God bless you for this comment

The jet, a Global Express XRS plane, is allegedly chartered specifically for her private and official trips overseas.

A return trip on the XRS plane is said to cost taxpayers €600,000.

The jet is different from the Challenger 850, which the House of Representatives said gulped N10bn in the last two years to fly the minister.

Investigation by The PUNCH showed that the House Committee on Public Accounts stumbled on the second jet in the course of the ongoing probe into the N10billion expenditure on Challenger 850.

Findings also showed that the owners of Challenger 850 might have fled the country shortly after the House ordered an investigation into the transaction between them and Alison-Madueke.

It was gathered that the aircraft owners reportedly became jittery after the committee declared its plan to summon them to assist in the investigation.

The PUNCH had reported exclusively last Sunday that the committee would summon the owners of the plane to testify before it.

Asked to comment on the issue, the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, told our correspondent that he was “shocked by the latest information.”

“We have heard that the owners of the Challenger have hurriedly left the country. The information is just reaching the committee; but, we are still holding our preliminary meetings,” he stated.

Olamilekan, who confirmed that the committee had uncovered a second jet, added that they were trying to establish how many trips it made outside the country.

“We are still holding our preliminary meetings. We have to put all the facts together and agree on the mode of the hearing first.

“The question on when to invite the minister will come after the meetings. We are still meeting.”

However, a document our correspondent obtained in Abuja on Tuesday, indicated that Alison-Madueke flew in Global Express XRS on two occasions in 2011.

She chartered the same jet twice in 2013 on a return trip bill of €600,000 per trip.

For example, on March 21, 2011, she flew to London with the jet from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

On board the jet with her were two people, Imotimi Agama and Haruna Momoh.

The aircraft returned to Nigeria from London on March 23, conveying the same passengers.

Another trip on March 9, 2013 departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos en route to London.

The passengers were Alison-Madueke, Abubakar Fari and Momoh. The jet returned to Nigeria on March 13 with the same passengers.

In Abuja, lawmakers are asking how a serving minister raised the money to charter jets for overseas trips at the expense of the taxpayers.

One of them, who asked not to be named said, “Nigerians deserve to know which law authorizes this type of extravagance.

“Under which budgetary sub-head has she been chartering jets for her personal use?

“Where is the law that authorises a government minister to be flying around the world in chartered private jets?

“You are going to London, why did you not not use the British Airways or any other international airline?”

The PUNCH further learnt that those who accompanied Alison-Madueke on the trips would also be invited by the committee to assist with the investigation.

Alison-Madueke is accused of spending about €500,000 monthly to maintain the first aircraft.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had on Monday denied the allegation but said it had the legal right to own or charter an aircraft for its operations.

“This practice is common and acceptable in the local and international business environment in which it operates. There is nothing prohibiting the NNPC from owning or chartering an aircraft,” the NNPC had said in a statement by its Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Omar Ibrahim.

There was however a new twist to the N19.7bn Police Equipment Fund on Tuesday as the Police denied receiving the money from the suspended Central Bank Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi.

Sanusi, while defending allegations of financial recklessness levelled against him by the Financial Reporting Council, had listed the sum among funds he released to the Ministry of Police Affairs to procure a helicopter and other equipment.

But the police high command, which appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts in Abuja, denied knowledge of the money.

The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Air Wing, Mr. Ilesanmi Aguda, who stood in for the inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, simply replied “no knowledge” when the committee sought to confirm the payment.

Although he advised the committee to refer the inquiry to the Ministry of Police Affairs, the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Adeola Olamilekan, informed his colleagues that the said ministry had earlier denied the payment.

Olamilekan expressed surprise over the development, noting that it would appear that the money was missing since the supposed recipients had denied knowledge of it.

He said, “If the IG and the police ministry deny receipt of the said N19.7bn, then the committee can rightly assume that the money is missing, until proven otherwise.

“All the major actors involved in the alleged transaction, including the CBN have a case to answer.”

In ruling on the controversial money, the committee said it would summon Sanusi and the IG to hear from them again before taking a final position.

In a separate case, the committee summoned the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla; the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu; and the CBN to explain the whereabouts of the N59.6bn released to the NNPC as subsidy claims.

While the budget office claimed to have paid the money to the NNPC, the corporation denied receiving it.

The committee acknowledged submissions by the NNPC, which indicated that it did not receive the money.

For it to dig into the matter further, the committee directed the corporation to write a formal letter denying that it received the money.

Ruling on the issue, the committee chairman said, “You (NNPC) will do us a formal letter explaining to the committee that at no time did you receive N59.6bn. The Deliotte accounting firm, in its report, claimed the fund was disbursed.

“Towards this direction, this committee hereby summons the CBN, AGF and budget office to explain why such sum of money was disbursed without any documentary evidence.

“The NNPC for now cannot be indicted until otherwise proven when the AGF and the budget office come out with evidence that the money was disbursed and cash backed.”

SUSPECTED members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, have again bombed a market in Nguro-Soye, near Bama, Borno State, killing no fewer than 29 persons.

Reuters reported on Sunday that the attack on the market was said to have been carried out on Saturday night.

“I travelled to Bama to buy bags of beans. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang at the middle of the market. It was in the late afternoon and commercial activities were at their peak,” said Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader at the market.

He estimated the death toll to be as high as 29. Abba Tahir, a bus driver who was said to be offloading passengers at the market during the incident, said he counted 20 bodies.

“People were helping in evacuating the corpses after the confusion had died down. Some people who were injured were taken to the general hospital,” Tahir added.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack yet as of the time of this report.

Borno State Police Commissioner,, Mr. Lawal Tanko, who confirmed the incident, was quoted as saying, “An explosion in the market in Nguro-Soye killed 17 people.”

Bama is a border town and the headquarter of the Bama Local Government Area of Borno State. It is about 135 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.

The town is not new to attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents.

The 202 Army Battalion Barracks located in the town was hit by Boko Haram in December 2013.

Several women and children, mostly wives and wards of soldiers, who battled the insurgents for over seven hours, were killed in the attack launched at about 3 am.

On February 19 this year, the insurgents also attacked Bama. Confirming the February attack, Governor Kashim Shettima had said the attackers “inflicted a lot of damage on the town.” A Borno State senator, Ahmed Zanna, had then told the BBC that the attack on Bama lasted for five hours.

PREMIUM TIMES - The United Nations has published the ‘Joint Letter of Concern’ sent to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan in which it expressed concerns that “access to electricity (and regularity of supply) is a significant problem in Nigeria,” and raised eight questions for the government to answer within 60 days.

The letter, with reference number NGA 5/2013, dated November 26, 2013 and signed by two special rapporteurs, expressed concerns that “at the end of 2012, Nigeria with a population of about 160 million people only generated about 4,000 megawatts of electricity, which is ten times less than some other countries in the region with less population.”

“To date, the government has not responded to the eight crucial questions raised by the UN on the unfair and discriminatory electricity tariff”, said Adetokunbo Mumuni, Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Projects, SERAP.

The UN special rapporteurs argued that “all beneficiaries of the right to adequate housing should have sustainable access to energy for cooking, heating and lighting. The failure of the States to provide basic services such as electricity is a violation of the right to health.”

The rapporteurs: Ms. Magdalena Carmona, Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights; and Ms. Raquel Rolnik Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, sent the letter following a petition lodged last year by a coalition of human rights activists, labour, journalists and lawyers led by SERAP.

The petition alleged that the implementation of the Multi-Year Tariff Order II (MYTO II) by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is “having detrimental impact on the human rights of those living in poverty in the country.”

The MYTO II provides a 15-year tariff path for the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.

Consequently, the special rapporteurs wanted answers to the followingquestions:

1. Are the facts alleged by SERAP and others accurate?

2. What kind of impact assessments were conducted to gauge the potential impact of the electricity tariff increases on the human rights of people living in extreme poverty in Nigeria? If so, provide details
3. Did public consultations take place, including with potentially affected persons and especially people living in extreme poverty, prior to the adoption of the new Multi-Year Tariff Order II? If yes, please give details of the dates, participants and outcomes of the consultations.

4. Was accessible and culturally adequate information about the measure actively disseminated through all available channels prior to consultation?

5. What measures have been put in place to ensure that the human rights of people living in extreme poverty in Nigeria will not be undermined by the increase in electricity tariffs? In particular, what measures are in place to ensure that they can enjoy their right to adequate housing, including sustainable access to energy for cooking, heating and lighting, which is a component of this right?

6. Are there any accessible independent review or complaint mechanisms in place, such as administrative mechanisms through the NERC Power Consumer Assemblies (PCA), available for individuals to challenge the classification of customers and/or the corresponding tariffs? If such mechanisms exist, please give details.

7. What mechanisms exist to ensure transparency, accountability and regular monitoring over the use of tariff revenue within the government? What mechanisms are available to address allegations of corruption, or other complaints? What mechanisms are in place to monitor and regulate service provision by private actors, as required under the State’s duty to protect?

8. Please describe any existing policies or measures aimed to promote affordability of electricity provision for people living in extreme poverty. Are any subsidies already available and implemented? What is being done to mitigate the hardship imposed by increased tariffs, especially for persons living in poverty?

According to the special rapporteurs, “We would be most grateful to receive a response within 60 days, which will be made available in the report that we will submit to the Human Rights Council for its consideration of the matter.”

They said that services “such as electricity must be provided without discrimination towards people living in poverty and that no one should be denied access to essential services because of an inability to pay”.

They also said that, “Less than 50 per cent of registered electricity customers have access to electricity meters, and ongoing inaccuracies in measuring electricity usage will continue to hinder fair electricity access and exchange.”

They wanted answers to the alleged “mismanagement throughout the privatization process, and around 3.5 billion USD that has been mismanaged annually over the last ten years, and a total of 16 billion USD released to improve electricity supply in the country that has not been properly accounted for.

The Business Units, which have taken over from the PHCN, participate in large-scale corruption such as graft from exorbitant consumer bills, rejection of payment to independent third parties such as banks to keep management of funds secret, unprecedented disconnection of consumers’ power lines, general bribery and fraud amongst staff, adding up to over NGN 1 billion extra charged to consumers annually.”

According to them, “The increases in electricity tariffs, problems with measuring electricity usage, lack of improvement in the quality of the service and lack of transparency in the use of funds, reportedly disproportionately impact on those with little disposable income, as well as exacerbate the scarcity of energy supply for those who already cannot afford electricity even if connected to the grid.”

They pointed to Nigeria’s international obligations “under various international human rights instruments and in particular: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, acceded to by Nigeria in 1993), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, ratified by Nigeria in 1993), the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, ratified by Nigeria in 1985) and the African (Banjul) Charter on Human Rights and People’s rights (ratified by Nigeria in 1983).”

“The human rights framework does not dictate a particular form of service delivery and leaves it to States to determine the best ways to implement their human rights obligations. However, the State cannot exempt itself from its human rights obligations when involving non-State actors in service provision. On the contrary, when non-State actors are involved in service provision, there is a shift to an even stronger focus on the obligation of the State to protect,” the special rapporteurs added.

They further argued that, “As part of its obligation to protect, the State must safeguard all persons within their jurisdiction from infringements of their rights by third parties. Involving non-State actors in service provision requires, inter alia, clearly defining the scope of functions delegated to them, overseeing their activities through setting regulatory standards, and monitoring compliance.”

“Given the fact that in Nigeria electricity provision has been outsourced to the private sector, the obligation remains for the Nigerian government to ensure that private sector actions do not result in violations of the right to an adequate standard of living,” the special rapporteurs argued.

Other signatories to the petition sent to the special rapporteurs in September last year include: the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE); Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ); Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC); Women Empowerment and Legal Aid Initiative (WELA); Partnership for Justice (PJ); Education Rights Campaign (ERC); Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos State Council; Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos; Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja branch; National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), and Joint Action Front (JAF).

There were indications last night that the Federal Government was serious about enforcing the no-go area clauses contained in the report of the Presidential Committee on National Conference, as many of the delegates began to arrive Abuja, yesterday, for the confab inauguration today.

Vanguard learnt from competent Presidency sources that the government was working hard to ensure that the delegates did not discuss any issue that could lead to the dismembering of Nigeria.

While unfolding the details of the National Conference in Abuja, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, listed the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as the areas that the delegates were not expected to deliberate on.

According to sources, the government was bent on ensuring that the delegates kept to the issues canvassed by majority of Nigerians when the Femi Okurounmi-led Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue went round the country to collate their views on what should form the issues for discussion at the conference.

It was gathered that the Federal Government through the Conference Planning Secretariat had also developed a set of rules and regulations to guide the delegates’ deliberations and to ensure that they do not go outside their brief during plenary.

One source said that it was in recognition of the need to ensure that the delegates conform to what Nigerians had already pinpointed as the main areas of interest, that each delegate would be given a set of rules and regulations upon arrival in Abuja.

“While the government would not gag the delegates on what to discuss, it is also clear that the government will not allow anything that could lead to the break-up of Nigeria.

It is important to say that the committee planning the conference had outlined the major areas of interest to Nigerians based on the views expressed by them when the committee went round the six geo-political zones of the country.

“There is no doubt that the submission of the committee will help immensely in shaping the agenda of the meeting even though the secretariat will not in any way try to gag the delegates on what to say.

“It is also pertinent to say that anyone who wants to deviate from the views of the majority of Nigerians at the conference will have to test the superiority of their argument by winning by at least 75 per cent votes,” the source explained.

It was also gathered that in a bid to ensure the success of the exercise, the secretariat might adopt a modified version of the Votes and Proceedings of the National Assembly for its work.

Although the delegates were expected to arrive for accreditation today, no fewer than 20 delegates had already been screened by hordes of security agents manning the expansive compound of the National Judicial Institute, NJI, the venue of the talks.

Each of the screened delegates was issued with tags with machine-readable security features and biometrics of the delegates.

Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that he will not partake of the N12m to be paid to each delegate to the three-month National Conference to be inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday (today).

Bakare, representing Ogun State at the conference, said he made the decision not to collect the money to be paid to delegates by the Federal Government in order to dispel any speculation that his motivation for accepting to take part in the conference was material.

Each of the 492 delegates to the National Conference would be paid N4m per month for the three month duration and this has been the subject of controversy with some Nigerians condemning the amount to be spent.

Announcing to his church members that he had accepted to be a delegate to the conference, Bakare told the congregation that he would be giving them weekly report as the conference progressed.

He said, “A friend of mine called me this (Sunday) morning that he heard on the radio that ‘Pastor Bakare had accepted to go, that his own fee is N12m’. Pastor Bakare will not take a kobo in the National Conference. “I will not take a penny. It has nothing to do with others; that is by choice. We go with integrity of heart, it is not money. The God of heaven will prosper us.

“What I say here is what I will do there. I do not say others should do it, but I intend to do that so that our heart can remain pure. That does not mean the hearts of others are not pure but I don’t want anybody to think in any slight manner that the motive is this.

“This is the moment we have been waiting for, for this end I was born. Nigeria will be saved, Nigeria will be changed, and Nigeria will become great.”

Bakare explained that before he decided to be a delegate, he sought the approval of Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the man to whom the cleric was a running mate on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 presidential election.

He said, “Before I answered the call, before I said yes, I called General Buhari that ‘I don’t want our stands on this national conference issue to be different. The governor of Ogun State put me on his list, the Elders of South-West put me on their list. What do you say?’

“He said the All Progressives Congress might not be going, but you are free to go because you never can tell how God will help our nation. That does not mean I am in APC. People have been asking, ‘are you in APC,’ ‘are you in PDP?’ I have told you, I am on the side of God. In this season I don’t know until we fix Nigeria.”

Members of the House of Representatives committee on Public Accounts were yesterday informed by the Director General of Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD), Mrs Nellie Mayshak, that there was no documentary evidence on the whereabouts of the N24bn released from service wide vote in 2010 for Police Pension Fund.

The committee, therefore, summoned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla, Auditor General of the Federation, Mr Samuel Ukura and the Director General, Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogwu to appear before the committee to explain what happened to the money.

It specifically asked the DG budget office to come with the memo showing the request for the missing N24 billion, and also asked First Bank Plc to present details of the transaction.

Mayshak had explained that she was not around when the money was released as she just resumed to manage the newly established PTAD.

“We have no evidence, we have no record. It just looks bad on our part. We rather tell you the truth or make it up,” she said.

On his part, the Internal Auditor of the Pension office, Mr Adeyemo Julius Adebolu, stated that the N24 billion was received by the Pension office for the payment of pensioners in 2010.

He told the committee that when the money was released, he advised the office to lodge the money in a First Bank account.

According to him, after the lodgement, he was not carried along on further disbursement of the money to pensioners.

Adebolu also told the committee that a consulting firm was contracted to disburse the pension fund, instead of the staff of the police pension office.

He added that he was not involved in the auditing process of the account.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Solomon Adeola Olamilekan, said “I am taken aback, because what you are telling us is that, service wide vote is a slush account, it is an account that is used to settle the boys”.

He advised all government officials invited to be prepared to answer grilling questions on the missing fund when they appear.

Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt nations in the world, according to the latest report by Transparency International.

In the group’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, Nigeria ranked 144th, out of 177 nations in the world, scoring 25 points out of a possible 100 points.

Nigeria’s corruption performance this year was worse than last year’s, when it scored 27 points. This year, Nigeria shared the podium of infamy with crisis-torn Central African Republic and neighbour, Cameroon.

Denmark and New Zealand are the cleanest countries in the world, sharing the first spot in the index, with scores of 91. Afghanistan, North Korea and strife torn, Somalia are the worst, with scores of 8 points, a woeful performance indeed.

Finland, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia and Canada emerged in the top ten of least corrupt nations in the world.

With a score of 63 points, Botswana, the southern African nation, is rated the cleanest African country.It is the 30th in the world. Ghana is the star of West Africa, garnering 46 points to emerge 63rd in the world.

Transparency says this year’s report underscores the global reality that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world as more than two thirds of the 177 countries in the 2013 index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).

“The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 demonstrates that all countries still face the threat of corruption at all levels of government, from the issuing of local permits to the enforcement of laws and regulations,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International.

“The top performers clearly reveal how transparency supports accountability and can stop corruption,” said Labelle. “Still, the better performers face issues like state capture, campaign finance and the oversight of big public contracts which remain major corruption risks.” The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on experts’ opinions of public sector corruption.

Countries’ scores can be helped by strong access to information systems and rules governing the behaviour of those in public positions, while a lack of accountability across the public sector coupled with ineffective public institutions hurts these perceptions.

Public sector corruption threatens to undermine global initiatives.

Corruption within the public sector remains one of the world’s biggest challenges, Transparency International said, particularly in areas such as political parties, police, and justice systems.

Public institutions need to be more open about their work and officials must be more transparent in their decision-making. Corruption remains notoriously difficult to investigate and prosecute. Future efforts to respond to climate change, economic crisis and extreme poverty will face a massive roadblock in the shape of corruption, Transparency International warned. International bodies like the G20 must crack down on money laundering, make corporations more transparent and pursue the return of stolen assets.

“It is time to stop those who get away with acts of corruption. The legal loopholes and lack of political will in government facilitate both domestic and cross-border corruption, and call for our intensified efforts to combat the impunity of the corrupt,” said Labelle.

President Goodluck Jonathan and top government functionaries on Saturday escaped an air mishap at Minna Airport, Niger State, when the N9billion Presidential Jet developed technical fault, while they were aboard.

The presidential jet, Nigerian Air Force 001, had earlier conveyed Jonathan to Minna for PDP North-Central rally which held in the state. But when at the end of the rally, the President returned to the airport in company of top government officials, PDP state governors and party chiefs for a trip to Sokoto, from where he was scheduled to return to Abuja, they didn't know that something strange was waiting for them..Several minutes after Jonathan had bade farewell to those who accompanied him to the airport, and the door of the aircraft was shut, the aircraft failed to move.



After many attempts, crew members and engineers, for the first time, had to disembarked from the aircraft and made spirited efforts to fix the fault as armed security men took strategic positions around the place.

While this was going on, Vice-President Namadi Sambo; Senate President,, David Mark; PDP governors and National Assembly and Federal Executive Council members were watching in disbelieve.

They couldn't understand why a Presidential Jet that they voted billions of Naira for its maintenance would be in such a bad shape that it couldn't fly any more. Is it that the Ogas are pocketing the money for servicing?

When it became obvious that Nigeria's Number One Presidential plane has been grounded, the commander of the Presidential Air Fleet, Air Vice Marshal Uko Ebong, ordered that a smaller presidential jet, which took the Vice-President to the state be brought to fly Jonathan.

President Jonathan disembarked from the faulty jet around 3.30pm and quickly moved to the smaller aircraft.

All the top government officials and PDP governors who had rushed into the first plane with Jonathan all come down with long faces, with some of them sweating heavily. It was indeed a big embarrassment as many started making alternative travel arrangements.

When asked what happened to the plane, a FAAN official simply said: “The return engine refused to pick.”

35-year old man Godwin Chinedu Agbarakwe, residing illegaly in Thailand has been caught and arrested on immigration and drug charges after officers found crystal  methamphetamines hidden in his anus.
Agbarakwe who has been an illegal immigrant for 14 months was stopped by Pattaya Tourist Police on a Third Road side street on 24 February after he was spotted acting suspiciously.
The drugs were found on him as the police searched every part of his body.
PM News reports:


Police said Friday that the suspect claimed he turned to selling drugs when his clothing import-export business failed.
Officers said the Nigerian entered Thailand on a three-month visa on 8 September 2012.
He’s been overstaying that visa since 8 December, 2012.

I read some senseless comments on this topic like yours and I think you need to be enlightened a little bit on what Soyinka did then.What he created was not cultism but fraternity(it means brotherhood) the aim of a fraternity is to protect and to preserve a particular tradition or  to achieve a particular goal,politically,academically or socially.. I have seen  and live with such fraternity in the country where I am studying... What you have in Nigeria today are some educated hooligans who claim to be cults.The fraternity I know here are not idiots like the cults you have in Nigeria, they live by certain rules which favours their academics.Check the difference between cultism and Fraternity in your dictionary...

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bukola Saraki, has faulted several aspects of the 2014 Appropriation Bill, saying that the document failed to give priority to critical sectors and a blueprint for fiscal recklessness and leakages in government expenditure.

Of particular concern is the misplacement of prorities demonstrated in the allocation of N54bn to Niger Delta Militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme while the Military and Police got just N46bn in capital allocations.

He also noted the dangers of increased extra-budgetary spending and the impunity with which agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, spent public funds and serial breaches of budget implementation rules by civil servants.

Saraki, in a critical appraisal of the budget posted on his website, expressed regret that the budget process had become a mere procedural ritual designed to fulfil a legal condition rather than a scrutiny on efficient resource allocation and use for the welfare of the people.

For example, under the defence and security allocations, the lawmaker noted that N54bn was budgeted for stipends and allowances for 30,000 Niger Delta militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (N23.6bn) and Reintegration of Transformed Ex-Militants’ (N35.4bn), while the total capital budget for the Nigerian Army was N4.8bn and capital budget for the Ministry of Defence Headquarters – Army, Navy and Air Force – was N34.2bn.

“The budget proposal rewards banditry and encourages militancy at the expense of the fighting men and women of the Nigerian military,” he said.

He also noted that the budget proposals were skewed in favour of recurrent expenditure rather than capital votes

The senator, who noted instances where capital expenditures were more or less efficiently appropriated in the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development with N35.1bn allocation to capital and N31.4bn to recurrent; Water Resources, N30.6bn to capital and N7.7bn to recurrent; power, N59bn and N3.3bn to capital and recurrent expenditures respectively and a few others such as transport, works, aviation, lands and housing, added that some capital expenditure items were questionable at best.

Saraki, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, queried the proposal to purchase desktop computers for N2m each under the budget of the Ministry of Education, when the market prices to purchase a unit was N200,000. The Ministry of Works, he said, proposed to buy desktops at N1m per unit.

He described the 2014 budget process as the last opportunity for the National Assembly to rise up to its constitutional responsibility by critically looking into the Bill and ensure that avenues for fiscal recklessness were controlled.

The legislator specifically lamented low percentage of capital budget implementation even as the profile of extra-budgetary expenditures continued to rise, pointing out that the National Assembly needed to rein in public expenditure and ensure probity through budgeting and oversight.

The lawmaker listed 42 MDAs as having higher recurrent allocations than capital to include the Ministry of Interior, which is expected to spend N144.7bn in recurrent and just N6.29bn on capital; police formation and commands, N285.5bn on recurrent and N6.79bn capital; education, including UBEC, N443.9bn on recurrent and N49.5bn on capital and health, N216.4bn on recurrent and N46.3bn on capital expenditures.

According to him, “A cursory appraisal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated plans to spend money for the maintenance of plants and generators in several of our foreign missions, including the one in London, even as the headquarters would spend N201.7m for fumigation and cleaning services during the year.”

Stipends and Allowances to 30,000 Niger Delta Militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme: N23.6 Billion (twenty three billion, six hundred million Naira)

Reintegration of Transformed Ex Militants: N35.4 Billion (Thirty Five Billion, Four Hundred Million Naira)

Total Capital Budget for the Nigerian Army: N4.8 Billion (Four Billion, Eight Hundred Million Naira)

Total Capital Budget for the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Army, Navy and Air Force: N34.2 billion (Thirty Four Billion, Two Hundred Million Naira)…..***Still a little less than what has been budgeted for “Reintegration of Transformed Ex-Militants”****

Total capital budget for ALL Police formations and commands: N6 Billion (Six Billion Naira)

The education budget is the same. An e.g. is a line budget to procure 15 desktop computers for 30m, which translates to 2m per unit.

Believe me you have a lot to learn because my 5 year old niece can't reason this bad... well I have better things to do but take my advice get knowledge and stop acting  stupid

I really don't understand your comment...I guess you want to write "know" and not no... go back to school boy

I forgot to tell you to read the post again because your comment is irrelevant with what is been posted here or maybe get someone to explain it to you if you don't understand the post...

Don't talk about class you have none

I thought for a while before writing a reply to your senseless comment.. Where in the world have you been to ? how many people have you met in your entire life before jumping into that absurd conclusion that the Yorubas are the worst Human you can find on earth..The truth about most Igbos is that you don't know the history behind the Nigerian civil war you listened to what your leaders back then told your illiterate parents and that is why you keep saying you were betrayed by the Yorubas, the war was between Nigeria(not Yoruba) and Biafra...I am not here to give you reply to the rest of your senseless comment because but to tell you that you still need to learn a lot about Nigeria and about the Yorubas..You also need to understand politics that is if at all you passed through school and exposed enough to know that all our leaders are just stupid regardless of where they come from....

As long as they are ready to serve the people of their tiny country with honesty , their segxwal orientation is non of our business ( The same place is reserved for them and our heterosegxwal leaders, drunkards, adulterers and etc in hell, if there's any). Let God judge...

Our group is not as easy as we think.Bosnia and Argentina won't be easy opponents ..Bosnia has good record during the qualifying matches, they have a very strong team.Almost all their players plays in Bundensliga(i.e they all play the same pattern of football) also as first timer, they will give their all to play beyond group stage, so we should be careful with them and plan very well ahead

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has blamed former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida for the current problems bedeviling the nation’s education sector.

The union believed that the former military President presided over what it described as the dictatorship of the International Monetary Fund and Structural Adjustment Programme, whose policies were used to “kill public schools” in the late 1980s.

The union, which said its four-month-old strike would continue until government shows genuine commitment to the 2009 agreement, also called on government to reject “the reintroduction of SAP through the back door.”

The chairman of ASUU, Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Ade Akinola, in a statement on Monday, said the government should show patriotism and ensure that the university teachers returned to work.

He said, “Patriotism demands that the government should reject the dictate of the international financial conglomerate (IMF) and the reintroduction of SAP through the back door, under the superintendence of the Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

“Otherwise, why the rush to imbibe this strange doctrine that basic education is what Nigeria needs? The implication of this is that government should minimally spend or disengage from spending on tertiary education. Yet, we are in the age where knowledge is the difference. Wilful collapse of public institutions and subordination of national interest to private one must stop.

“ASUU insists that the strike continues until government shows genuine commitment to the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement as reinforced by the MoU of January 24, 2012 as it will not be part of this deliberate decimation of public university system.”

The OAU-ASUU branch chairman said government’s patriotism became necessary “to stop this cycle of institutional collapse.”