Financial report submitted by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) showed that total sum of N400 million was approved for procurement of vehicles for seven former Presidents/Heads of State and three former Vice Presidents in 2017.
The beneficiaries are: President Shehu Shagari; President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Goodluck Jonathan, General Yakubu Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan and Abubakar Abdulsalam.
The former Vice Presidents are: Atiku Abubakar, Nnamdi Sambo and Alex Ekwueme.
The breakdown showed that out of total sum of N280 million approbed for procurement of vehicles for seven former President and Heads of State, the sum of N40 million has been paid as monetization to them.
The N240 million balance for the procurement of vehicles is expected to be released before the expiration of 2017 capital expenditure component which was extended to March 2018.
Similarly, from the total sum of N120 million proposed for procurement of vehicles for four former Vice Presidents (Atiku Abubakar, Namadi Sambo, and others), the sum of N120.090 million has been released in 2017.
In the 2018 budget proposal before the National Assembly, additional sum of N96 million was proposed for procurement of vehicles in the 2018 budget estimates for six former Presidents/Heads of State (ongoing project).
In the same vein, additional sum of N90 million was also proposed in 2018 budget estimate for procurement of vehicles for three former Vice President, Chief of General Staff (ongoing project).
The sum of N88.65 million was also proposed for purchase of office furniture and fittings for political aides, according to the documents obtained by BusinessDay.
The proposed procurements were part of the N2.492 biliin and N2.492 billion capital expenditure for 2017 and 2018 respectively.
The information was contained in the report submitted by Boss Mustapha, SGF during the 2017/2018 budget defence held at the instance of the House Committee on Governmental Affairs.
On the capital expenditure for 2017 Appropriation Act, he noted that “in the year, the sum of N2,492,391,118 was appropriated to OSGF for capital expenditure. As at December, 2017, a cumulative sum of N1,246,195,559 had been released to the office for capital projects representing 50% of the appropriated sum.
“Please note that the life span of the 2017 capital appropriation has been extended to March 2018 and the implementation of the 2017 capital expenditure to March 2018 and the implementation is still ongoing.
“The status of the implementation of the 2017 capital expenditure is contained in Annex 1 for your information,” the SGF documents stated.
On the personnel cost, he explained that salaries and allowances of staff of the OSGF are paid through the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) domiciled in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF). The approved personnel cost for 2017 was N3,408,763,591. This covered the remuneration of the President, Vice President, Ministers, Political Office Holders and Staff of OSGF from January – December, 2017.”
While reacting to the presentation, the lawmakers queried the proposed N18.360 million for purchase of 27 laptop computer (Mac Book) in 2018; N,995,190,118 for purchase of security equipment; N64 million for purchase of monitoring trucks; N316 million for purchase of motor vehicles; N124 million for 4Nos of 18 seated buses and 2Nos of 30 seater buses.
The sum of N130 million was also proposed for procurement of 2Nos of Land Cruiser Prado Jeeps; the sum of N65.551 million for Ambulance & Clinic equipment while the sum of N170 million was proposed for Independence/Democracy Day celebrations.
While responding, Mustapha explained that the Mac Book was for Council Chamber considering the volume of work before them.
Other proposed expenditure for 2018 include: N1.734 billion for political officers and standing committee; N760.277 million honorarium and sitting allowance; N133.421 million for welfare packages; N18.36 million for purchase of computers and N456.64 million for computer software acquisition while N106.834 is for cleaning & fumigation services for the SGF headquarters.
The sum of N116.64 million for support/maintenance of e-Council document management; N60 million for upgrade and turn around maintenance of Council Chambers Conference system; N30 million radio frequency identification device system (RFIC); N35 million for expansion of local area network/OSGF website upgrade and N40 million for socio-economic impact studies challenges/solutions.
However, the 2017 budget document showed that out of the total sum of N55 million proposed for upgrading and turn around maintenance of Council Chambers System, the sum of N54,400,500 has been released leaving the balance of N599,500 only (98.91%).
From the sum of N35 million proposed for 1 Xerox D125 Heavy Duty Photocopy Machine to enhance timely production of Council memoranda, the sum of N34,938,750 was released (99.83%) leaving a balance of N61,250 only.
Likewise, out of the total sum of N20.800 million proposed for the 52No of Mac Book procured in 2017, the sum of N20.790 million (99.52%) has been released while from the total sum of N170 million proposed for Independence/Democracy Day celebration, the sum of N138 million was released and fully expended.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
