FG admits error in 2016 budget

As Lai Mohammed disowns N389m budgetary allocation for computer •Poor implementation of past budget, bane of economy —Saraki

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Taiwo Adisa, Ayodele Adesanmi and Saliu Gbadamosi - Abuja

THE Federal Government, on Wednesday, admitted that although the 2016 budget proposals submitted to the National Assembly (NASS) by President Mohammadu Buhari were well structured and targeted at reviving the economy, notwithstanding the fall in the oil price.

It, however, said its details were developed using the Zero Based Budget (ZBB) which, it said, was not error-proof, adding that it was a new concept to budget officers, away from the traditional envelop process.

It said the budget staff in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as well as those handling budget issues in all Ministries and Extra Ministerial Agencies (MDAs) were still grappling to master the technicalities in the ZBB template

In a statement, the director in charge of information in the ministry, Charles Dafe, said some errors were not unexpected in the changeover to the new ZBB approach, noting that it was the reason the ministry arranged for the proposals to be placed on the website to expose them to public scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday, disowned a budgetary allocation of N398 million contained in the 2016 budget of his ministry for purchase of computers.

Speaking during a budget defence session in the Senate, he said the ministry was not responsible for the proposal seeking the approval of the sum of N398 million for the purchase of computers.

While appearing before the Senate Committee on Information, headed by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, he said the ministry’s budget was tampered with.

He disowned the sum of N230 million meant for purchase of computers by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and another N168 million proposed for the purchase of computers in the Film and Video Census Board (NFVCB.)

Shocked by the proposals, the minister said: “No, that is not possible. That was definitely not what was proposed, this cannot be.”

When one of his team members told the sitting that the sum of N5 million was actually earmarked for purchase of computers in the NFVCB, Senator Abaribe said: “the difference between N5 million and N168 million is huge.”

Abaribe then asked that the ministry get its documents together and return with an amended budget.

In another development, the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday, said poor implementation of past budgets had been the bane of the economy, leading to abandoned projects and wastages.

Saraki, speaking during the National Assembly’s interactive session with civil society organisations (CSOs) on the 2016 budget in the Senate New wing, said in response to the unacceptable trend, the eighth National Assembly had decided to step up its oversight functions, to ensure that funds are spent “how,” “where” and on “what” they were earmarked for.

He also noted that diversification of the economy was crucial to the success of the nation’s economy, adding that the National Assembly was working to pass laws that would “boost internally generated revenues by plugging the loopholes that exist in our system, and encouraging the small and medium-scale business owners in our communities.”

Saraki pledged that the observations and inputs on the 2016 budget made by the CSOs at the session would form part of the report of the Senate Committee on Diaspora and Civil Society Organisations to the Senate Committee on Appropriation, for onward submission to Senate in plenary.

More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue’s official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria on the 1st of Janunary 2016. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue's official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. / AFP / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. / AFP A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue's official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. / AFP “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/photo-africas-biggest-jesus-statue/

More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue’s official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria on the 1st of Janunary 2016. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue's official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. / AFP / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. / AFP A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue's official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. / AFP “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/photo-africas-biggest-jesus-statue/

More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue’s official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria on the 1st of Janunary 2016. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue's official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. / AFP / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. / AFP A picture taken on January 1, 2016 shows the nine-metre tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa, unveiled in Abajah, southeastern Nigeria. Standing barefoot with arms outstretched, the "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue's official unveiling in the village of Abajah in southeastern Nigeria. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012. / AFP “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. "Jesus de Greatest" statue weighs in at 40 tonnes. “Jesus de Greatest” statue weighs in at 40 tonnes.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/photo-africas-biggest-jesus-statue/