Connect with us

News

2024 Budget: Report Lists N6.6trn ‘Unknown Projects’ NASS Approved for Ministries

Published

on

A new report which studied the breakdown of the 2024 budget passed by the 10th National Assembly (NASS) says unknown projects worth N6.6 trillion were discovered.

The suspended Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) first accused his colleagues of padding the Appropriation Act. The lawmakers had approved N8,447,887,443,379 for several capital projects to be executed by 20 federal ministries.

A document titled “Final Summary Analysis of the Harmonized 2024 Budget (Passed)”, produced by Microxpressions Consult and submitted to the legislature, gave an overview of the figures focusing on allocations to Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).

In its analysis, Economic Confidential found that N2,486,098,619,722 budgeted for capital projects in more than 15 ministries was aggregated into regional projects, while N4,185,711,477,842 was alloted to projects without geographic identifiers, thus complicating monitoring.

The report said the allocation to the South-West was N419,917,163,300, the South-East got N537,086,249,684; South-South – N224,969,978,366, North-West – N365,387,892,588, North-East – N349,434,063,602, and North-Central – N730,029,622,125.

“Surprisingly, N6,671,810,092,564 (out of the N8,447,887,443,379), approximately 71.98% of the total ‘Development Capital Allocation’, was assigned to initiatives that are either elusive in terms of traceability or encumbered by accountability constraints,” it noted.

Ministry of Youths: A total of N5,096,411,496 was budgeted for projects across all zones but locations of projects worth N2,868,851,764 were not indicated; Ministry of Sports: N21,614,361,733 earmarked for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N7,464,061,733 not named.

Ministry of Defence: N3,762,721,808,585 set aside for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N3,280,130,880,602 not mentioned; Ministry of Special Duties: N10,770,986,503 budgeted for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N4,672,818,582 not identified.

Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning: N2,293,112,174,749 allocated for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N383,729,998,776 not stated; Ministry of Tourism: N15,358,369,171 pegged for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N1,206,655,625 not disclosed.

Ministry of Petroleum Resources: N8,622,741,732 approved for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N8,554,622,753 not mentioned; Ministry of Women Affairs: N12,055,872,158 earmarked for projects across all zones, location of projects worth N4,382,888,112 were revealed.

Ministry of Justice: N33,860,593,566 budgeted for projects across all zones, location of projects worth N25,742,716,841 not identified; Ministry of Police Affairs: N99,382,436,919 alloted to projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N49,090,806,535 not disclosed.

Ministry of Agriculture: N895,398,209,400 earmarked for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N124,131,394,058 not indicated; Ministry of Environment: N75,200,361,462 allocated for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N55,278,212,086 not mentioned.

Ministry of Solid Minerals: N26,911,766,878 set aside for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N21,524,219,531 not identified; Ministry of Works: N987,289,797,899 earmarked for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N44,428,040,905 not stated.

Ministry of Water Resources: N281,591,884,394 budgeted for projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N54,120,180,977 not disclosed; Ministry of Health: N539,413,163,575 alloted to projects across all zones, locations of projects worth N146,215,196,278 not revealed.

Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy: A total of N4,893,877,166 was approved for various capital projects across all zones but locations of projects worth N3,646,711,848 were not indicated.

“The ministries must provide declarations regarding projects’ intended locations and scope in the interest of transparency and accountability,” according to Microxpressions Consult. “A stringent location-specific allocation protocol is critical to ensuring that budgetary provisions translate into traceable developmental advancements.”

Continue Reading
Advertisement


Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

Jobs Alert: FCSC Extends Closing Date to March 17

Published

on

The Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) has extended the closing date for receiving applications for various vacancies in the Federal Civil Service to Monday, March 17 2025, to allow more eligible candidates to participate in the exercise.

The announcement, according to a statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations, Mr. Taiwon Hassan, supersedes the previous announcements in various national media on Monday,  January 27, 2025 including FCSC website: www.fedcivilservice.gov.ng, where the deadline was pegged at Monday, March 10, 2025.

Qualified Nigerians are urged to avail themselves of the extension opportunity and apply for the vacancies of their choice.

The Commission assures applicants of merit-driven and transparent recruitment.

Continue Reading

News

Food for Living: The Principles of Seed Time and Harvest Time

Published

on

By Henry Ukazu

Dear Destiny Friends,

The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.

The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.

Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.

When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.

It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.

In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.

To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.

I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.

Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.

In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.

There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor.  Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.

Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.

An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.

In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator.  He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your  and Unleash Your Destiny .  He can be reached via info@gloemi.com

Continue Reading

News

Senate Suspends Senator Natasha for Six Months, Withdraws Salaries, Security Details

Published

on

By Eric Elezuo

The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.

The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.

Continue Reading