News
MDAs to Spend N400Bn Before January 2014
Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the federal government have a balance of N400 billion to be spent before the end of the year according to the 2013 budget, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of Finance, has said.
Okonjo-Iweala told the Joint Senate Committee of Finance and Appropriations meeting on 2013 budget Monday that some N1.01 trillion out of N1.05 trillion realised, had been released, leaving the balance of N400 billion.
The meeting was called to address the allegation of bloated revenues estimates.
According to the minister, the total inflow from the Excess Crude Account stood at $14.36 billion while the outflow of $9 billion had been shared among the three tiers of government and for the payment of oil subsidy.
She further said that $1 billion was paid into the Sovereign Wealth Fund, leaving a balance of $4.3bn.
She explained that utilisation rate of what had been released stood at 72 per cent.
The minister said, “This means that we still have in excess N26 billionn waiting to be used by MDAs. On top of that we are now releasing N150billon. We should have up to N400billion still waiting to be utilised before the end of the year. This is because the money for the past three quarters had not been fully utilised.”
Okonjo-Iweala said the Federal Government had paid oil subsidy to oil marketers through the Petroleum Products Prices Regulating Agency.
But she clarified that the money paid to the oil marketers through the PPPRA was for the subsidy on the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) alone.
She said “I am really very clear that the payment is for petrol. I think the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation should answer the question on whether subsidy is paid on kerosene. I can answer for what we pay, based on what we receive from PPPRA.”
The minister noted that the activities of crude oil thieves in the Niger Delta greatly affected revenue projection from the oil sector while the government policies slowed down revenues from the non-oil sector.
She hinted that President Goodluck Jonathan had set up a committee headed by Delta state Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, to address the issue.
Members of the committee, according to Okonjo-Iweala, included all the governors in the Niger Delta region; the Minister of Petroleum, Minister of Finance, the NNPC, heads of the arms of the military and other security agencies.
She said, “We have been very open and clear on the issue of shortfall in crude oil production. The Federal Government is committed to the issue of shortfall in production. We hope the work of the committee will go a long way to tackle the problems, including the shutting down of oil pipeline.
“There are two pipelines being controlled by Shell that had been completely shut down. If these could be revived, it will go a long way to address the issue at hand. We hope the effort of the committee will bring hope.”
On the losses being experienced in the non-oil sector, the minister said that Customs had identified how government policies were slowing down revenue projection.
She stressed that the Federal Government was making efforts to block loopholes so that the non-oil sector could also generate in the required revenue.
Nigeria has launched an emergency response centre after recording 190 deaths from Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic illness, according to Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
The disease, mainly transmitted to humans via contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or excrement, has infected 1,154 people in six Nigerian states.
Jide Idris, head, Nigerian Center for Disease Control, said the agency’s risk assessment has categorized it as high, prompting the activation of the emergency Operations Centre to manage the outbreak.
“While the disease occurs throughout the year, peak transmission typically happens between October and May, coinciding with the dry season when human exposure to rodents increases,” he said at a press briefing in Abuja.
The centre will ensure seamless coordination of the control and management of the outbreak.
Symptoms of the virus – which can also be passed between people through bodily fluids of those infected – include fever, headaches and, in the most severe cases, death.
The World Health Organization classifies Lassa fever as a priority disease due to its epidemic potential and lack of approved vaccines.
Federal government has proposed to spend N1.5bn for internet services for passengers at five international airports in the country.
The project, “Provision/Upgrade of WiFi Services for Passengers in Five International Airports and some Domestic Airports” was listed as a new project in the 2025 appropriation.
In some parts of the world, access to the internet via Wi-Fi at airports is regarded to be a basic human right.
Such amenities are lacking in Nigeria.
But the 2025 budget presented to the National Assembly last week by President Bola Tinubu saw the sum of N105.953,496,365 being allocated to the Ministry of Aviation.
Apart from internet access at the airports, some other capital allocations were reinstated for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
In previous budgets, three agencies of the ministry including the apex regulatory agency, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and NAMA were exempted from the annual budgetary allocation.
In addition, the federal government deducts 50 per cent of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which is against the standard and recommended practices of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which recommends that the funds generated by the agencies should be reinvested into improving infrastructure and boosting aviation safety.
Fidelis Egueke, former bank manager, , has been convicted and sentenced to six months in prison by an Asaba, Delta State Chief Magistrate’s Court for defrauding a victim of $46,900.
Chief Magistrate Callistus Isioma Moeteke found Egueke guilty of a single charge brought against him by the police under case number CMA/295c/2024.
Raphael Eze, prosecutor, of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Asaba, said Egueke, a former Asaba branch manager of a tier-one bank, fraudulently obtained $46,900 by using two Certificates of Occupancy (CofOs) as collateral.
One of the land titles, however, was not his, and the other was fake.
After receiving the money, Egueke used it for personal expenses and failed to repay the victim as promised.
The prosecution argued that Egueke’s actions violated Section 419 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C21, Vol.1 Laws of Delta State, Nigeria, 2006.
Despite denying the offence, Egueke failed to present evidence of repayment during the trial.
Chief Magistrate Moeteke determined that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Egueke was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment.
However, the court also gave him the option to pay a fine of N350,000 in lieu of serving the prison term.
The court ordered Egueke to pay N30 million in restitution to the victim within six months of his conviction.
The charge against Egueke stated that, in 2016, he fraudulently obtained a credit facility worth $46,900 (approximately N60 million) from Chief Jude Ndudi by presenting false documents, including land titles that did not belong to him, in violation of Section 419 of the Criminal Code Law.
Egueke is also facing trial before a Lagos Federal High Court on charges related to a separate fraud case involving N179.498 million.
He is being prosecuted by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (ForceCID), Annex Alagbon-Ikoyi, Lagos.
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