n Tuesday December 22, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari walked into a joint session of the National Assembly and presented the first annual budget proposal of his administration, ambitiously tagged: “The Budget of Change”.

After highlighting the economic challenges that confronted the country due to the fall in oil prices, the president vowed the budget would cut waste from government spending and its funds would only be used for public good.

“We are determined to ensure that our resources are managed prudently and utilized solely for the public good,” Mr. Buhari said. “To set the proper tone, one of our early decisions was the adoption of a zero based budgeting approach, which ensures that resources are aligned with government’s priorities and allocated efficiently.”

The breakdown of the line items of the 2016 Appropriation Bill, however, shows that what the president said cannot be farther from the truth.

PREMIUM TIMES extensive review of the proposed budget, which has passed second reading at the Senate and the House of Representatives, reveals it is a collection of fraudulent and frivolous allocations, many of which are clearly meant to support the opulent lifestyle of public officials.

Many of the allocations were either repeated several times, over-priced or are obvious misplacement of priorities.

Vice President Osinbajo and multi-million naira books

A particularly disturbing instance of misplaced priority is the allocation for books for Vice President Osinbajo’s office.

Mr. Osinbajo’s office has more money allocated to it for books than what each of the federal polytechnics in the country are getting for the same purpose.

While N4,906,822 was proposed to be spent on books by Mr Osinbajo, the total allocation for books for 11 out of 22 federal polytechnics, which actually have book allocations, was a mere N3,832,038.

In fact, of all government-owned educational institutions across all levels, only two got more allocations for books than what was proposed for the Vice President. The institutions are Federal University of Technology, Owerri, N6,886,157; and the National Open University of Nigeria, N6,466,895.

The need for this huge book allocation for the vice president’s office is even more baffling considering the fact that last year, N7,525,135 was also budgeted for the same purpose.

Although a top source in the Presidency accused senior civil servants, whom he described as “budget mafia”, of sneaking frivolous items into the budget, it is however curious that some of the most outrageous proposals in the budget were found under line items for the State House.

The State House Clinic, its billions and a VIP wing

Of the N3,890,629,221 the Presidency earmarked to spend on the State House Medical Centre, N308million will go for constructing a new VIP wing at the clinic.

Despite allocating N3.21 billion for health equipment and supplies for the State House Medical Centre, a separate line item under “State House HQTRS” lists a N203,273,602 budget for drugs and medical supplies and the vice president was also allotted an additional N7.54 million for medical expenses.

In comparison to the State House Medical Centre’s N3.8billion allocation, only N2,666,853,303 was proposed in the budget for the construction of hospitals nationwide.

And in a clear case of misplaced priorities, the budget proposes N11.61 billion for development, construction and staffing of a ‘Logistics Supply Chain’ for the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, and nothing for its core mandate such as improving access to basic health services.

The cables, the lightings and the billions

Curiously, the presidency also proposed to spend N322,421,971 to link a cable to the drivers’ restroom at the presidential villa. Another N213,873,953 was proposed for linking of a cable from Guest House No 9 generator house to the gate.

The president allocated N618,604,265 for the installation of electrical lighting and fittings at the villa, which equate to spending N1.6 million daily installing lighting and fittings and another N371,733,964 for the installation of electrical distribution boards and other cables.

Repairs and renovations of existing structures are also obvious money guzzlers in the proposed budget.

Buhari’s Guest House and the N400million face-lift

The general renovation of Aso Rock Guest House was proposed to cost N387,980,200, just as furnishing the rooms in the Guest House was put at N45million. We are not told when the existing furniture in the facility was procured and why there is need to change them now.


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