The Federal Capital Territory
Administration has proposed N1.5bn for the design and construction of
new residences for the principal officers of the National Assembly in
2014,
The amount is contained in the
ministry’s 2014 budget proposal which also shows that despite Federal
Government’s promise of stable power supply, the Presidency,
ministries, departments and agencies of the government planned to
spend N836.6m on the fuelling of their generators .
The budget proposal also revealed that
the government had failed to address the concern of the Chief Justice
of Nigeria , Justice Mariam Mukhtar, on the financing of the judiciary
as the budgetary allocation to the sector for 2014 is lower than that
of 2013.
The new houses will be built within the Three Arms Zone, Central Area, Abuja.
The four lawmakers had rejected official
houses built for them by the FCTA at a cost of N3bn, citing
insecurity and delay in the provision of infrastructure.
Consequently, the construction of the houses by Julius Berger, at the Maitama Extension, was discontinued.
The FCTA also budgetted N1bn for the
construction of the Vice-President’s residence and another N1.5bn for
the construction of phase three of the National Assembly.
It plans to spend N300m on recreational
facilities and N700m on the settlement of outstanding rent for
international organisations in Abuja. The FCTA earmarked another N100m
for the purchase of undisclosed security equipment out of its total
budget of N30.4bn.
The Ministry of Police Affairs also
proposes to spend N391,829,200, on research and development and N80m on
computer software acquisition.
The Nigeria Police Force is to spend N219. 7m on the maintenance of its offices and residential buildings.
The police total budget is N292,351,812,085.
The Force also proposes N310,553,170
for the purchase of vehicles in 2014. Air navigation equipment are
billed to take N131,058,830 and rehabilitation of police stations,
office buildings and barracks , N735,878,855.
Maintenance of motor vehicles by the
police will cost N463,935,012 while ‘other maintenance services’ are
billed to gulp N238,861,716 . Uniforms and clothings will cost
N964,694,529.
The N836.6m proposed for the fuelling of
generators is striking when considered from the standpoint of
government’s promise that from the first quarter of 2014, Nigerians will
start reaping the fruits of the privatisation of the power sector.
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 a reasonable 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 NIPPS will be handed over to the private sector next year after completion and inauguration.
But an analysis of the budget proposal
showed that the Ministry of Finance has the highest share of a projected
expenditure of N76.5m on fuelling generators 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; and
Interior, N20.75m.
Office of Head of Service has 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 Mobilisation, 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 Transpot – and the National Salaries and Wages Commission,
had no budgetary provision for the fuelling of their plants and
generators.
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