How Dishonest Political Office Holders Embezzled N66.7 Billion Budgeted for Nigerians since 2003

Looters On Rampage In Nigeria:  Over $302b (N66.7t) Squandered &

Siphoned By Nigeria’s Federal Political Criminals Since 2003 Using

Dishonest Party Politics & Ethno-Religious Sentiments

(Onitsha Nigeria: 2nd April 2018)-The Federal Government of Nigeria,

representing the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its 389 ethnic

nationalities dominated by three major tribes of Igbo, Hausa-Fulani

and Yoruba and two dominant religions of Christianity and Islam; had

been held by jugulars and retrogressively in the past 16years or since

2003 by federal political criminals masquerading as “certain elected

and appointed top public office holders of the Federal Government of

Nigeria”. The federal political criminals had since 2003 budgeted,

squandered and siphoned over $302billion or N66.7trillion using

fraudulent or dishonest party politics and promotion of

ethno-religious divisions and sentiments.

Also from our national investigation carried out in February 2016 and

updated in this report, all the component units of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria comprising Federal Government, 36 States and the

FCT and 774 Local Government Areas had in the past 16 years or since

2003 budgeted and spent a total of $724b or N140.8t without anything

concrete to show for it. From 2003 to 2016, the last official exchange

rate of N197 per $S was used while the present official exchange of

N305 per $S was applied in calculating those of 2017 and 2018. Through

budget, all expenditures of the Federal Government and its

sub-national counterparts is captured including borrowings, federation

account receipts, grants, internally generated revenues, etc.

Shockingly, out of the whopping sum of $302b or N66.7t budgeted,

squandered and siphoned by said political criminals of the Federal

Government since 2003; less than 30% or $90.6b (N19t) was budgeted for

capital expenditures or for provision of good governance and public

good for the entire population of 182m (NPC estimates May 2017), while

the recurrent expenditures (running costs of government and

remunerations of 608, 926 public servants of the Federal Government)

incurred the remaining staggering balance of $211.4b (N47t) or over

70% of the entire budgets.

The 608,926 public servants of the Federal Government merely

constitute about 0.35% of the entire population of 182m. In other

words, less than 700,000 citizens (in addition to shut out 80,115 so

called “ghost police officers”) have consistently accounted for over

70% of the country’s federal budgets since 2003 leaving the remaining

population of over 180m in penury, acute backwardness and

under-development. Use of 2003 for this report clearly indicates the

year of escalation of public thievery in the country and consolidation

and intensification of its perpetrators in Nigeria’s public governance

sector.

Through the entrenched conspiracy of the federal executives and

lawmakers numbering only 941, public funds conventionally meant for

the transformation of the country especially its critical sectors, are

squandered and siphoned through open source and codified corruption.

It is now common place for existing laws such as cited above, to be

stood down for mere appropriation Acts and use of them to jerk up or

introduce strange and obnoxious allocations to lawmakers and federal

executives. The appropriation Act engineered lootings of the treasury

are glaringly perpetrated and perpetuated through inflated or

over-bloated running costs or overheads and multiplicity of

allowances.

A clear case in point was the self allocation of jumbo allowances of

N13m and N12m per month as legislative running costs whereas the top

public office holders amended Act of 2008 clearly fixed such at

relatively over N1m per month. The national leadership of the

organized labour is also part of the conspiracy by always pretending

to be advocating for the welfare of all Nigerians; whereas evidence

shows the contrary. Once an increase in their remunerations is

negotiated, the rest is history.

For the avoidance of doubt, by the provisions of “Salaries &

Allowances for Certain Top Public Office Holders Act of the Federation

2002 (amended in 2008)”; there are a total of 17,500 top public office

holders in Nigeria, out of which there are 1,083 statutorily

recognized top elective and appointive public offices at the Federal

level. They are specifically composed of 469 federal legislators, 142

federal judicial officers or judges of the federal courts and 472

federal top executives including president and vice president and

others not below the posts of special advisers. The latter are located

in the presidency (including offices of president and vice president

and cabinet ministers) as well as offices of senate president and

speaker of house of reps, etc.

At the State level, the Act recognizes 4,608 State executives,

judicial officers and lawmakers including governors and deputy

governors, speakers and deputy speakers. In others words, there are

1,152 State lawmakers, 2,664 State executives not below the posts of

special advisers and 792 State judicial officers or judges of State

courts. At the country’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs), the Act

recognizes 11,788 top LGA office holders including 3,096 LGA

executives and 8, 692 LGA councillors.

That is to say that the total number of the country’s top public

office holders in its three tiers of government of Federal, States and

FCT and 774 LGAs is 17,474 or approximately 17,500. The Act captures

all the salaries and allowances of the said 17,500 top public office

holders and mandates the country’s Revenue Mobilization, Allocation

and Fiscal Commission as well as the Salaries & Wages Commission to

ensure steady implementation, enforcement and compliance with its

provisions.

By the recent report of the Federal Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi

Adeosun, the total staff or public service strength of the Federal

Government of Nigeria is 607, 843; comprising 291, 685 police officers

and 316, 158 staff of 469 Ministries, Departments and Agencies or MDAs

including 90,000 federal civil servants, 100, 822 members of the

paramilitary organizations (i.e. Custom, Prisons, Immigration,

Security & Civil Defense Corps, Fire Service and Federal Road Safety

Corps) and 120, 000 members of the Armed Forces (army, navy, air

force, SSS and NIA).

This brings to 608, 926 the entire public service strength of the

Federal Government. This total number is in addition to 1, 083

federally elected and appointed top public office holders, as clearly

defined in the Act under reference. Noted here is the shutting out or

non-capturing of 80, 115 sworn police officers into the Federal

Government’s Integrated Payroll & Personnel Information System

(IPPIS), the number the Federal Government recently dubbed “80,115

ghost police officers in the staff and payroll of the Nigeria Police

Force and the Federal Government”. We have it on good authority that

tens of thousands of serving police officers in Nigeria are yet to be

captured under the new IPPIS policy.

Our decision to constructively redirect the attention of all Nigerians

from ongoing naked display of shamelessness by two umbrellas of

corruption in Nigeria called “ APC” and “PDP” is to open their eyes

and probing mindsets especially against the backdrop of the fact that

Nigeria had been irreparably afflicted by the same  political

criminals masquerading as “ top public office holders in Nigeria”

since 2003; using and camouflaging under leprous party politics and

names; prostituting and running riot on Nigerians using various

political forums and names. Their latest shamelessness borders on “who

had out-looted or who out-loots the other from the country’s public

treasury”.

It is an irrefutable fact that Nigeria’s political criminals are like

butterflies perching around any government in power nationally and

sub-nationally. It is also a fact that 99.5% of serving or ex public

office holders in Nigeria especially since 2003 are living far above

their legitimate incomes; with many, if not most owning and

singlehandedly funding or setting up shipping companies, private

universities, oil and gas companies, student hostels, faculty

buildings, hotels, equity shares, multimillion dollar private houses,

private jets, aviation industries, stashed cash in foreign currencies,

etc. These political criminals are not restricted to particular

sections of Nigeria or political party. They spread across Nigeria and

can be found in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Enugu, Kaduna,

Kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Awka, Jos, Oshogbo, Ibadan, Yola, Calabar,

etc.

Those who ought to be military, police and custom pensioners or

recipients of pensions, gratuities or monthly allowances as past

public office holders have become stupendously and criminally  rich

that they are now sole owners of multi billion naira private

universities and private and commercial jets, oil and gas companies,

etc. Those who had little or nothing before venturing into public

governance less than twenty years ago are today multi billionaires.

Through the processes of looting, re-looting and criminal

codifications; funds meant for good governance and public good are

caused to disappear from public coffers and resurface as “private

assets and investments”.

A good number of mainstream media particularly print and

television/radio stations in Nigeria are offshoots of looted funds;

yet they have the effrontery to organize panellists for discussions

bordering on corruption, public decency and morality as well as

“annual merit awards for excellence”. A good number of lawyers and

rights CSO activists are also beneficiaries of proceeds of public

theft in Nigeria; yet they still shamelessly go about pretending to be

more catholic than the Pope.

It therefore pains and saddens our heart that Nigeria has been pushed

to the nadir of socio-economic morass and irreversibility by its

entrenched political criminals. It is a truism that apart from

permanent solutions to the country’s chronic communications problems

found in early 2000s by the Obasanjo Administration as well as the

exit of the country from the globally embarrassing status of “highly

indebted poor country”, nothing tangible; with regional and

international comparism and edification had been on the ground in the

country’s governance since 2007 when his Administration ended.

It saddens us the more that whatever feat put in place in the country

as democracy dividends has been irretrievably upturned by the present

crop of political criminals manning the country; to the extent that

the country has become last of the last in most, if not all parameters

of public governance across the world. The country as it is today can

never in any way compete triumphantly with the likes of South Korea,

Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Brunei,

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Brazil, Argentina,

Philippines; not to talk of China and India.

That is to say Nigeria can never, from the way things are going,

compete with any of these countries in terms of public education,

healthcare, reproductive health sector, clean water, agriculture

including palm, farm and fruit production; defense, internal policing

and security; industry, employment and job creation; non oil direct

foreign investment inflows (FDIs), power/energy, local industries and

productions, shelter and housing, governance accountability, human

rights and rule of law; public security and safety, environmental

safety and development including reforestation, habitat development

and protection and environmental protection.

Statistically, the following is the breakdown of total Federal

Government budgets of $302b (N66.7t) budgeted, squandered and siphoned

by the federal political criminals in the past 16 years or since 2003.

The spent budgets were  N1.44 trillion made in 2003; N1.18 trillion in

2004, N1.8 trillion in 2005, N1.9 trillion in 2006, N2.3 trillion in

2007, N3.58 trillion in 2008, N3.76 trillion in 2009, N4.6 trillion in

2010, N4.48 trillion in 2011, N4.7 trillion in 2012, N4.98 trillion in

2013, N4.92 trillion in 2014 and N4.5 trillion in 2015, supplementary

budget of N575 billion in 2015; N6.07 trillion in 2016; N7.44t or

$24.5b in 2017 and N8.6t or $28.1b proposed for 2018; totalling N66.7t

or $302b (using official exchange rate of N305 per US$); out of which

only N19t or $90.6t was for capital expenditures while recurrent

accounted for whopping sum of N47t or $211.4b or over 70%. The 2003 to

2016 budgets were calculated using last official exchange rate of

N197.00 per $S.

Finally, we call on all Nigerians to refuse to be distracted by the

country’s two umbrellas of corruption. Public governance is too

important to be turned into an arena of diversion, distraction and

deceit. As the country had been held by jugulars by its political

criminals operating through the umbrellas of APC and PDP, these

political criminals must be upturned and held by jugulars by Nigerians

too.

The two umbrellas of corruption holding sway at the federal level in

the form of “federal ruling and federal opposition parties” as well as

States or sub-national entities where they hold sway; must explain to

Nigerians the whereabouts of whopping sum of $302b or N66.7t budgeted

and spent by the Federal Government of Nigeria since 2003. They must

also tell Nigerians why the country is still acutely lagging behind

its peers and juniors of the 60s and the 70s especially the likes of

South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Bahrain, Qatar,

Oman, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Brazil,

Argentina, Philippines; not to talk of China and India.

Signed:

For: Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law

Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman

Mobile Line: +2348174090052

Email: [email protected]

Barr Chinwe Umeche

Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program

Email: [email protected]