Duplication of projects and bloated overhead expenses by the public sector have bled the country and frittered away N2.27 trillion meant for the treasury in eight years.
The money which is outside the budgetary allocation and projects came from internally-generated revenue (IGR) of the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) between 2004 and 2012.
These expenses, contained in the latest report from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF), have again brought to the fore the issues of financial recklessness and corruption in the public sector that have made the country a laughing stock across the globe.
Spending outside the budget is a breach of section 81 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which requires the president to seek the approval of the National Assembly before embarking on any expenditure.
Computation of budgetary releases to the MDAs under the service-wide vote for the period shows that N1.8 trillion was approved by the National Assembly and assented to by the president, but the total expenditure for that period was N4.16 trillion. The actual expenditure was N2.2 trillion over the budgetary allocation, representing 220.28 percent.
A breakdown of the expenditure shows that in 2004, the sum of N1.001 billion was budgeted for, while the sum of N27.4 billion was released (representing 2,745.6 percent or N26.483 billion difference); in 2005 the sum of N25 billion was budgeted for while the sum of N121.2 billion was released (484.15 percent or N96.224 billion difference); and in 2006 the sum of N142 billion was budgeted for while the sum of N244.6 billion was released (representing 158.19 percent or N82.648 billion difference).
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Furthermore, N144 billion was budgeted for in 2007, while N227.9 billion was released (158.31 percent or N84 billion difference); in 2008 the sum of N65.681 billion was budgeted for, while N555.1 billion was released (845.15 percent or N487.426 billion difference); and in 2009 the sum of N246.1 billion was budgeted for, while N691.1 billion was released (280.84 percent or N445.050 in excess).
In 2010, the sum of N439.033 billion was budgeted for, while N864.2 billion was released (196.86 percent or N426.248 billion in excess); in 2011 the sum of N476.1 billion was budgeted for, while N547.2 billion was released (114.92 percent or N71.069 billion in excess); in 2012 the sum of N353.8 billion was budgeted for, while N900.6 billion was released (254.54 percent or N546.636 billion in excess).
Solomon Adeola, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, bemoaned this recklessness uncovered in the audited accounts of the MDAs.
The N4.17 trillion could have reduced the domestic debt which was N8.67 trillion (86.32 percent of the total public debt) as at December 31, 2013.
Scrutiny of the expenditure by the OAuGF reports shows that “most of these expenditures were already provided for in the annual budgets, in which case additional releases from the service-wide vote for them were nothing but mere duplications, waste and clear mismanagement of the nation’s resources”.
The reports noted that “the only real emergency spending from this vote is the amount spent on combating insurgencies across the country – Boko Haram insurgency, Niger Delta militancy, etc”.
Further findings have revealed that these crises gulped a whopping sum of N144.4 billion from the service-wide vote within four years (2009-2012). This expenditure excludes other funds that were provided in the annual budgets and spent on security matters. This revelation clearly shows the extent to which these crises have taken a toll on the Nigerian economy, the reports said.
Following the startling discovery, Adeola said the illegality should be investigated to forestall future misapplication of funds.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget Office of the Federation and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation should be discouraged from usurping the constitutional functions of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation through illegal engagement of external auditors to audit critical revenue sectors of the Federal Government and verification of indebtedness of government bodies. Future usurpation of the auditor-general’s function should be met with adequate sanctions,” he said.
“The N2.17 trillion extra-budgetary spending between 2004 and 2012 is illegal and should be investigated and those found culpable should be sanctioned. In light of the obvious breach of due process and large scale abuse in the use of the service-wide vote as discovered in the course of this inquiry, funding of government projects and programmes through the vote should be discontinued and the service-wide vote scrapped,” he further said, adding that henceforth, all public spending should be captured under the annual budget, while any matter requiring emergency funding in the course of a financial year should receive accelerated consideration by the National Assembly.
The Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC), during an interaction, also hinted the House Committee on Finance that some key agencies were being suppressed by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget Office of the Federation and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA
