This is the sixteenth piece in the #SaatahBudgetSeries. In this piece, we will take a look at arguably our most important ministry, the Federal Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Resources).
With oil prices hovering around $35 per barrel it will be only smart to see what the Ministry which oversees Nigeria highest foreign exchange earner, crude oil, has in store for us. Before we move forward, I think it is important that I remind you who our Minister of Energy is; it is not Ibe Kachikwu, it is President Muhammadu Buhari. The President decided to follow in the footsteps of former President Olusegun Obasanjo by being personally in charge of the affairs of the Federal Ministry of Energy.
FEDERAL MINISTRY OF ENERGY
The Federal Ministry of Energy has six agencies/institutions under it, and they are as follows: Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Resources) HQTRS, Department of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Training Institute, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, and Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
The total budget for the Federal Ministry of Energy is 62,115,123,639; 54,466,518,578 of it is for “Recurrent Expenditure” while 7,648,605,061 is for “Capital Expenditure.”
200,000,000, that is the amount budgeted by the Federal Ministry of Energy for the “Passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.” If you are wondering how you spend money to pass a bill, the only explanation I can give is bribing the National Assembly.
The Federal Ministry of Energy will also spend 1,251,639,415 on “Research and Development.” Considering what we have seen so far when it comes to monies budgeted for “Research and Development,” I am quite sure this will not be different. It does not matter that it is the “infallible” Buhari that heads this institution, I do not feel the 1,251,639,415 budgeted for “Research and Development” will be judiciously spent.
The Department of Petroleum Resources has budgeted 184,820,226 for the “Furnishing and Equipping Of Offices In The Newly Renovated 6th and 8th Floors At The DPR HQ Lagos.”
168,951,200 is budgeted by the Department of Petroleum Resources for the usual “Research and Development.” Like I have stated in previous budget analysis, “Research and Development” seems to be another means of siphoning money from the national coffers.
The Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board has budgeted 64,680,000 “Office Logistics.”
1,332,400,000 is what the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency has budgeted for “Engagement Of Six Cargo Inspection Agencies For Monitoring, Verification & Quality Assurance Of Locally Refined Products, Imported Cargos & Truck Out To/From Depots For Subsidy Verification And Payment.” This provision looks over bloated, for whose gain?
This provision “Subscription of The Services Of Platts Marketwire, Reuters, Lloyd Intelligence Register For Daily Price Quotations On Crude Oil, Petroleum Products, Libor & NIBOR Rates And Vessel Tracking Services For Price Setting In PPRA Template” by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency with a budget of 62,740,725 is quite embarrassing. Considering that there was no provision for this in previous budgets, I would love to know where the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency got the information they used in previous years to set their price template.
I think this is worthy of a mention. The Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority has its capital budget increased by 1000% from what was allocated to it in 2014. The capital budget stands at 1,112,694,172 in the 2016 budget while in 2014; it was just a little over a hundred million. In 2015, there was no capital budget.
Albeit short, we have come to the end of the sixteenth part of the budget analysis series. The in-between for today will be different from what we are used to: the Minister of Information and Culture, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Education and the Minister of Communication Technology have all denied their budgets before the National Assembly.
This is the President’s Ministry; I hope he does not deny it when the time comes. Have a wonderful day!
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Saatah Nubari is on Twitter @Saatah
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