Presidency & Other Ministeries To Fuel Generators With N836.6m In 2014

The Presidency and other ministries, departments and agencies of government will spend N836.6m for the fuelling of plants and generators in 2014.

The amount is contained in the 2014 budget proposal before the National Assembly.

The figure is striking when considered from the standpoint that the government, had after the privatization of the power sector promised that Nigerians would begin to see significant improvement in power supply from the first quarter of next year.

Specifically, President Goodluck Jonathan had while inaugurating the Phase II 500 megawatt Omotosho National Integrated Power Project Plant in Ondo State two months ago promised reasonably stable power supply in the country by the middle of 2014.

He added that the Federal Government was targeting 4,700mw from 10 NIPPs, which he said would be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2014.

According to him, the 10 National Integrated Power Projects will be handed over to the private sector next year after their completion and inauguration.

But an analysis of the budget proposal showed that the ministry of finance accounts for the highest with a projected expenditure of N76.5m while the police formation and command, ministry of foreign affairs and health followed with N71.3m, N56.16m and N47.62m respectively.

Presidency has a budget of N33.47m; Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation, N16.48m; Youth Development, N1.81m; Police Affairs, N16.5m; Women affairs, N901,452; Agriculture, N5.57m; Water Resources, N16.45m; Auditor-General for the Federation N11.79m; and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission N29.05m.

Others ministries are Defence (Army, Airforce, Navy) N30m; Education N36.92m; Trade and Investment N20.8m; Information N13.85m Communication and Technology N1.27m; Interior N20.75m; Office of Head of Service N40m; Justice N28.34m; Labour and Productivity N2.79m; Science and Technology N3.51m; Works N25.05m; Lands and Housing N45.55m; and Mines and Steel Development N6m.

The rest are Environment, N13.16m; Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, N2.637m; National Planning Commission, N21m; National Sports Commission N17.12m; Office of the National Security Adviser, N8.78m; Niger Delta, N16.85m; Ministry of Special Duties, N2.31m; Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, N15.45m; and National Population Commission N22.53m.

Similarly, Code of Conduct Bureau had a budget of N6.07m for generator fuelling; Code of Conduct Tribunal N3.01m; Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission N20.05m; Federal Civil Service Commission N18.8m: Police Service Commission; N4.39m; and Federal Character Commission N5.92m.

Curiously, three ministries – power, aviation and transport – and the National Salaries and Wages Commission had no budgetary provision for the fueling of plants and generators.

Also, a breakdown of the proposed budget to the judiciary in 2014 has declined when compare with 2013.

The total sum of N4.7bn which was provided for the Federal Ministry of Justice Headquarters in proposed 2014 budget is less than the sum of N5.5bn allocated to the ministry in 2013.

In the same vein, the budget for legal services, the ministry’s major assignment, fell from N2.3bn in 2013 to N1.3bn in the proposed 2014 budget.

The sum of N3.1bn was budgeted for legal services in 2012, which means that the allocation for the assignment had fallen for a second consecutive year.

SOURCE PUNCH