FRIVOLOUS, SUSPICIOUS AND INFLATED PROJECTS IN FG’S 2022 BUDGET PROPOSAL
In the FG’s 2022 Proposed Budget, about 116 budgetary line items were found to be either frivolous, suspicious, or Inflated. Of these items, ten (10) are listed below:
N300m
CONSTRUCTION OF GYM AT FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION HEADQUARTERS
The proposed N300m for the construction and furnishing of a recreational gym at the Federal Ministry of Education’s Headquarters i.e., a misplaced priority given the lamentable state of public education Infrastructure, the number of out-of-school children, and the country’s outdated university curriculum in key courses.
N150m
NATIONAL AIRLINE CARRIER CONSULTANCY
The N150m being proposed to pay consultants for the creation of Nigeria’s national carrier (which was launched in July 2018 at the Farnborough International Public Air show in London) is a suspicious waste of public funds. N186m and N190m were allocated in the 2019 and 2021 approved budgets respectively for the same line item.
N30bn
CONTRIBUTIONS TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
N30bn has been allocated under “Service Wide Votes in the Ministry of Budget, Finance and National Planning. This line item is not disaggregated and it will not be clear what these cover.
N1bn
PROVISION OF ROAD SIGNAGES AND OTHER ROAD FURNITURE ON FEDERAL HIGHWAYS
N453.79m, N188,44m, and N500m was allocated to this line item in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively. The proposed 2022 sum is twice 2021 approved budget and 5.5 times the 2020 approved budget for the provision of road signages and other road furniture on federal highways.
N21.9bn
CONSTRUCTION OF PRESIDENTIAL WING AT THE STATE HOUSE MEDICAL CENTRE
The sums of N395m, N416m, and N1.06bn were allocated for this same project in 2019, 2020, and 2021 federal budgets, respectively. It is outrageous that this 14-bed providential wing still needs N21.9bn.
N400m
WORKING CAPITAL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CARRIER
Provision of “Working Capital” for a non-operational national carrier (which was launched in July 2018 at the Farnborough International Public Air show in London) i.e., a suspicious waste of public funds, N2.29bn and N500m were allocated in 2020 and 2021 respectively as “working capital” for this purpose.
N3.8bn
REFRESHMENT & MEALS
The allocated sum of N3.70bn for “Refreshments & Meals for guests and government officiate at 538 federal agencies is a bit inflated especially as there is an additional N176bn allocated for “Meals for Government Schools / Institutions”.
N11.2bn
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL & TRANSPORT: TRAINING
Despite the warning from the Budget Office of the Federation for MOAS to utilize local training as much as possible, N11.24bn is being proposed for logistics and cost of international training. A total of 58 agencies has a budget for international training summing up to N3.94bn, while 195 Agencies have budgets for travels for international training summing up to N7.3bn.
N18.4bn
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
This allocation is inflated especially as the majority of the agencies requesting this budget allocation already have M&E staff on their payroll, separate travel allowance to project sites and allocations for vehicles among other key M&E cost drivers.
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