Presidency Plan to Spend N2.3bn on Transport in 2014.

A breakdown of the 2014 appropriation bill submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan through the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has revealed that the presidency plans to spend at least N2.3 billion on transportation next year.

The proposal is contained in the 2014 appropriation bill submitted by President
Goodluck Jonathan through the Minister of
Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to the
National Assembly last week.

A breakdown of the figure showed that the
State House would require the sum of N1,
219, 612, 417 for what it called Local
Travels. International travels and transportation will gulp N1, 159, 240, 600.

For the whole year, the Presidency intends
to spend N200 million for the provision of
foodstuffs/catering supplies while it also
plans to expend another N162,556,500 on
meals and refreshments.

For honorarium and sitting allowances, the
Presidency has budgeted a princely sum of
N320 million for that purpose just as it has
set aside the sum of N33.8 million for the
office of the Vice-President to take care of
his foodstuffs and catering supplies as well as meals and refreshments in the year.

Under the arrangement, N23.8 million will
go for foodstuffs and catering supplies
while the balance of N10 million will be
spent on meals and refreshments in the
office of the second in command.

In the same vein, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is expected to spend the sum of N568,859,940 on honorarium and another N51, 403,464 on meals and refreshments within the fiscal period.

A scrutiny of the budget proposals however
showed that the Presidency shied away
from making any provision for the controversial Security and Exchange
Commission, SEC, whose head, Arunma
Oteh, has been embroiled in a ceaseless war with the National Assembly.

The lawmakers had vowed not to approve
any budget for the commission until Oteh
was removed but President Jonathan
ignored them and their resolution.

In the same vein, the Federal Government made the same yearly provision of N150 billion for the National Assembly but did not give any breakdown of the sum.It is not clear if the NASS would be in a hurry to pass the budget given the furore that attended the presentation of the document.

Controversy had mounted to the extent that
President Jonathan had to back out of the
presentation and later sent the Finance
Minister to represent him.