Budget 2016: Federal Ministry Of Budget And Planning By Saatah Nubari

This is the eighteenth piece in the #SaatahBudgetSeries. In this piece, I will take a look at the budget for the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

Before I move on, let me inform you that we now have a new Director General for the Budget Office of the Federation, and he is Mr. Tijjani Mohammed Abdullahi. Now, let us move forward.

The Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning has six agencies/institutions under it: Budget and National Planning, Nigeria Institute for Social and Economic Research, Centre for Management Development, National Bureau of Statistics, Budget Office of the Federation, and Service Wide Vote.

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF BUDGET AND NATIONAL PLANNING

The Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning has a total budget of 1,156,332,146,233; 783,129,752,498 of it is for “Recurrent Expenditure” while 373,202,393,735 is for “Capital Expenditure.
It is very shameful that the Budget and National Planning Ministry spent 197,501,056 to prepare this   disgraceful 1810 page document it calls the National Budget. 640,000,000 is budgeted for “Research and Development,” while 350,000,000 is budgeted for “Monitoring and Evaluation.”

What I can say from the 1008 pages of the 2016 budget that I have covered so far, is that, the 2016 budget is a shame to Nigeria and Nigerians as a whole, and it will probably be a research topic for economic scholars  seeking to examine how not to make a national budget. Whichever way you look at it, the 2016 budget has been nothing more than a joke; a joke  which cost us 197,501,056, yet  it is  not funny.

The Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research will spend 329,366,200 on “Research and Development,” and here is the breakdown: 71,357,500 for “Research Project on School Feeding Programmes in Nigeria,” 46,562,800 for “Research on Non-Oil Sector and the Enhancement of Revenue Generation in Nigeria,” and 43,676,200 “Research On The Impact Of The CBN Intervention Fund On Small And Medium Enterprises In Nigeria.” The others are; 37,214,950 for “Research on Electricity Supply and Consumption and the Effects on the Economy,” 44,388,200 for “Research on Domestic Production and Export Potentials of the Nigerian Textile Industry,” and 42,739,500 for “Research Project on Legislative Effectiveness.”

The Centre for Management and Development will spend 183,080,000 on “Research and Development.”

The budget for the National Bureau of Statistics left me with a couple of questions. They budgeted more for office repairs and furniture than they did for research. Coming from an institution which provides statistics of the country for the government, citizens and interested foreign parties, this is baffling, to say the least.

The  National Bureau of Statistics budgeted 218,249,687 for the “Purchase of Office Buildings,” 625,975,000 for the “Purchase of Office Furniture and Fittings,” and 42,641,350 for “Research and Development.”

Service Wide Vote, ladies and gentlemen, this is the part of the 2016 budget that has bamboozled me the most. Service Wide Vote has a total budget of 1,145,233,000,000, of which 775,230,000,000 is for “Recurrent Expenditure,” while 370,003,000,000 is for “Capital Expenditure.” In 2014, the Service Wide Vote was 296 billion, while in 2015 the Service Wide Votes was 360 billion.

2,300,000,000 is budgeted for “Entitlements of Former Presidents/Heads of States a

nd Vice Presidents/Chief of General Staff.”
2,599,702,192 is budgeted for “Benefits of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries.”

14,690,036,516 is budgeted for “Group Life Insurance.”

50,195,808,918 is budgeted for “Payment into Redemption Fund (5% Of Total Personnel Cost).”

2,544,110,811 is budgeted for “National Health Insurance Scheme (Military Retirees).”

5,500,000,000 is budgeted for “Employee Compensation Act – Employees Compensation Fund.”

2,300,000,000 is budgeted for “Gratuity.”

219,792,896,734 is budgeted for “Pension.”

3,750,000,000 is budgeted for “Death Benefits.”

2,257,298,262 is budgeted for “Pre 1996 Pension.”
15,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Security Vote (Including Operation).” Do not forget the numerous “Security Vote” we already have in the budget.

500,000,000 is budgeted for “Muslim/Christian Pilgrimage.”

500,000,000 is budgeted for “Election-Logistics Support.”

5,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.”

5,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Payment for Outsourced Services.”

6,599,600,000 is budgeted for “Margin for Increase in Costs.”

10,290,850,739 is budgeted for “Presidential Amnesty Programme: Reintegration Of Transformed Ex-Militants.”

1,834,149,261 is budgeted for “Presidential Amnesty Programme: Operational Cost.”

12,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Contingency.”

1,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Armed Forces Enhanced Retirement Benefit of Commodores  and Above.”

10,255,000,000 is budgeted for “Improved Remuneration Package for the Nigeria Police.”

2,795,000,000 is budgeted for “Severance Benefit of the Delta Steel Company Pension Pay – Off.”

5,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Arrears of Salary Increase.”

10,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Operation Zaman Lafia.”

1,500,000,000 is budgeted for “Public Service Reforms (Including Payment of Severance Benefits of Civil Servants).”

1,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Service Wide Training on GIFMIS (Budget Preparation, PBB, Execution and Reporting).”

300,000,000,000 is budgeted for “FGN Special Intervention Programmes.”

9,500,000,000 is budgeted for “Contributions to International Organisations.” This is aside the different provisions in the different ministries for the same purpose.

8,500,000,000 is budgeted for “External Financial Obligations.”

3,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Adjustment to Capital Cost.”

4,000,000,000 is budgeted for “National Job Creation Scheme.”

527,259,306 is budgeted for “Quick Wins – Completion Of 2008 and2009 Projects.”

1,581,777,918 is budgeted for “Sustainable Development Goals Monitoring and Evaluation.”

200,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Special Intervention.” Scroll up and you will see an earlier 300,000,000,000 budgeted for “FGN Special Intervention Programmes.”

3,000,000,000 is budgeted for “NELMCO.”

3,432,000,000 is budgeted for “Bulk Trader.”

20,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Sinking Fund for Infrastructural Development.”

5,005,000,000 is budgeted for “Refund to States for Federal Government Road Projects.”

1,500,000,000 is budgeted for “Special Initiative for Women Participation in Agriculture, Water, Sport, Communication Technology.”

1,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System Capital.”

2,500,000,000 is budgeted for “2011 Election Violence and Civil Disturbances (Damage Done to Public Properties and Places of Worship).”

2,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Sports Development.”

1,468,267,215 is budgeted for “Special Intervention Millennium Development Goals 1.”

2,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Capital Development of National Institute for Legislative Studies.”

500,000,000 is budgeted for “National Planning Commission (Infrastructure Master Plan).”

2,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Housing Mortgage Institutions.”

60,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Special Intervention/Constituency Projects.”

12,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Federal Initiative For North East (Pilot Counterpart Funding Contribution).

3,500,000,000 is budgeted for “Counterpart Funding Including Global Fund/Health.”

500,000,000 is budgeted for “Support to UNDP Millennium Campaign Programme Nigeria in Africa/African Parliamentarian Programme.”

5,500,000,000 is budgeted for “Payment Of Local Contractors’ Debts.” Provisions like these abound already in the different ministries.

3,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Funding of Galaxy Infrastructure.”

4,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Development of Finance Institution.”

1,000,000,000 is budgeted for “National Assembly Clinic.”

2,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Financing of The Implementation of the Nigeria Nuclear Power Programme.”

1,600,000,000 is budgeted for “Matching Grant for the ‘Safe School Initiative’ Programme.”

1,000,000,000 is budgeted for the “Rehabilitation of Existing 23 Nos Federal Secretariat in the States of the Federation.”

1,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Construction of Federal Secretariat in Ekiti.”

1,109,037,225 is budgeted for “Transition to Sustainable Development Goal.”

5,378,044,922 is budgeted for “Provision for Sustainable Development Goals Programmes.”
500,000,000 is budgeted for “Federal Ministry Of Finance: Special Programmes For Improving Efficiency.”

12,500,000,000 is budgeted for “Capital Exigencies.”
1,000,000,000 is budgeted for “Head of Service (Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board).”
We have come to the end of the eighteenth part of my budget analysis series, and as usual, I will leave you to form an opinion from the facts and figures you have just read.

The in-between for today is not from any ministry or government agency. The in-between for today has to do with the tribalistic nature of some of the provisions in the 2106 budget. It is very sad that the people of Ogoni whose land the UNEP report says will take about 30 years to get to back its original state due to the environmental degradation caused by oil exploration, have no provision in the 2016 budget for the clean-up of their land. On the other hand, the North East  which has been ravaged by Boko Haram was given 12,000,000,000 as “Federal Initiative for North East (Pilot Counterpart Funding Contribution).” The mere fact that the 12,000,000,000 will most definitely come from the Niger Delta (which Ogoni is a part of), while no provision was made for the clean-up of Ogoni is saddening. That the Minister for Environment has refused to answer my question of how she plans to carry out a clean-up of Ogoni land when there is no such provision for it in the 2016 budget, saddens me more. Have a wonderful day!

I am on Twitter @Saatah