Abiodun Adelaja and Adekunle Adesuji
4 November 2009
Abuja — Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole yesterday said over N700 billion revenue collected by federal government agencies this year is missing.
Though he did not give details of the missing funds, he tasked his colleagues to ensure that the funds were tracked and accordingly remitted to government coffers.
"We know the agencies concerned and we will do something about them," he declared.
Bankole who stated this during the debate on the federal government's Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper said the federal civil service was enmeshed in unprecedented corruption which hinders effective budget implementation.
Describing the service as an "ugly monster," Bankole said because of large scale corruption in the system, projects already approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) could not commence.
"Now it is obvious that the civil service is the problem. It is painfully the problem. Now what are we going to do about it. Monies have been released for projects and the engine room of government is the civil service. About N700 billion or so have been released for projects but they are still with the Central Bank. The FEC approves contracts on a weekly basis and nothing happens.
"Even jobs that were awarded three months ago, contractors have not been paid. Even those that have been paid, they are yet to move to site. It is the responsibility of the civil service," he stated.
He said the sharp practices perpetrated by civil servants were responsible for the frequent executive-legislative rift experienced under the Obasanjo administration warning that "next year it is going to be a different ball game altogether".
Bankole lamented that implementation of the 2009 budget was far below the official 45 per cent performance given by Finance Minister, Monsur Muktar.
Commending his colleagues for their hard work at over-sighting their respective ministries and government departments, Bankole urged them not to be deterred by the uncooperative attitude of the bureaucracy.
Meanwhile the federal lawmakers yesterday too turn to criticize the government financial framework as unrealistic and unable to address the problems of industrialization and unemployment.
In his contribution, Hon Okey Udeh said the projections are at variance with the actual figures that are realizable.
He said for Nigeria to attain appreciable economic growth, the growth rate must hover around 9.7 per cent next year and 12.1 percent in 2011.
The former deputy governor of Anambra State however called for review of the benchmarks in the budget during the period as well as sectoral allocations.
Hon. Mayor Eze expressed anxiety that the framework would not achieve its target because of poor implementation of successive budgets, saying none of the budgets so far formulated by the Yar Adua administration has been fully implemented.
"We should sit up on our oversight functions in order to check arbitrariness," he noted.
Hon Ubale Jakada said unless attention was focused on agriculture and manufacturing, the nation's economy would not grow.
Oil, he stated, is a perishable natural resource, adding that it is imperative for government to diversify the economy in order to redress the growing unemployment problem.
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Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole is now was two years running the affairs of the house. One prays to Allah-SWT that we have leaders of his calibre, honestry trusfulness. The first amongst all to question OBJ's missing electrification billions, the first to ensure correction in our banking sector. The fist to highlight missing billions. Hon. Bankole is destined to rule nigeria. I hope everyone should work to wards this very youthful and very well educated exemplary leader who is doing everything to usher sanity in our governance.
May Allah bless you and make you stronger to help this country.