Peter
Obi’s administration rather than tackle the issues at hand, which are
delivering the dividends of democracy to the good people of Anambra
state has chosen otherwise. Facts on the ground attest to this. The Obi
administration is rather clever at manipulating the public especially
Diaspora Anambra indigenes whose only information about the true
situation on the ground is via the press, especially online. Governor
Obi very cleverly chose an ex Vanguard seasoned journalist, Chuks
Iloegbunam as his chief of staff with the sole purpose of hoodwinking
the populace. Chuks has friends in high places within the
Nigeria media industry and appears to be earning his keep.
Anambra’s Budget Of Controversy by Okey Maduforo
When the stories made the headlines that the state assembly was plotting to impeach Governor Peter Obi of
Anambra
State last week, the political observers
were jolted to their bone marrows as to the authenticity of the report.
It was further worsened by the authors of the story as it was anchored
on “our reports.” Far from it is the lingering N84 billion 2008
appropriation which has been facing defence at the floor of the
Assembly.
It
was alleged that the lawmakers have concluded arrangements to cut the
2008 budget by 50 percent in order to further frustrate the state
government in its bid to provide democracy dividend to the people of
Anambra
State. Interestingly, the state
government neither refuted the alleged plot nor did it accept it as
true. The allegations against the state assembly have been seen by
observers as yet another lingering time bomb waiting to explode in the
state.
At a seminar on budget last year, Governor Peter Obi
said that he was not part of the process that produced the 2007 budget,
adding that as a result of that, he cannot explain what happened to the
budget. Obi’s submission was also in reaction to the demand for a
defence in the supplementary budget of 2007. However, it is on record
that the budget was signed into law shortly after Obi regained his
seat, having won at the High Court over his impeachment. The budget was
equally expended by the state government with Obi as the man in the
saddle but the 2008 budget which is currently before the assembly has
again raised controversy over the appropriation of the 2007 budget.
Governor
Obi knew for his belief in the due process of the law, told the
assembly members while presenting the budget stated that the 2008
budget would certainly be a spring board towards dragging Anambra State
from the ashes of economic deprivation, adding that the budget have
been so designed to put paid to the gray areas that have been the bane
of Anambra State.
Uche Echesi, the state commissioner for Finance, told
reporters that the expenditure profile of 2007 budget had been made
available to the assembly, adding that every kobo spent in 2007 has
been accounted for. Strange as it may be, the state assembly appeared
not to have gone on war part with government over what the
Appropriation Committee Chairman, Ikenna Amaechi, described as a case
of the kettle calling the pot black.
“It
is unfortunate that an organ like the executive arm of government will
resort to incorrect and inconsistent statement to disturb the
activities of this house of assembly.
“You will recall that we had to come back from break to receive the budget.
The
state government requested that we put off the defence to the 16th of
January and we obliged them. New we are talking of seven days. We
received not less than seven requests on the 11th of January to put off
the defence on the 16th by the ministers for their own defence we had
ministries that came in here without any documents to justify what they
did in 2007 and they said that they need to go back and do their home
work and they don’t come back for two weeks and as I speak to you
today, the 13th of March, I have a request from the government for
another inclusion of N250 million and the assembly is being accused of
delay in the passage of the budget.
“You
leak information to press telling them that this house of assembly is
trying to cut your budget by half but how would you know if you are not
a member of the committee? The governor has invited us on three
occasions on this budget and we had to honour it even when it is not
proper because of respect we have and mutual cooperation and peace in
the state.
“The
day this budget was presented, the papers had it that we were given N7
million each. Why to pass the budget and right after the presentation
of the budget in the speaker’s office, we were having launch with the
governor, we gave him the newspaper to him and said, His Excellency,
look at it. What did we do, he smiled and said I told you people that
you should stop reading those papers. This is an executive that loves
publicity but when a governor who likes his cleanness and due process
is accused of bribing the House of Assembly, has not for one day come
out in the press to refute it even his media men. This is selective
docility and it is culpable. You cannot ignore these things because
perceptions become reality”, he said.
The
House Committee on Information and Re-Orientation, Mr. Ejiofor Egwuatu,
went down the line to list areas of anomalies in the 2007 and 2008
budget, contending that the executive is being clever by half. “I
challenge the executive arm of government to prove me wrong in all
these areas of confusion that they cannot explain or even have any
explanation as to how they were appropriated.
“The
Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) has no record of funds generated
internally in 2007 and there is no explanation on revenue targets for
the 2008. There is buck-passing between the Special Adviser to the
Governor on Parks and Markets, Chief Nwaobu-Alor, the BIR and the
Special Duties office as to the proper account of the IGR. The budget
great relies on: Debt recovery of about 21.56, A 13.5 billion loan
which has a service charge of N500 million, the house do not have
details of this loan and how realistic the two are. N10 billion from
savings, this savings is fallout of the refusal of the executive to
release funds especially for projects that do not catch its fancy.
“In
the youth and sports, the sum of N21 million was expended on a project
not estimated for in the 2007 budget. Funds allocated for over right
subheads were vied for the construction of office blocks and so renders
every other project dormant. In the water supply and resources,
virtually all subheads did not get releases rather N25 million of the
N100 million meant for boreholes were said to be used for construction
and procurement of generating sets.
“In
2008, the government is requesting the sum of N1.5 billion for the
bogus state independent power project. Another white elephant project
is the airport at Igbariam, which would cost N750 million whereas so
much of government fund is wasting at
Oba
Airport. There is also the Amawbia State
Football Club, which N125 million was estimated. In 2007, the Anambra
State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB) had N620 million
appropriated but no kobo was released. Yet in 2008, the same ASUBEB was
appropriated for N770, 414 million. Also, in 2008, N25 million was put
for
Anambra
State
University, Alor campus, which is non-existent. And yet government has failed to explain all these grey areas.
The
state assembly is possibly awaiting answers to the allegations raised
from the two budgets. The lawmakers who have been accused severally of
taking notes from Dr. Andy Uba may be on a desperate mission to prove
that they are not errand boys to anyone. But observers are of the view
that government and its aides only need to use the 2007 and 2008
budgets and its defence to prove to
Anambra
State indigenes that the assemblymen are
playing the black leg in the upward mobility of the state. Pundits
still contend that the clarity and brevity of the executive over the
issues raised by the assembly without condescending to name-dropping
and kite flying would certainly be the only litmus taste for its
honesty.
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