By Gift Chapi Odekina
The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP) on Tuesday cleared the air over the sum of N206,242,395,000 that was allegedly inserted into the budget of the Ministry of Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD).
The Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, denied allegations that the Ministry padded the budget.
The Minister in a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation said the sum was for the National Social Safety Nets Project – Scale Up (NSSNP-SU).
She said the project was correctly described in the submission from International Economic Relations Department (IERD) for the 2023 budget, “but regrettably, a wrong code was inadvertently used in the process of inputting it, which resulted in it being captured as Purchase of Security Equipment in the GIFMIS Budget Preparation System (BPS), which has a limited dropdown range of project descriptions/codes.”
She said the World Bank is the funding source for the project, which is domiciled in the FAHADMSD Headquarters, with projected drawdown of $473,500,000, which is equivalent to N206,242,395,000, using the N435.57/USD exchange rate applicable to the 2023 budget.
She said the same project was correctly captured in the 2022 budget of the FAHADMSD in the amount of N12,304,500,000 [ERGP1180310], based on the projected drawdown of $30m at N410.15/$ 2022 budget exchange rate.
Also speaking on alleged wrong insertions in the Ministry of Defence budget pertaining to Refurbishment and Procurement of Harris RF-5/7800 Military Communication Equipment and Safe Schools Initiative Projects.
She said, “The Honourable Minister of Defence wrote to Mr. President requesting the immediate release of $1,363,880.40 and N158,928,045.37 for the implementation of Phase 1 of the project. HM-MoD also requested the sums of $12,274,923.60 and N11,946,311,375.18 to implement Phases 2 and 3 of the project, all of which Mr President graciously approved.
Further to Mr President’s approval, 50% of the requirement for Phases 2 & 3, amounting to N8,600,000,000 (using the exchange rate of N435.57/USD), has been included in the 2023 budget proposal of the MoD.
“The Defence Headquarters submitted its un-costed requirements under this programme. The SSI Secretariat, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget & National Planning (FMFBNP), however, submitted a request of N4.5bn for MoD, of which only N2.250bn [50%] was provided in the 2023 budget.
The safe schools initiative [SSI] is a coordinated multi-agency initiative to enhance security in FGN owned educational institutions. The agencies involved are: the Defence Headquarters/Ministry of Defence; the Department for State Security, Nigeria Security & Civil Defence Corps, Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
“Provisions have been made in the budgets of each of these agencies to cover their own responsibilities under the SSI.”
Also addressing issues of the wrongful allegation of insertion in the Ministry of Power budget, she said, “TThe 2023 proposed budget for the FMoP includes a total of N195,465,151,790.65 MBPL with a breakdown as follows:
“Zungeru HydroElectric Power Project: funded by Export-Import Bank of China. Amount: USD175,757,149.92, which is N76,554,541,790.65.
“Power Sector Recovery Operation (PSRO); funded by World Bank. Amount: USD 162,000,000, which is N70,562,340,000.00.
“Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) to be executed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), funded by World Bank and AfDB. Amount: USD55,000,000, which is N23,956,350,000.00.”
“The Nigeria Electricity Transmission, to be executed by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)): funded by the World Bank. Amount: USD56,000,000, which is N24,391,920,000.000.
The total projected drawdown for the four projects is USD448,757,149, which is N195,465,151,790 at N435.17/$.
Also addressing the same issue as it pertains to the budget of the the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), she said, “The amount in question here relates to the 2022 budget, during which it had a projected loan drawdown of $30m equivalent of N12,304,500,000 (@ exchange rate of N410.15/USD). The issue relating to this arose from the NASS committee’s review of FME’s 2022 budget implementation.
“The project is the “Second Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact Project” and the financier is the World Bank. [ERGP30180290]
“For 2023, the amount captured for this project and the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standard Enhancement Project is N26,134,200,000 (60 million US Dollars @345.57/$]; both are World Bank funded projects.”
She said the current issues would have been easily clarified between the respective MDAs and the FMFBNP had the affected agencies followed the established budget processes.
“The proposed 2023 budget for each ministry was circulated for review and feedback, then presented at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) before it was submitted to NASS by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is noteworthy that the total amount of multilateral/bilateral loan funded projects included in the 2023 budget is N1,771,404,182,322, involving a total of 14 implementing ministries.
“The aggregate projected multilateral/bilateral loan drawdown and expenditure of N1,771,404,182,322 is shown on Lines 271 and 301 of the MTEF/FSP approved by FEC and presented to NASS. It is also shown on Lines 182 – 195 on page 12 of the 2023 Appropriation Bill.
“So far, no issues have been raised in relation to the multilateral /bilateral loan funded projects by the other ministries
“It is evident that there are internal coordination issues between the PIUs in some MDAs and the CEOs/Accounting officers of the implementing ministries. We will be taking necessary actions to ensure that this is addressed going forward
“Finally, let me state clearly that the allegation that the FMNBNP “padded” the budgets of the affected MDAs by inserting the projects in question makes absolutely no sense. If the projects are in the budgets of these MDAs, the FMBNP cannot procure them, as their procurement can only be handled by the concerned MDAs. Specifically, for multilateral/bilateral funded projects, the PIUs are domiciled in the designated implementing MDAs, and the lenders will not deal with any other agency, including FMBNP, on their procurements,”
The Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon Aliyu Betara, chided the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiya Umar Farouq, for going to press over the alleged padding without trying to sort out the mix up.
He said the meeting was to iron out the issues.
He expressed dissatisfaction over the Minister’s absence, saying she was in the habit of avoiding the invitation of relevant committees of the House.
He said if she was tired of the job, she should quit.
END
