Federal Government’s ministries and agencies are spending billions of naira of unspent funds, which are otherwise required by the law to be returned to the treasury, Daily Trust reports.
Investigations revealed that ministries, department and agencies are trying to ensure all the monies provided in 2014 budget are expended before the year runs out.
Sources said senior government officials had been busy in the last three weeks trying to get the paper work done in aid of the usual end-of-year spending spree.
Findings show that the monies are mostly being spent on hurriedly-packaged workshops, trainings and seminars, all with a view to beat the December 31 deadline when government accounts will close.
Large sums of monies are also being spent on placement of newspaper and broadcast advertisements, hotel bills, conference papers as well as honorarium for resource persons and participants.
These agencies organise their events in choice hotels in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and other state capitals. Money-spinning agencies hold their conferences in prominent vacation resorts in the country or even travel abroad for the same purpose.
Billions were earmarked in the 2014 budget for local and international training and capacity-building conferences.
An analysis of the 2014 budget show that these billions were captured in the ministries’ budgets under sub-headings such as ‘travels and transports: training’; as well as ‘international travels and transports: training.’
The last-minute spending
Daily Trust found out that during the past weeks, the Ministry of Technology and Communication held leaders’ launch in Doha, Qatar; Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) organised a four-day training on intelligence reporting for its staff; Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) organized rewards and recognition ceremony for its staff; and Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) organized a mobilisation workshop for its traditional rulers.
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) organised workshop for Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Katsina; Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission held public consultation forum in Port Harcourt; the Department of Petroleum Resources met with Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria in Uyo; and the Code of Conduct Bureau held a three day retreat for its board of directors, state directors and heads of units.
Others are Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s integrity award in Abuja; National Institute for Legislative Studies training of parliamentary staff on budgetary processes; National Broadcasting Commission two- day training on ‘broadcasting in digitalization era’ in Kaduna; and Ministry of Finance‘s National Insurance Summit in Abuja.
Also, Ministry of Mines and Steel organised accountability platform in Abuja; Nigerian Inland Waterways Agency (NIWA) held workshop on safety on the waterways; National Seed Council held retreat on building strong seeds sector; Industrial Training Fund (ITF) held interactive forum with automobile sector in Lagos; Abuja Enterprise Agency organized training on entrepreneurship; and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) held metering consultation in Port Harcourt.
There were also INEC’s conference on mainstreaming persons with disabilities in Abuja; Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER)’s national policy dialogue; National Institute of Advanced Legal Studies’ round table for stakeholders; FCT Universal Basic Education Board’s teachers training on lesson-plan writing; Ministry of Environment’s workshop on biodiversity; FCT Federal High Court’s send forth for retired staff, among others.
Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) also held workshop on motor licensing for sector heads of driver’s licence centres; FCT Water Board held workshop on non-revenue water project; and Standards Organisation of Nigeria held a forum in Lagos with maritime operators.
Our reporter’s checks over the past three weeks show that most of the big hotels in Abuja were hosting some training or workshop by various government agencies.
There were some hotels which even hosted more than two such conferences on same days.
Daily Trust visited hotels in Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse, Jabi and Garki last week, it was observed that there were more than three banners displayed at their gates, indicating that one form of programme or the other by these agencies was going on.
About 16 government ministries have a budget of nearly N10 billion naira in this year’s budget for training, conferences and workshops.
These are: State House, N2.6 billion; Foreign Affairs, N3.5billion; Interior, N137 million; Nigerian Immigration Service, N356 million; Bureau for Public Procurement, N263 million and EFCC N742 million.
Others are ministry of Lands, N116 million; Health, N212 million; Justice, N462 million; Police Affairs, N166 million; Communication Technology, N136 million; Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), N318 million; Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), N142 million; NEPAD, N118 million; NAPTIP, N116 million and Federal Roads Safety Commission N261 million.
Needless jamborees
Reacting two public affairs commentators said the National Assembly must halt this waste of public funds.
Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Malam Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, said: “The National Assembly must exercise its oversight function by looking into this spending spree by the MDAs.” He added: “It is a source of great concern to us for FG agencies to be organising jamborees simply to spend monies that are ordinarily meant to be returned to the national coffers at the tail end of the fiscal year.”
Also, a resource governance advocate, Dauda Garuba said the National Assembly should end this abuse of fiscal laws.
Garuba, a Nigerian Programme coordinator of Natural Resource Governance Institute told Daily Trust yesterday that the agencies’ conduct goes contrary to the country’s fiscal reform.
He said: “It has become a habit for MDAs to compete among themselves in spending their budgetary allocations in the last quarter of every year.
“A tour of major hotels in Abuja exposes one to a scenario where all meeting rooms are usually fully booked by MDAs who insist on spending their allocations to avoid the return of such funds.
“The mentality is that any ministry, department or agency that failed to exhaust its budgetary allocation in a particular fiscal year loses its chances of getting a match or higher allocation in the succeeding year.
“Many MDAs resort to spending money on inanities in the name of workshops and meetings.”
Garuba blamed the federal government for this because of delayed release of budgetary allocations to MDAs.”
Source: Daily Trust
