Budget 2016: FCSC, HOS, PCC, FCC, INEC Appropriation Bill By Saatah Nubari

In the sixth part of the #SaatahBudgetSeries, I will take a break from my usual focus on a Ministry/Institution. I will bring to your attention, the budget for the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOS), Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federal Character Commission (FCC) in one fell swoop.
OFFICE OF THE HEAD OF THE CIVIL SERVICE OF THE FEDERATION

To begin with, I will lay out the agencies that fall under this institution: Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation—HQTRS, Federal Government Staff Housing Loan Board, Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, West Africa Management Development Institutes Network, Federal Training Centre (Enugu), Federal Training Centre (Illorin), Federal Training Centre (Kaduna), Federal Training Centre (Lagos), Federal Training Centre (Maiduguri), Federal Training Centre (Calabar), Public Service Institute of Nigeria, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs.

“Fellow Nigerians,” the total budget for the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is 8,042,152,611; 6,455,015,808 out of that amount is meant for “Recurrent Expenditure” while the 1,587,136,803 left will go to “Capital Expenditure.”

The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation says it will spend 90,387,235 on “Local Training” and as such, also budgeted 40,083,031 for “Local Travel & Transport: Training.” Now see where I have a problem with them; they budgeted 13,391,489 for “International Training” and guess what they budgeted for “International Travel: & Transport: Training”? Err nothing. At least we should know what kind of “International Training” they can attend without the  need to travel out—first thing that came to my mind was “spiritual realm,” where soul travelling is free. But who knows right?

The Head of Service wants to spend 193,513,097 of our money on “Recreational Facilities” when the Presidency spent just 39,075,000 on same item. It is very clear that the people there have no idea what their job description is. They think they were put in there to have fun at the expense of the citizens of this country. I find it offensive that they can boldly budget such a huge amount for something as unnecessary as “Recreational Facilities” when Nigerians are getting laid off from their jobs, standard of living is dropping and a “Stamp duty tax” hovers over the head of those who make use of our banks.

The Head of Service will also spend 16,896,521 to “Purchase Scanners.” As painful as this particular item is to read, I will suggest that the person responsible for making provision for that item should have his letter of disengagement scanned and sent to his email to save the cost of printing it.

As usual, there is a provision for “Research and Development” and 312,000,000 is the amount budgeted for it. That is more than what five select Agricultural Research Institutes will spend on “Research and Development.” I would love to know what type of “Research” the Head of Service plans to carry out, and if there aren’t institutions in this country whose mandate is to research on that particular thing, this is assuming that there’s actually a “Research” in the works, because that provision to me is what former President Jonathan will call a “Yam.”

“Council Meetings,” that’s what the Head of Service wills spend 75,000,000 on. In a year where oil projections have hovered between $27 and $35, the Head of Service has decided to let the devil use him/her.

555,111 for the “Purchase of I-Pads.” This particular provision looks like something that came about after “Daddy I want an IPad” became a persistent issue at home, and I’m guessing the reply would’ve been something like “OK, I’ll put it in the budget.”

PUBLIC COMPLAINTS COMMISION

The entire budget for the Public Complaints Commission is put at 2,000,000,000. All of it goes to “Recurrent Expenditure,” or “Salaries and Wages” to be precise.

FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

The total budget for the Federal Civil Service Commission is 1,053,055,043, with 1,035,976,135 for “Recurrent Expenditure” and 17,078,908 for “Capital Expenditure.”

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

INEC has a budget of 45,000,000,000, and it is all meant for “Salaries and Wages.”

FEDERAL CHARACTER COMMISSION

Federal Character Commission has a total budget of 3,371,278,210; 2,092,188,004 is for “Recurrent Expenditure” while 1,279,090,206 is for “Capital Expenditure.”

The Federal Character Commission will spend 1,108,452,706 on the “Construction/Provision of Office Buildings.” At this point, I have no words left to describe the raping of Nigerians and the pillaging of her resources.

We have come to the end of the sixth part of the budget analysis series. I will leave you with a little in-between: the Ministry of Communication Technology will spend 585,000,000 to “Purchase Chairs.” Have a wonderful day!