How David Mark doubled National Assembly budget

By the time the curtain fell on the 7th session of Nigeria’s National Assembly in June, one of the most prominent characters of that era, who retreated backstage as a member of the 8th session (after his party became a minority), is former Senate President, David Mark.

Mr. Mark, a retired army general, would be remembered for his ignoble role in deepening and institutionalising the culture of secrecy at Nigeria’s federal legislative body.

In 2003, total National Assembly budget was about N23.347 billion.

The next year, the figure rose to about N32.229 billion (2004) and then N55.422 billion in 2005.

Although the figure dropped to N39.810 billion in 2006, the allocations have remained on the upswing ever after.

Immediately Mr. Mark became Senate President in 2007, the National Assembly’s budget rose from N66.488 billion to a shocking N104.825 billion in 2008, before dropping marginally to N96.052 billion in 2009.

By 2010, while he was still in charge, the allocation had a geometric jump, skyrocketing to unprecedented levels to a peak of about N154.2 billion.

With the Nigerian public increasingly scrutinizing the spiraling annual allocations to the National Assembly, questions about why the lawmakers got so much, amid rising overheads in the national budget, became inevitable.

To block Nigerians from knowing details of how the National Assembly’s jumbo allocations are spent, and how much lawmaker’s earn in allowances, Mr. Mark’s leadership wrapped up the federal legislator’s finances in utmost secrecy.

In one master stroke of legislative brinkmanship, the National Assembly budget, hitherto open to public scrutiny, like those of all ministries, departments and agencies, suddenly became secret.

Details of the allocation were never made known, and Mr. Mark and his team resisted all efforts to pry it open.

By 2010, the National Assembly legislated to make itself member of an exclusive club of agencies whose budget details are never disclosed but whose finances are deducted en-bloc (first-line charge) via statutory transfers.

This group includes the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Public Complaints Commission (PCC).

Agencies in this group receive their annual budgetary allocations in bulk without providing breakdown of expenditure details.

Under Mr. Mark’s leadership, details of the National Assembly’s N150 billion allocations remained secret, despite public outcry against it.

For the first time in several years, the federal lawmakers agreed to cut their jumbo allocation by 23.3 percent to N115 billion in 2015.

Yet, details of how the fund would be spent remained secret.

Disturbed by the trend, the Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), Eze Onyekpere, citing the Freedom of Information Act and Section 48 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, demanded budgetary and expenditure details from both the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

When Mr. Mark failed to grant the request, Mr. Onyekpere went to court.

After several adjournments, the court, on February 25, 2014, ordered the Minister of Finance to oblige the civil society group with details of all statutory transfers.

But Mr. Mark and the finance ministry ignored the order.

The closest anyone got to knowing how lawmakers spend Nigeria’s hard-earned money was the indication given by Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and current Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi.

Mr. Sanusi had said expenses by the National Assembly accounted for about 25 percent of the total overhead cost by the federal government.

Apart from allocations for salaries and allowances, Mr. Sanusi said all other items packed under different sub-heads in the appropriation bill consist mainly of expenses on the personal benefits of lawmakers.

According to the former CBN boss, the National Assembly under Mr. Mark perfected a curious system of “retiring” the huge allocation.

“There is an entire structure within the National Assembly whose job is to prepare different receipts and vouchers to cover every item in the budget,” Mr. Sanusi had said.

A review of the details of the National Assembly budget for 2009 highlights some items the lawmakers spend their huge annual budget on.

Out of a total appropriation of N106.64 billion for that year, recurrent expenditure was N101.39 billion, or 95 percent, allowing just N5.25 billion for capital projects.

Under the recurrent, overheads accounted for N87.69 billion, or 86.48 percent, with personnel cost allocated N13.69 billion, or 13.52 percent.

Apart from payment of salaries and other fringe benefits, which takes an average of about N10 billion, Mr. Sanusi said the bulk of the allocations were shared among members according to pre-agreed formula after allocations for such items as constituency projects, budget tracking, software, hardware, implementation and monitoring; NASS equipment; judgment debt; renovation projects; general goods and non-personal services; general travels and transport (local and international) as well as general training.

Other provisions include general utilities; general materials and supplies; general maintenance services; security vote, consultancy and professional services; insurance premium charges; fuel and lubricants; contingency; NASS programmed activities, NASS law magazine; media and Public Relations as well as miscellaneous expenses.

Mr. Mark stepped down from the leadership of the National Assembly in June. He would most likely be remembered more for the lack of accountability under his watch.

From: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/

NEMA confirms 29 deaths in Gombe explosions

The National Emergency Management Agency on Thursday confirmed that 29 persons were killed in Wednesday’s attacks at two motor parks in Gombe.

The information officer of the agency in Gombe State, Umar Madigawa, in a message to our correspondent, said the explosion at Dadin Kowa motor park occurred at 7:15pm on Wednesday and that of Dukku motor park happened shortly after that, at 8:30pm.

He said 17 of the bodies recovered from the explosion sites were deposited at Federal Medical Centre, Gombe, and 67 injured persons taken for treatment.

At the Specialists Hospital in Gombe, according to him, 12 other corpses were deposited with 38 persons taken there to be treated.

He said 29 persons were killed in the explosions that left 105 injured.

No fewer than 40 persons were feared killed on Wednesday evening in Gombe State following three-bomb explosions at two bus station in the state.

Eyewitnesses told AFP that the first two explosions occurred at about 7pm at Dadin-Kowa Motor Park, the busiest bus station in the state.

The blasts suspected to be from Improvised Explosive Devices were said to have occurred minutes apart.

The third blast occurred about two hours later at Tashan Dukku Motor Park.

Sources said there was pandemonium as residents went searching in hospitals for their loved ones.

The Police Public Relations in the Gombe State, Fwaje Atajiri, confirmed the attack to The Cable but said the fatality figure had yet to be confirmed.

He added that the police had cordoned off the areas to prevent hoodlums from looting in the areas.

Atajiri “It is true that there were bomb attacks in the motor park but the casualty figure is not yet known. The injured have been taken to the hospital and the area has been cordoned off to prevent hoodlums from taking advantage of the situation to loot people’s property.”

Meanwhile, the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party under the aegis of PDP Governors’ Forum on Wednesday night in Abuja expressed concerns over the current spate of Boko Haram attacks in the North-East and asked the military to wake up.

The governors, after their meeting, expressed concerns that in spite of the security measures by the Armed Forces, the sect seems to be intensifying its attacks.

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said even as they met, the Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, received a call over another attack in his state.

Emmanuel, while calling on the country’s Armed Forces to step up their operations, also lamented the state of the Internally Displaced Persons.

He said, “We actually call on the Armed Forces to step up their security measures to see how they can stem the tide of this menace.

“It’s really a thing of concern to the PDP government that in spite of all the efforts in the Armed Forces these guys are still proving to be more formidable.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/multiple-explosions-kill-40-in-gombe/

Buhari says will name cabinet in September

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday that he will not appoint cabinet ministers until September, having taken office on May 29.

"Nigeria must first put new rules of conduct and good governance in place," Buhari wrote in an article published in the Washington Post on Monday. In the article, he outlined his plan for defeating the militant Islamist group Boko Haram and rooting out corruption.

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in a six-year insurgency, during which it has attempted to set up a state adhering to strict sharia law in the northeast of Nigeria, Africa's largest economy.

Buhari held talks with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday as part of a four-day visit to Washington. Obama said Nigeria's president had a "clear agenda" for defeating the insurgents.

Since taking office, Buhari has replaced his defence chiefs and dissolved the board of the state oil company but is yet to appoint a cabinet, prompting questions from some in the Nigerian media.

"When cabinet ministers are appointed in September, it will be some months after I took the oath of office," wrote Buhari.

"It would neither be prudent nor serve the interests of sound government to have made these appointments immediately on my elevation to the presidency," he said.

EXPLORE YOUR FEARS

"What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it."
-- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Sokoto Suspends Headmaster, 20 Teachers for Asenteeism

The Kware Local Education Authority in Sokoto State has suspended the headmaster and all 20 teachers of Rugar-Liman Primary School in the area for absenteeism.

Also suspended was the Area Education Officer, for gross negligence of duty.

Alhaji Sada Haidara, the Education Secretary for the area, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Sokoto that the affected officers were suspended for one month and would forfeit their salaries for the period.

Haidara said, “I took the action on July 14 sequel to repeated unscheduled inspection visits to the school. In all the visits, I did not meet the headmaster, teachers or any pupil.

“There was nobody in the school, it was a security guard of a neigbhouring state government water project who informed me that lessons had not been going on in the school.

“The head master is always putting his telephone off, while the AEO was also suspended as he had failed in his duty to monitor the school.”

The education secretary said the local area supervisor and some teachers have been drafted to run the school on a temporary basis.

He warned that the LEA would take similar action against any staff found wanting.

http://www.punchng.com/news/sokoto-suspends-headmaster-20-teachers-for-absenteeism/

Okonjo-Iweala used $1bn for Jonathan’s re-election — Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has accused a former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of illegally withdrawing $1 billion from the federation account to prosecute the re-election bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Speaking at a Seminar organized by the Edo state government for Permanent Secretaries, Directors and Deputy Directors entitled “enhancing IGR in Edo, issues, prospects and challenges”, the governor said the former minister also needs to tell Nigerians how the Excess Crude Account was drawn down to $4.1 billion from the peak of $10 billion when no approval was given by the National Economic Council for any withdrawals.

The governor who said Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala would have been declared a pathological liar if she were a witness in court due to the inconsistencies in her statements.

He said a forensic audit would truly determine how much was illegally spent from the federation account under her watch as Minister.

He said the state government would now hold Permanent Secretaries, Directors and Deputy Directors responsible for any fraud detected in their departments saying the government has trimmed down the cost of running government.

He said: “the truth is, many things went wrong even at the federal level. As you might have read in the papers, while the federal government, under Goodluck Jonathan, with the then Coordinating Minister of the Economy liked to blame “Governors” for wasteful spending, for not saving for the rainy day, for not investing properly, the truth is the real weakness in the Nigerian federal chain has been the Federal Government.

“Our hope is that with the new President, given his pedigree, we will break from the past.

“As I’m sure you will soon begin to hear when all the numbers are published, last week, I complained aloud that Edo State lost about N10 billion over a four year period from only one source: the NLNG remittance to the federation account.

“How did I arrive at the figure? I used my 4-Figure Table and I asked myself at $2.1 billion remitted by NLNG as taxes and Shell, and by the way, Shell is not the only oil operative, we have Chevron and several others. They shared the $2.1 billion based on the revenue allocation formula, Edo State got about N2.27 billion. So I said, thank God this money came after the departure of Okonjo-Iweala and President Jonathan. If the PDP were still in charge in Abuja, this money would have been taken.

“That is not the only money Edo State Government has lost. You have heard of the last instalment of $4.1 billion that was in the Excess Crude Account as of November, 2014, and from that time till today, we have not; when I say we, federal, states and local governments have not touched that money.

“We have not agreed to take anything out of it, and yet it has been drawn down to about $2 billion. Which means $2.1 billion disappeared. If you listened and followed the conversation, when I made this allegation after the National Economic Council meeting that the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala took $2.1 billion without approval and spent it in a manner that was never accounted for, she replied that I lied and said that it was the Commissioners and herself who agreed to distribute that money to the three tiers of government and that FAAC is the most visible expression of our true federalism. And that we shouldn’t claim that FAAC is unknown to us. That FAAC is a creation of law and so on and so forth.

“I’m going into this, because, as public servants, you need to understand not just the finances of Edo State but also the finances of Nigeria, particularly as they affect our state.

“Now the Commissioners of Finance met and they looked at themselves and they looked at Okonjo-Iweala and they submitted to Okonjo-Iweala that ‘madam, you lied, not Oshiomhole because in truth, we have no powers to decide withdrawals from the Excess Crude Account and that that power is vested in the State Governors at the level of the National Economic Council.’ But whether vested or not, we never, ever resolved to share money from that account.

“Now the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, confronted with these hard facts now shifted the argument that ‘oh no it is not FAAC that approved it, it was the former President Goodluck Jonathan that approved it.

“President Jonathan as far as the law of Nigeria is concerned, or any President, his approval is limited to funds of the federal government, not funds of the federation. Funds of the federation can only be approved by Governors and representative of the President as reflected in the composition of the National Economic Council, which is made up by Governors and chaired by the Vice President, with the CBN Governor and Minister of Finance and others as members. But there’s so much confusion now that Okonjo-Iweala can say one thing in the morning and tomorrow she will say I never said so. If she were a witness in a court of law, she would be declared a pathological liar whose evidence is of no value.

“So governments have lost a lot of money and the $2.1 billion, Edo State’s share of that, because that would have included derivation we would have made about N2.6 billion. That, we have lost now to Okonjo-Iweala.

“Now that she claimed she used it, between herself and the last President, they agreed to take the money to pay oil marketers. But if you talk to those oil marketers, they will tell you that within that period, they were paid $1 billion not $2.1 billion. So in truth, about $1 billion was taken for election purposes and Edo State’s share of that should have been about N4.6 billion from that $2.1 billion that Dr Ngozi-Okonjo Iweala, the former Minister of Finance illegally took from Excess Crude account.

“For clarity, that is not the only money they have so illegally taken. If you look at the total number at a point, the excess crude account peaked at $10 billion and we now heard it dropped to $4.1 billion. This means at some point, another $6 billion was taken. So we are hopeful that by the time we carry out some forensic analysis, we will be able to show clearly how much of the funds accruing to the three tiers of government were unilaterally and illegally spent by the Federal Government under the former Minister of Finance.”

The former finance minister could not be reached on Monday to comment on the allegations. Her spokesperson, Paul Nwabuikwu, did not respond to our calls.

On the seminar organized for top public servants to enhance the states IGR, Oshiomhole said: “the need for this workshop arose from reports, that virtually every week when we discuss at the level of the state executive council, issues that have to do with Internally Generated Revenue. The truth is; so much money could be paid by those who are supposed to pay, in most cases when this money is paid, in some cases, they never get to the treasury.

“Those responsible for diversion for running all these closed accounts, or pocketing or opening special accounts rather than the one known to Edo State Government or so authorized are by and large civil servants. And on few occasions, they also enlist some political appointees to be part of such rackets.

“We have over the period had cause to interrogate and fire some persons who were involved either in operating illegal accounts or undervaluing certain things that ought to have been properly valued so that correct taxes are paid the government.

“If government must continue to provide those basic needs of our people, somebody must pay for it. People have to pay taxes.

“Luckily, Edo is not owing workers’ salaries and we will do everything possible to ensure that the pay day is sacrosanct, because even the Bible says a labourer is entitled to his wages but we must understand that if we do not sustain and improve on where we are, with regards to Internally Generated Revenue, if the money is simply not available, something will have to give.

“We have trimmed down considerably as much as we can on the cost of running government. We have suspended overheads and allowances across the board from Governor’s office to Deputy Governor’s office to Secretary to State Government’s office, to Commissioners so that we can free resources to meet our salary obligation, but remember that the primary purpose of government is not just the payment of salaries. If all that government entails is to pay salaries as at when due, to be honest you do not need any other person except a fairly smart Clerk and a fairly honest Cashier.

“The primary purpose of government is to improve on the quality of lives of the people and provide basic economic and social infrastructure. To think that because we can pay salaries, all is well. All is not. I will not accept a situation where we are only able to pay salaries and nothing else.

“Henceforth, Permanent Secretaries, Directors and Deputy Directors will be held liable for any fraud detected in your department or section except if you are the one who raised the alarm. If a fraud is detected in your department by anyone outside yourself, we will assume that you are all a part of it.

“I need you all to understand that Nigeria, right now, is in serious financial crisis. If public servants pursue their duties the way they pursue their promotions, things will change.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/

Buhari Fires Service Chiefs

President Muhammadu Buhari has fired Nigeria’s Chief of Defence, and the heads of Army, Navy and the Air Force.

The service chiefs were relieved of their appointments Monday.

They were appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Their replacements were not immediately announced.

Military officials told PREMIUM TIMES last week that the delay is removing the military commanders was compounding the fight against the jihadist sect, Boko Haram.

The group has intensified its attacks in the last one month, with multiple suicide bombings and gun attacks killing hundreds of people.

Military experts said the service chiefs expected they would be fired any day, as such, they were hardly settled for the complex war against Boko Haram.

@Premiuntimes