Nigerians in Japan-wozobia

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Comment by afrojp on January 16, 2011 at 8:57pm

Make u no suprise oga , its real , we do have it

Comment by afrojp on January 16, 2011 at 8:57pm

Onyekakeyah: The fraud called unspent budget

THREE measures currently being implemented by the Federal Government to block drainpipes of revenue leakage in the system might just amount to merely scratching the monster of corruption in the face without actually hurting it any bit. But the measures could serve as a step towards dealing with the monstrous cankerworm that has strangulated Nigeria and its people.

The measures include the data capture mechanism in some Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs); the on-going forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the task force at the Nigeria Customs Service. These measures are commendable and should be extended to all government MDAs at federal, state and local governments if government sincerely wants to turn around the squalid underdevelopment nightmare of the country.

And to show the efficacy of the measures, a whopping N12 billion has already reportedly been recovered from 16 MDAs within the short space of time. This information came from no other than the Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga when recently he talked to journalists in Lagos. The fund represents part of the corrupt loot that insiders within the system regularly fritter away through all kinds of dubious avenues. If the measures had not been introduced, that amount of money would have evaporated into thin air to the detriment of Nigeria and its people.

But Aganga’s statement that “the government was in need of funds to execute projects that would improve the welfare of Nigerians” raises several posers. Granted that individuals, corporate entities and indeed countries need money to take care of personal needs, meet corporate goals and in the case of countries execute development projects, in all sincerity, does Nigeria really lack money to execute needed development projects – projects that would have made the country the cynosure of Africa? That brings me to the main issue of this discourse on unspent budgets.

Against the backdrop of the mind-bugling $380 billions reportedly ‘stolen’ or wasted by Nigerian leaders since independence in 1960, can the country be truly said to be lacking funds? When in the 70s General Gowon reportedly said that the problem with Nigeria is not lack of money but how to spend it, many took it as a joke. But it has turned out to be the truth. At a current production rate at 2.2 million barrels of oil per day, with anticipated revenue from petroleum of about $52.2 billion, can Nigeria be classified as poor? Can a country where MDAs return unspent budget to the treasury at the end of each fiscal year claim to be in need of money for projects? What we need is not money but men with integrity to deliver the country’s goods.

The truth is that the corrupt Nigerian system has a thousand and one ways it dupes and stifles itself. The combined effect of all the deliberate untoward actions, decisions, policies and measures over the past 50 years is what all of us are witnessing – decay, lawlessness and a country on its knees begging for redemption and rediscovery. Some pundits have said that Nigeria was designed to fail, which I doubt. But according to an Igbo saying, it’s not good that a person who is accused of being a gluttonous eater of okra should come out in public to still go for okra, thereby confirming the accusation. It is the mis-governance and blatant rape and squandering of the country’s wealth by her political elite over the decades that have given Nigeria a horrible nametag. But we’re not cursed. Rather we’re blessed.

Over a period of 50 years that Nigeria has existed as an independent entity, budgets have been made annually to take care of economic and social infrastructure services. But at the end of each year, there is little or nothing to show for it. The abject and embarrassing state of affairs in the country is clear evidence that the country has cheated itself. What manner of a country would make budget to solve national problems but abdicate and instead return the funds without taking care of the services it was meant for. Such bizarre happenings can only take place in a corrupt enclave like Nigeria. Corruption is actually at the root of the rot.
Between 1999 and 2007, a whopping N300 billion of unspent budget was reportedly unacounted for! In 2007, it was also reported that the House of Representatives recovered some N450 billion unspent fund. And, just around last November, the House of Reps Speaker again disclosed that the National Assembly uncovered a total of about N750 billion unspent fund.

All this is happening at a time when roads, schools, hospitals, among other infrastructure services are in a deplorable state across the country. In addition is the collapsed electricity sub-sector that clearly is the engine of industrial development.  It is pertinent to ask what could make budgets to be unspent?

A lot has been said about this issue in the recent past but the problem has persisted because the practice is entrenched. What is a budget? For the purpose of this discussion and in simple language, a budget is “a sum of money allocated for a particular purpose”. When a budget is not used, the purpose for which it was allocated is left undone. In Nigeria, the money disappears. This is exactly what is happening here.

Let’s take for example the now notorious Benin-Ore-Shagamu federal highway. That road was built about 30 years ago. Over the period, the wear and tear resulting from excessive vehicular traffic has rendered the road almost impassable. Travellers using the road go through hell. The extent of dilapidation has turned the road into a death trap. Accidents and deaths are rampant just as highway marauders capitalise on the poor condition of the road to visit mayhem on innocent travellers.

Now, since the past 20 years or so when the road began to deteriorate, the Federal Government had without doubt made budget every year to fix the road. The budget runs into billions of naira. But what we have witnessed is that rather than using the budget to fix the road, nothing is done and the condition of the roads keeps worsening to the present extent.

It is not that when a budget is not spent, it is kept somewhere specifically for the same purpose. The unspent budget is not reserved and added to the following year’s budget such that there are more funds available for the same project. Certainly, not. In this clime, once the budget is unspent, it is regards as bazaar for the “boys”. The big shots in the particular ministry, department or agency simply share the money. In that way, unspent budget is a major source of free money. Those who perpetrate it know that it is a major source self-enrichment. And so, why bother to applying budget funds accordingly? This explains why the country is gasping for breath in every ramification.

The country should be grateful to the Yar’Adua administration for blowing the whistle and leaking this endemic fraud in the system. What is not clear is the extent to which action has been taken to stop the mess. The 2011 budget of N4.2 trillion is the first coming after the passing on of Yar’Adua. There is need for President Jonathan to tackle this problem headlong if this country would make headway.

So far, the Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga recently said that the implementation of the 2010 budget stands at 53.47 per cent. Assuming that is correct, that still leaves a gnawing gap of 46.53 per cent for a country that is in dire straits begging for turnaround. What happens to the unspent 43.53 per cent? Is it returned to the treasury or swindled by the respective MDAs as usual? Serious action is needed on this front if change would ever come our way.

Perhaps, it is on that ground that the Ministry of Finance has initiated proactive measures to stem financial hemorrhage from the ministries, departments and agencies.  This matter is critical to the survival of the economy. The battle may be tough but it is not insurmountable if the will is there. As I earlier said, the forensic audit should extend to every arm of government. More importantly, there should be sanction for MDAs that failed to implement their budget fully. After all, the big shots in those arms of government received all their entitlements. Failure to implement budgets should be viewed as fraud and abdication of responsibility and should be treated accordingly. 

Source : The Guardian Nigerian

Comment by Nelson Oje on January 2, 2011 at 7:54am

Chineke  i suprise say dey have site like dis for japan.

Comment by afrojp on January 1, 2011 at 1:46am

Now  you can listen to your favourite local radio on afrojp

Comment by afrojp on December 29, 2010 at 12:03pm

Igwe !!!