Thursday, February 25, 2016

The Guardian- Nigeria


Guardian Africa network

What is Nigeria doing with taxpayers' money? – Q&A on the #budgetofcorruption

Three specialists at BudgIT agreed to answer your questions about the complex and often murky world of public spending
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President Muhammadu Buhari delivers his budget for the year ahead at the National Assembly in December.
 President Muhammadu Buhari delivers his budget for the year ahead at the National Assembly in December. Photograph: Reuters
Maeve Shearlaw 
Hi all,
I’m afraid that’s all we have time for. 
Thanks again for all the questions and thanks to Stanley, Oluseun and Seember for agreeing to take part. 
Follow the panel on Twitter for up-to-date reaction and analysis on the budget, the exchange rate and much more. 
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A quick-fire round of Twitter questions
— BudgIT Nigeria (@BudgITng)February 24, 2016
@oshiokemamudu *Rev = Revenue. CapEx = Capital Expenditure. @GuardianAfrica
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Money for universities 
User avatar for AfroHawks
Does the 2016 budget adequately address the agreement signed between the government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU) after the last general strike?
User avatar for Oluseun David OnigbindeGuardian contributor
The budget for education was reduced from N415bn (as approved for 2015 budget) to N406bn (as proposed for 2016 budget). Most of the clauses in the ASUU agreement is tied to the TETFUND (the agency that manages education taxes) and I think the agreement will be respected. No one wants another strike. I will be watching that with keen interest.
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Lagos reacts to Babatunde Fashola
User avatar for MaeveShearlawGuardian staff
The Guardian is spending a week looking at life in Lagos. Can you talk a bit about how you exposed former state governor Babatunde Fashola. How did the city react? And what is he doing now?
User avatar for Oluseun David OnigbindeGuardian contributor
There was a lot discussion in Lagos on this issue. This issue was about the former Governor that spent N78m (390,000 USD) on building a personal website. It was so ridiculous. There were calls for accountability and petitions were submitted for probe. The probe has not happened and Mr Fashola being appointed as aMinister. He gave a response which was very weak. This shows that there is challenge with procurement systems in Lagos state and that public contracts are most overvalued. Such contract inflation highly undermines the effective use of public taxes. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/10/ministerial-screening-again-fashola-clears-air-on-n78m-website/
User avatar for stanvitoGuardian contributor
We stumbled on the procurement document published by the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency. After thorough examination of the document, we found that a lot of questionable contracts, including maintenance of the personal website of the Governor for N78m.
The initial reaction was of disbelief and shock, then alot of people became defensive of the governor. We focused on the issue of how public fund was being utilized and encouraged people to demand for answers. Mr Fashola's initial written statement and defence during his ministerial screening did not sufficiently answer the question. He blamed political detractors and said he does not sign any check.
The Lagos State Government pulled down the procurement document from the website of the procurement agency. Our letters to the Governor and the agency protesting the action was not responded to.
Mr Fashola is today the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, a key position that will be overseeing implementation of key campaign promises of President Buhari.
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The falling naira 
User avatar for SeretseKhama
This comment has been chosen by Guardian staff because it contributes to the debate
In the interest of transparency, given the alarming rate at which the Naira has fallen (in the past few months especially), is there a need to revise the budget to reflect the new Naira cost for the items listed? Because of course a refusal to do that means that the presiding officers of various ministries have a ready made excuse for not delivering on goods and services promised in the budget. OA
User avatar for Oluseun David OnigbindeGuardian contributor
I agree with you. There might be need to review the costing of items. Nigeria has refused to devalue the currency but prices of items keeps soaring higher. There will need to be some adjustment and most importantly also the need to source locally items that are in the budget. There is a strong discuss on the budget as an avenue to create local jobs. This will be critical.
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‘An audit hasn’t been made public for 16 years’
User avatar for tiojo
Nigeria and Nigerian public institutions do not lack competence. An important organisation in dealing with public spending in any country is the supreme audit institution, in the UK the National Audit Office. Its effectiveness is a function both of its independence and of the will and ability of politicians to act on its reports.
Can the panel say anything about the effectiveness of the Nigerian supreme audit institution.
User avatar for stanvitoGuardian contributor

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