Saatah Nubari: 2016 Budget & The Appropriation For Federal Ministry of Transportation #SaatahBudgetSeries

This is the fourteenth piece in the #SaatahBudgetSeries. If you are yet to go through the proposed 2016 budget because of how voluminous it is, fear not. I have taken it upon myself to go through every page in the 1810 page document, and bring to your attention some provisions I feel would be of interest to you, thereby saving you the time. I have made them all into five minute reads, and this piece on the Federal Ministry of Transportation will not be different.

The agencies/institutions under the Federal Ministry of Transportation are as follows: Federal Ministry of Transportation HQTRS, Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Nigerian Railway Corporation, National Inland Waterways Authority, Maritime Academy (Oron), Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (Ikeja), Nigeria College of Aviation Authority, Nigeria Metrological Agency, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Accident Investigation Bureau, and Nigeria Airspace Management Agency.

FEDERAL MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION

The Federal Ministry of Transportation has a total budget of 215,797,393,980; 13,797,393,980 is for “Recurrent Expenditure” while 202,000,000,000 is for “Capital Expenditure.”

“Purchase Equipment off the Counter” will cost 2,448,000; “Placing an Order for Supply of Equipment” will also cost 2,448,000, while “Purchase of Equipment” will cost 1,760,016. These items all look the same to me, but with different words used to describe them.

25,000,000 is budgeted for something as unnecessary as “To Ensure Effective Operations of the Parastatals.” I believe these “Parastatals” have staff who earn salaries, and I also believe they have a budget. I do not see any need to have a separate fund to “Ensure Effective Operations.” If the parastatals are ineffective, people should be sanctioned, this is not Christmas, and Nigeria is not Santa.

33,014,500 is budgeted for the “Provision of Sports Equipment for Participation in Sports Activities.” Another 14,000,000 is budgeted for the same item again, bringing the total to 47,014,500. Let us look at it this way; the Federal Ministry of Transportation will spend 47,014,500 for sports equipment while the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport Development will spend 38,050,000 for the same item. So you see, it is either the people responsible for drafting this budget were under the influence of illegal substances, or the Federal Ministry of Transportation will be participating and representing Nigeria in the coming Olympics.

The Federal Ministry of Transportation budgeted 130,000,000 for “Inspection Visits, Bill of Quantity and Advertisement for the Construction of the Freight Office,” while a separate 210,000,000 is budgeted for the “Inspection Visits, Bill of Quantity and Advertisement for the Construction of the Freight Office (Formalization of Trade and Trading Activities Between Nigeria and Benin Republic).” I am beginning to wonder how much it will cost to build this “Freight Office.”

20,000,000 is budgeted for the “Safeguarding of the Lives and Properties from any Security Threat Within the Ministry and its Environs.” I do not understand this. Are security operatives not posted to the Ministry of Transportation?

11,040,000 is budgeted for the “Purchase of 2016 Antivirus, Upgrade to Window 10, Installation, Deployment and Maintenance of Hardware’s that will development issues.” This is in the budget, with the typos that rendered it incomprehensible. But just so you know, upgrading to Windows 10 is free.

50,000,000 is budgeted for “Consultancy for the Establishment of National Carrier.” It is safe to say that this government is looking for ways to wastefully spend money (money that they have complained we do not have), because this provision is quite useless.

43,000,000 is budgeted for “Capital Budget Implementation/ Monitoring Schedule Auditor General Office of the Federation and Officials of Audit Dept. Of the Ministry,” and as usual, a separate 43,000,000 is budgeted for the same item. You remember what I said in my previous piece about duplicated items like these ending up in the bank account of individuals?

The Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology budgeted 215,458,511 for “DG’s Office and Boardroom Construction.” Now, compare this with the 158,469,105 the Federal Ministry of Transportation will spend on the “Provision of Transit Hotel at MMIA.”

Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria will spend 5,186,264 on transportation for a training that will cost 850,000.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority will spend 550,000,000 on “NCAA Archiving System for all Directorates.” They will also spend 138,000,000 on “Computerisation: Web-Based Video Conferencing/Tele Presence and ICT Upgrade.” 122,770,000 is budgeted for “Various Office Furniture and Equipment.” 302,735,000 will be spent on the “Furnishing and Equipping of Aviation Family Centre.”

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority will spend 397,000,000 on the “Construction/Provision of Office Buildings,” 167,000,000 for the “Construction/Provision of Residential Buildings,” 225,000,000 for the “Repair/Rehabilitation of Office Buildings,” and 120,100,000 for the “Repair/Rehabilitation of Residential Buildings.”

1,277,001,000 will also be spent on “Computer Software Acquisition” by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

719,095,000 will be spent on the “Purchase of Office Furniture and Fittings” by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency purchases air navigational equipment every year. In 2014, they spent 503,662,817 on the “Purchase of Air Navigational Equipment,” while in 2015, they spent 120,000,000 on the “Purchase of Air Navigational Equipment.” In the 2016 budget, the figure increased by over 300% from the 2015 provision, to 768,301,081.

In the 2014 and 2015 budgets, no provision was made for “Research and Development” for the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. In the 2016 budget, 185,539,460 is provided for “Research and Development.”

Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria will spend 517,464,650 to “Purchase Computers.” 940,920,367 will be used to purchase “Power Generating Sets.” 712,877,000 will be used to purchase “Fire Fighting Equipment.”

1,598,186,408 is what the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria budgeted for “Construction/Provision of Airport/Aerodromes.” I want to understand why more than one agency budgeted for the “Construction/Provision of Airport/Aerodromes.” Apart from the 1,598,186,408 budgeted by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, 17,616,804,795 is budgeted by the Federal Ministry of Transportation HQTRS for the same purpose.

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria also budgeted 5,866,915,585 for the “Repair/Rehabilitation of Airport/Aerodromes,” while the Federal Ministry of Transportation HQTRS also budgeted 487,452,500 for this same item. I would love to know how this budgeting is supposed to work.

500,000,000 is what the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria will spend on the “Repairs/Rehabilitation of Office Buildings.”

The funniest thing I have seen in the budget for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria is the provision for “Wildlife Conservation.” Yes, you read that right. I wonder of what concern wildlife conservation is to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, but 340,707,625 is budgeted for it. Just so you know, they Federal Ministry of Environment HQTRS do not even have a budget for “Wildlife Conservation.”

The National Airspace Management Agency will spend 1,425,666,839 to “Purchase Air Navigational Equipment,” while 2,389,800,000 will be used to “Repair/Rehabilitate Air Navigational Equipment.”

We have come to the end of the fourteenth part of my budget analysis series. I will take this time out to thank you for going on this journey with me. The in-between for today is: 919,621,146, that is the amount the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing has budgeted for “Research and Development on Housing Matters.” Have a wonderful day!

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Saatah Nubari is on Twitter @Saatah

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