Ordinarily, no discerning mind will bother to read an article written by Enemama Sam Akubor because he belongs to a group of youth who have been tutored in the art of ‘political assassination’ by one Mr Phrank Shuaibu, Spokesman of Alhaji Jibrin Isah Echocho, former ED of the defunct Afribank and one time Kogi state gubernatorial aspirant.
A set of Igala-must-be-governor who engage in unholy criticism, these group of misguided youth usually practice their trade of mudslinging, reckless speculation and outright lies with unparalleled abandon on Facebook pages. They have been assured by their master that they cannot be held to account for their nefarious activities online because Nigeria has no online defamation laws.
It was however to my downright consternation and surprise that I read the article of Enemama Sam Akubor titled ‘Five Questions for the Captain and his Illfated Administration’ published on 17th June 2015 on Kogi reports online platform and found it to contain some form of rational questions. Even though I know that the questions are borne out of mischief and the intent to mislead, I have taken time out to respond to them in detail- if only to encourage Enemama and his likes on their newly found path of ‘constructive’ criticism.
Question 1: What happened or what did the administration accomplish with the 20 billion naira bond?
To fast-track infrastructural development in Kogi State, The Wada Administration applied for a 20 billion naira bond in 2013. Approval was finally granted in 2014 but this approval was for tranches of 5 billion naira. In other words, the 20 billion was not given to the state at once. The state accessed the first tranche of the bond in 2014 and applied it to starting over 40 different projects distributed around all the senatorial districts of the state.
These projects are : Construction of the Otokiti Ganaja multicarriage Way, Asphaltic Overlay and Upgrade of New Market/Murtala Mohd/ Barrack/Kabba Junction road, 500 housing units in Lokoja and other LGAs, Kogi State Geographic Information System Phase II project, Rehabilitation of 30 water schemes around the state, Upgrading of Zonal hospitals around the state and the construction of 3 new cottage hospitals, Construction of the New Orthopaedic Hospital at Odu, Construction of the 11 storey Kogi House project in Abuja, Construction of the 250 bed teaching hospital at Ayangba, Construction of the Ultramodern Motor Terminal at Felele.
The second tranche of the bond was accessed this year after it was delayed by a series of frivolous petitions to the Security and Exchange Commission by self styled Kogi Elders who were not happy that the administration of Capt Wada was on its way to achieving unparalleled strides in infrastructural development of the state. After their claims were found to be baseless, the state finally got approval for the second tranche in 2015.
Unfortunately, the second tranche was undersubscribed because it came at a time when the capital market was at an all-time low. The state realized just over 2 billion in the second tranche.
In summary, Enemama, the state has realized only about 8 billion of the 20 billion it got approval for and it has been judiciously applied to the projects listed above. All these projects are ongoing with some nearing completion. They are there for anybody who cares to see and verify for themselves.
Question 2: What happened to the over 60 billion received by the state from excess crude oil sales.
To start with, Enemama there is nothing like excess crude oil SALES. Nigeria as an OPEC member has production quotas which it cannot legally go above so there is no way Nigeria can have excess crude oil SALES as you put it. Instead what exists is an Excess crude oil receipts account where all receipts from crude oil sales when the price is above the benchmark price is saved for a rainy day.
Simply put, if the budgeted benchmark price for one barrel of crude oil for the year 2014 is 50 dollars and the international price for oil goes to let’s say 90 dollars per barrel at anytime in 2014, the excess 40 dollars per barrel is saved in the excess crude account for the rainy day.
Conversely, if the international oil price goes below the benchmark budgeted price, the excess crude account is used to augment the allocation for that month.
In essence, the excess crude account is like a stabilization account. The Excess crude money (61.9billion to be precise) that was received by the state was not a separate amount but formed a part of the state’s monthly allocation for the 4 year period under review. At states level, there is no excess crude account.
States like Kogi have been able to meet their monthly obligations because there were excess crude funds to augment budget deficiencies. Now that the funds in the excess crude account has gone down because of the low international price for crude oil, allocations are no longer enough for salaries and other obligations.
It might be noteworthy to add here that in addition to salaries and gratuities, the administration of Capt Wada also committed to clearing pension backlogs of over 9 billion naira inherited from 1999 till 2012 with a part of its monthly allocation.
Question 3: What is actually happening to local government allocation from the federation account.
One would have expected that you will have more specific questions like the percentage salary issue etc instead you decided to ask a very broad question.
Since you feign ignorance of how LG allocations are actually disbursed- I have taken pains to access a response which was put out by Ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs sometime ago not just for your benefit but also for the benefit of the many indigenes of Kogi who actually have genuine interest of the state at heart.
The bulk of Local government Allocations is used to pay salaries of staff of the LG (a large portion of which comprises teachers). Since 2012 over 54.6billion naira has been used to pay teachers’ salaries.
The sum of N1,362,657,718.56 (One billion, three hundred and sixty-two million, six hundred and fifty-seven thousand, seven hundred and eighteen Naira, fifty-six kobo) is paid to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) monthly for the payment of Teachers’ salaries and Overheads of the Local Government Education Secretariats. However, this amount cannot pay the Teachers’ salaries 100%. SUBEB therefore, was paying between 60%-85% to various cadres of the Teachers, but was recording some short falls which made Teachers in about three LGAs to wait till the following month. Under the new management at SUBEB, Teachers are now regularly paid 75% of the minimum wage across board.
Like the Local Governments staff, the primary Schools are over-staffed. Ordinarily, if Government wanted a short-cut solution, it could have just retrenched some of the Teachers, but it has not done that instead preferring to adopt a more humane approach.
For salaries of other LG staff, the Ministry holds a meeting monthly with the State and Local Government Chapters of NULGE executives where the whole figures are presented to them. They agree that there is no magic that could be performed to do better than what is currently being done. They are cooperating with the Ministry, while we all hope for a better tomorrow.
This is as a result of our transparent approach of disclosing the inflow from the Federation Account and actual disbursements with no unauthorized deductions. It is also important that it is highlighted that the intervention of the ministry has resulted in a harmonization of salary payment vouchers for all local governments. Hitherto, there was no harmonized wage bill for all LGs. 1% is deducted for the runnings of the LGSC and Min of LGCA according to the Local government law.
This amount is used for the
- running of the JAAC Secretariat
- Continuous Monitoring, Inspectorate and Evaluation Services of the 21 LGAs month by month.
- Special Annual Inspection and Production of Reports on all the 21 LGAs.
- Mass printing and distribution of copies of the Annual Estimates for the 21 LGAs.
- General Training of the Staff of the Ministry.
- Sponsorship to workshops, seminars and professional bodies activities.
- Payment of Audit fees for the JAAC Account.
- Annual Strategy Review Workshops for Local Government Inspectors.
- All Overheads for the Ministry including but not limited to Provision and maintenance of buildings and furniture, Purchase and maintenance of vehicles for officials and pool of the Ministry , Payment of imprest, Payment of ad-hoc and several junior staff, as employment has been embargoed for a long time.
It is to be noted that no funds is received from the State Government for the running of the Ministry.
Question 4: Does Kogi state generate any internal revenue at all?
Yes Enemama, Kogi State generates internal revenue. Infact there is no state in Nigeria that does not generate internal revenue.
It might interest you to know that the Captain Wada Administration increased IGR from about 200 million in Jan 2012 to the 550 million naira monthly it is at today. That represents almost 200 percent increase. This increase was brought about by blocking loopholes in revenue collection and not by increasing the taxes of the already overburdened disposable income of the people of the state.
In addition, being a forward thinking administration- about half of its ongoing developmental projects are geared towards increasing the revenue base of the state through sustainable job creation and direct revenue generation. It is estimated that when the projects are completed the state’s IGR will double to over a billion every month.
Question 5: Why is budget performance still put at less than 55% for the past 3 years.
While I am not sure where you got your budget performance figures from- but assuming that your figures are correct- you should be able to answer this question yourself from the foregoing facts and the information about the financial position of many states ( irrespective of political party) that is abound today.
The country is in a very dire financial state. States like Osun, Oyo, Lagos and Kano states are neck deep in debts. It will take the resources of generations yet unborn to settle the billions of naira of debt that their governments (which are all APC, by the way) have plunged them into. It is instructive to note that Kogi state is one of the least indebted states in the nation and a significant proportion of those debts were incurred before the advent of this administration.
So if truly, the Wada administration has achieved budget performance of 55% inspite of its high recurrent expenditure (salaries, pensions, gratuities, etc) and the dwindling allocation then it should be commended for prudency and a humane approach to governance.
Like I mentioned in the opening paragraph of this write up- I sincerely hope that Enemama and his cohorts have truly turned a new leaf and decided to engage in constructive criticism for the benefit of the state. We are young individuals who should not mortgage our future for the political aspirations of anybody. Many of these individuals whom we do dirty jobs for will not be affected even if we bring the state into disarray with our actions. They and their families will retreat to their comfort havens in Nigeria and abroad while we roast in the fires we have ignited. We should instead focus our energies on ensuring that we guide whatever administration comes onto the saddle of governance in Kogi state into providing the dividends of democracy for the state’s teeming populace with constructive analysis and well intended suggestions.
Lastly, I hope this marks the beginning of a new era in which our youth engage in rancour free debates that are geared towards the development of our dear state Kogi rather than engaging in diatribes that are of no tangible benefit to the general populace.
– Ekundayo Israel
