President Buhari now beats GEJ's profligacy.
We hinted of the hypocrisy of Mr President.
That PMB is not interested in curbing waste.
Now Buhari has unequivocally displayed
shocking extravagance and profligate spending.
A typical military man's lust for power!
Now read today's Punch on PMB's budget
Buhari, Osinbajo to spend N2.2bn on travels, food, others
9225
Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari and
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo are to spend N2.2bn on travels and
transport, foodstuffs and catering materials, refreshment and meals as
well as honorarium and sitting allowances in the 2016 fiscal year.
Details of this spending are contained
in the 2016 budget of N6.08tn, which the President submitted to a joint
session of the National Assembly last week.
An analysis of the document, a copy of
which was obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday in Abuja, showed that
the total allocation of N2.2bn to the President and his deputy was
N710m higher than what was budgeted for the same purpose under former
President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to the budget document,
N1.415bn was allocated to the President alone for general travels and
transport. This amount, when compared to the N944.62m that Jonathan got
in 2015, was N470.38m or 49.7 per cent higher.
A breakdown of the N1.415bn allocated
for the President’s travels shows that the sum of N714.5m is proposed
for local travels while N701.16m is budgeted for international travels.
Both sums, when compared to the N640.34m
and N304.32m allocated for the same purposes under Jonathan for local
and foreign trips, represent an increase of N74.16m and N396.84m.
For foodstuffs and catering materials, a
total sum of N114.9m is allocated for Buhari alone, indicating an
increase of N45.09m or 64.6 per cent over that of Jonathan.
In terms of honorarium and sitting
allowances, N307.64m was budgeted for the President as against N223.24m
allocated for the same purpose in 2015.
In the same vein, N49.1m has been
proposed for the President in the 2016 fiscal period for publicity and
advertisement as against N29.8m in 2015.
For the office of the Vice-President,
the budget document states that N48m is proposed for general travels and
transport in 2016 as opposed to N33.86m in 2015.
In the same vein, the document says
N13.3m and N13.9m are being proposed for international travels and
transport (trainings) and international travels and transport (others)
for the Vice- President in 2016.
Both amounts, when compared to the sum
of N9.4m and N9.87m, which was allocated for the same purpose in 2015,
represents an increase of N3.9m and N4.03m respectively.
Other amounts allocated for the Vice-
President are foodstuffs and catering, N16.6m; refreshment and meals,
N7.5m; honorarium and sitting allowance, N8.8m; and publicity and
advertisement, N23.08m.
These amounts allocated for Osinbajo,
when compared to the amount budgeted for former Vice President Namadi
Sambo for the same purpose under the 2015 budget, represent an increase
of N4.84m, N2.18m, N1.88m and N6.79m respectively.
The document also listed other
expenditure items for the office of the Vice President to include
maintenance service, N46.44; consultancy, N9.6m; other services, N22.3m;
fuel and lubricants, N24.9m, among others.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi
Adeosun, had shortly after assumption of office in November, inaugurated
the Efficiency Unit to assist the government cut the cost of
governance.
The minister, who said the unit was
approved by Buhari to drive down the cost of running government, said no
amount of economic policies would deliver the desired results if the
manner in which government money was expended was not carefully
controlled.
Adeosun lamented that while much had
been said about effects of corruption on the economy, little attention
was given to the damaging effects of inefficiency and wastages.
She pointed out that a review carried
out by the ministry had discovered wide variations in terms of costs
between departments and within agencies as there were currently no
guidelines on spending
The minister added, “In the few weeks I
have spent as the Minister of Finance, it has become clear that without a
radical intervention to manage the costs of government, no meaningful
improvement in our nation will be forthcoming.
“No amount of fiscal innovation,
financial re-engineering or other well intentioned economic policy will
deliver the desired results, for as long as the manner in which
government money is expended is not carefully controlled.”
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