering-away-trillions-in-niger-delta/

PRESS RELEASE: OPPOSING THE PIB IS PLAYING WITH GUN POWDER

Our attention has been drawn to statements credited to some Senators in the National Assembly and other political leaders, who sadly, are beating the drums of sectionalism, as to why they think the Petroleum Industry Bill should not be passed.

While we want to thread softly and would not want to pre-empt revelations regarding a 30-page memorandum we have already prepared for submission to the National Assembly on the PIB, which we are still holding close to our chest at the moment, we however want to caution that, ill political strategists already jumping up to frustrate the Bill are playing with gun powder, that is what the PIB is.

By  ABIMBOLA AKOSILE
Various stakeholders across the country have renewed their call for stricter adherence to the tenets of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, in order to ensure greater transparency in the budgetary and governance process in Nigeria. The stakeholders also lamented that corruption has become a way of life in the country and is now perpetrated in hundreds of billions and trillions and this has led to impunity and under-development of the country.
They also observed that State and local government level budget documents are still unavailable to the public and the opportunities for participation are limited compared to the federal budgeting process. The calls and observations were some of the outcomes of a series of Fiscal Responsibility Sessions (FRS) organised by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) with the support of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
The sessions were held between the months of February and early March in Makurdi, Benue State, Owerri in Imo State for the South East session; Sokoto for the North West zone; Ibadan for the South West zone, and Port Harcourt for the South South zone.
The objective of the FRS was to build capacity, raise awareness and sensitise core stakeholders on topical issues in fiscal responsibility, including raising change agents for the enthronement of sound fiscal governance practices at all levels of government in Nigeria.
At the Benue session, which drew 164 participants from the representatives of CSOs in Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau States, the Lead Director of CSJ, Mr. Eze Onyekpere, in his opening remarks, said the purpose of the FRS was to have an exchange with participants on how public finances are managed.
He said the essence was to call attention to the leverage the people have under a democratic setting with constitutional guarantees to ask questions and demand for transparency and accountability in the way public resources are managed, noting however that this can only be done if the right information is available.
He added that public budgets ought to be used to touch the lives of the people insisting that if Nigeria’s fiscal policies had responded positively to the challenges of underdevelopment, the country would have been able to develop its human capital, address infrastructure deficits and generate economic growth at the level required to achieve its development agenda.
He espoused the importance of macroeconomic stability, the necessity of patronising made in Nigeria goods with the potential of creating more employment opportunities for the people. He also charged that public procurement should be used to promote made in Nigeria products noting that a well thought out trade and investment policy is vital for societal development.
Onyekpere reiterated the fact that the Act expected the executive and legislature to be transparent and accountable to the people in their fiscal transactions; ensuring that audited accounts and reports on budget execution are published including the publication of quarterly and full year budget implementation reports.
At the session in Owerri in the South East zone, participants were drawn from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith based and community based organisations (FBOs and CBOs), the media and professional associations, to build capacity and a popular mass movement – the Citizens Wealth Platform for fiscal governance interventions especially as it relates to the budget.
In the communiqués issued at the end of the various sessions, participants sought the immediate release of the full details of the 2013 budget as signed into law by the President, and called on the federal government to take steps towards the reduction of personnel expenditure through the implementation of the recommendations of the Orosanye report and the full roll out of the IPPIS in all MDAs.
According to them, the President, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and the Bureau of Public Procurement should lead the process for the formulation and implementation of an action plan for the full implementation of the 2013 capital budget. The federal government should revert to the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and restrict the use of the proceeds of borrowing to its stated purpose of capital expenditure and human development.
Government was urged to remove all obstacles militating against the full implementation of the fiscal and sunshine laws, while the civil society groups were enjoined to intensify the demand for the full implementation of the fiscal and sunshine laws including the constitution of the National Council on Public Procurement, early and timely budget preparation, demand for fiscal information under the Freedom of Information Act, etc.
Nigerians were advised to actively engage the fiscal system in the executive and legislature through proffering alternative fiscal policies and budgetary expenditure components, attending public hearings and making submissions, etc. The judiciary should also be engaged through litigations against obnoxious laws and policy implementation.
“Governments at all tiers must ensure strict compliance with the FRA’s position on incurring debts notably that it should be for capital expenditure or human development provided that the interest rate is not above 3 per cent with a long amortisation period and subject to legislative approval. Debts should be tied to concrete and verifiable projects and activities”, the stakeholders advised.
CSOs were urged to target the legislature and judiciary in their advocacy activities pointing out to them the need to check the fiscal excesses of the executive and to ensure that all state level fiscal actions are in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws.
Presentations at the South South session, anchored by Onyekpere and Mr. George-Hill Anthony of the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, focused on understanding the windows of possible interventions under the Fiscal Responsibility Act and review of ongoing budget monitoring work in the Niger Delta, with a view to learning from best practices and surmounting challenges.
The Director the National Orientation Agency in Rivers State, representatives of the Commissioner of Police, Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association Port Harcourt Chapter and the Justice Development and Peace Commission gave goodwill messages.
NGOs were urged to collaborate with strong grassroots groups (including communities who are victims of fiscal rascality and maladministration) in making demands for fiscal accountability. To them, collaboration with professional groups and organised labour is also necessary for success in the campaign for fiscal responsibility.
CSOs were also enjoined to take advantage of the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Public Procurement Act, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Act and the Freedom of Information Act in making demands for value for money and increased accountability at all levels.
“Requests for information, demands on government officials to follow the stated fiscal rules and possible litigations should be explored to enforce citizens’ fiscal accountability rights”, they added.
Beyond access to courts and publications in the media, citizens groups were also implored to consider exercising their fundamental right to organise and the right to freedom of movement as tools to consolidate the struggle against corruption and impunity.
Participants thanked OSIWA, CSJ and the CWP for bringing the event to the various zones, soliciting for more of such engagements across the country.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/stakeholders-advocate-improved-fiscal-responsibility-budget-transparency/143381/

Calculative assumption has presented this Bill as a tool of political oppression against the people of the Niger Delta or indigenous people anywhere. At this point, let us emphasize, that, the responsibility to protect (R2P or RtoP) oppressed people, is an initiative of the United Nations, established in 2005. It consists of an emerging norm, or set of principles, based on the idea that sovereignty is not a right, but a responsibility.

R2P focuses on preventing and halting four crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, andethnic cleansing, which it places under the generic umbrella term of, Mass Atrocity Crimes. The Responsibility to Protect has three “pillars”, which are:

1. A state has a responsibility to protect its population from mass atrocities;

2. The international community has a responsibility to assist the state to fulfill its primary responsibility;

3. If the state fails to protect its citizens from mass atrocities and peaceful measures have failed, the international community has the responsibility to intervene through coercive measures such as economic sanctions. Military intervention is considered the last resort.

Niger Delta people have suffered many crimes against humanity through irresponsible exploitation of its natural resources and even ethnic cleansing during the era of Military Rule. Military atrocities against Ogonis in the Niger Delta point to these facts. These portray Nigeria’s hypocritical membership of the United Nations family.