No security vote for State House in 2018, says Udoma

•N13.28bn EEG tax credit to support export

Contrary to a claim by Amnesty International (AI) that the Presidency has widened its security votes’ net, there is no line item classified as Security Vote in the State House budget in the N9.1 trillion 2018 Appropriation Act. The international watchdog got its facts wrong, Budget & National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma, said during the budget breakdown in Abuja yesterday, reports Nduka Chiejina.

There is no provision for Presidential Villa securityin this year’s budget, the Budget and National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma  said yesterday.

Addressing reporters during the breakdown of the 2018 Budget after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Appropriation Bill into law on Wednesday, Senator Udoma denied claims that the Presidency was siphoning money out of the system using security votes.

“Owing to the growing number of internal security issues, a provision of N75 billion was made for these exercises in the Service-wide votes, not State House vote, in 2018,” Udoma said.

The minister denied an Amnesty International (AI) report titled “Camouflaged cash: How ‘Security Votes’ fuel corruption in Nigeria”, which ”indicated, in part, that the Presidency is not only appropriating but “has increased the number of security votes tucked into the Federal Budget in the last two years.”

In a response to reporters’ questions during the briefing in Abuja, the minister said: “There is no line item as Security vote in the State House Budget.”

According to him, “provisions for security-related matters are contained in the detailed Budgets of the Ministry of Defence, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Department of State Security (DSS) etc.”

“There are also provisions for military interventions in the Northeast (insurgency) – Operation Lafiya Dole, as well as other specific operations of the Armed forces such as Operation Python Dance, Operation Crocodile Smile and very recently and Operation Cat Race, among others”, Udoma said.

AI defines security votes as “budgeted funds provided to certain federal, state and local government officials to spend at their discretion.. They are budgeted separately from planned security expenditures, such as personnel salaries, allowances, equipment, training and operational expenses.”

Commenting on other aspects of the budget, Udoma stated that the government was “in a hurry to implement the N9.1 trillion 2018 Budget”.

He also maintained that the “President Muhammadu Buhari administration would work hard to realise the N7.165 trillion revenue projection”.

The minister revealed that the N1.5 trillion deficit contained in the budget “would be financed through borrowing from both domestic and international capital markets”.

“The Federal Government”, he said, “has set up a commitee on the divestment of its  assets in the oil industry as a measure of increasing the administration’s revenue profile.

“The revenue boosting measures to be employed by the governemnt in the 2018 fiscal year from the oil sector  include: New funding mechanism for JV operations, allowing for Cost Recovery in lieu of previous cash call arrangement; additional oil-related revenue, including royalty recovery, new/marginal field licences, early licensing renewals; and review of the fiscal regime for Oil Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs).

“Besides, government plans to restructure its equity in JV oil assets, with proceeds to be reinvested in other assets, to improve efficiencies in the operations of the JVs and position them for better revenue performance in the future.

“Other revenue sources being pursued by the government are planned increases  in excise duty rates on alcohol and tobacco; tax administration improvement initiatives to positively affect collection efficiencies across various tax categories, e.g., Tax amnesty programme.”

The government, Udoma said, has taken on-board some key reform initiatives contained in the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP) in the budget, such as the deployment of new technology to improve revenue collection; upward review of tariffs and tax rates where appropriate; stronger enforcement; action against tax defaulters; improving government-owned Enterprises (GOEs’) revenue performance by reviewing their operational efficiency and cost-to-income ratios and generally ensuring they operate in more fiscally responsible manner.

The distribution of expected Federal Government revenue for 2018  are as follows: Oil Revenue  (41.7 per cent)  CIT (9.2 per cent); VAT (2.9 per cent); Customs (4.5 per cent); Independent Revenue (11.8 per cent); Recoveries (7.2 per cent); Tax Amnesty (1.2 per cent); Signature Bonus (1.6 per cent); JV Equity Restructuring (9.9 per cent);  Grants and Donor Funding ( 2.8 per cent); and Others ( 7.2 per cent).

Some projects to be executed  in the Appropriation Act include:

 

Transport

  • N162.28 billion Counterpart funding for Railway projects including: • Lagos-Kano (ongoing) • Calabar-Lagos (ongoing) • Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Aladja (Warri ) (ongoing) • Port Harcourt – Maiduguri (new) • Kano-Katsina-Jibiya-Maradi in Niger Republic (new) • Abuja-Itakpe and Aladja (Warri)-Warri Port and Refinery including Warri New Harbour (new) • N530.8 million construction of terminal building at Enugu Airport • N8.32 billion Construction of second runway of Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja

 

Power

  • N9.4 billion set aside as counterpart fund for the Mambilla hydro power project • N9.7 billion counterpart funding for earmarked transmission lines and substations. • N2.2 billion construction of 215MW LPFO/ gas power station Kaduna. • N3.4 billion Kashimbilla Transmission. • N14.2 billion Fast Power Programme Accelerated Gas and Solar Power Generation.

 

Housing

  • N26.7 billion Federal Government National Housing Programme

 

Works

  • About N344 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of several roads nationwide, including: • Lagos-Sagamu-Ibadan Dual Carriageway • Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bokani Road • Abuja-Abaji Road, • Kano-Maiduguri Road • Enugu-Port-Harcourt Dual Carriageway • Odupkani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene Road • Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Kontagora-Makera Road, • Dualisation of Obajana Junction to Benin, • Calabar-Ugep-Kastina Ala Road, • Onitsha-Enugu Dual Carriageway, • Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway, • Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Ajebandele-Sagamu Expressway Phase lll • Kotangora – Bangi Road.
  • About N344 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of several roads nationwide: • Bodo-Bonny Road with a bridge across the Opobo channel. In Rivers State. • Apapa – Oshodi express way in Lagos (Phase II Sections I & II) • Nnenwe-Oduma-Mpu (Enugu State) -Uburu (Ebonyi State) • Ningi -Yadagungume- Fuskar Mata Road Phase II In Bauchi State, • Oju/Loko – Oweto Bridge to link Loko And Oweto with approach Roads • Otuocha – Anam- Nzam- Innoma – Iheaka- Ibaji Section of Otuocha – Ibaji – Odulu -Ajegwu In Anambra / Kogi States, • Oba – Nnewi Road Section II in Anambra State • Ogrute (Enugu State) – Akpanya – Odolu (Kogi State) Road Section II with extension to Obollo Afor. • Tamawa – Gulu Road at Rimin Gado LGA in Kano State • Jalingo – Kona – Lau – Karim Road Phase I in Taraba State, etc.

 

Health

  • N55.15 billion Provisioned for the implementation of the National Health Act • N2.4 billion to match grant from UNFPA, USAID, UNICEF; • N1.3 billion for Strategic Joint Venture Investments in selected Tertiary Health Institutions with Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) • N8.9 billion for procurement of RI vaccines and devices, • N3 billion for Counterpart funding including global fund, health, and GAVI • N300 million for Health Emergencies & Contagious Diseases Outbreaks (E.g Meningitis, measles, yellow fever, monkey pox, etc) • N200 million for Midwives Service Scheme, • N1.2 billion Polio Eradication Initiative, • N1. billion Training/central procurement of 300,000 dialysis consumables.

 

Water Resources

  • N1.8 billion Zobe Water Supply Project – Phase I & II • N1 billion for Partnership for Expanded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) • N1 billion for Special Intervention for North East and IDPs – Potable of Portable Water • Over N53 billion for water supply, rehabilitation of dams, and irrigation projects nationwide.

 

Agriculture & Rural Development

  • N4.2 billion for Rural Roads and Water Sanitation programme; • Over N25.1 billion for Promotion and Development of Value Chain across in more than 30 different commodities, • N5.30 billion for National Grazing Reserve Development • N3.53 billion for Agribusiness and Market Development • N4.08 billion for Food and Strategic Reserves, • N2 billion for Supply, Installation & Commissioning of Water Rigs Nationwide, • N1.13 billion for FGN Support for Youths in Agribusiness, • N2 billion for Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise (LIFE) Programme

 

Mines & Steel Development

  • N644 million for the establishment of minning regulatory agency for the sector, • N450 million for the reclamation of abandoned mines sites.

 

Industry, Trade & Investment

Special Economic Zone Projects. N44.2 billion for ongoing and planned Special Economic Zone Projects across the geopolitical zones to drive manufacturing / exports. Completion of feasibility Studies, Master Planning, Engineering Design, EIA and other pre-development Costs in Enugu, Gombe, Nnewi, Kwara, Abuja, Bauchi, Rivers/Bayelsa, Edo/Delta, Taraba/Adamawa, Benue/Plateau, Sokoto/Kebbi. Completion of Lekki Model Textile and Garment Industrial Park. FGN investment in Enyimba Industrial Park, and Ibom Deep Sea Port and City.

 

Export-Expansion Grant (EEG)

N13.28 billion in the form of tax credit to support export via the Export Expansion Grant; Recapitalisation of Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BoA); N15 billion provisioned to support these development finance institutions to support Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs).

 

Education

N3.4 billion provisioned as Take-off Grant for Maritime University; N1.8 billion for Payment of 5000 Federal Teachers Scheme Allowance; N417 million for Construction of National Library of Nigeria; N9.2 billion for various Scholarship allowances.

 

Niger Delta

N20.29 billion for various sections of the East-West Road; N2.38 billion for Section III from Port-Harcourt Eleme Junction to Onne Port Junction.

 

Regional Interventions:

N65 billion for reintegration of transformed ex-militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme. N45 billion for Federal Initiative for North-East (Pilot Counterpart funding contribution).

 

SDGs

N11.3 billion for SDGs Intervention Programmes, N36.4 billion for other SDGs Projects

 

Special Intervention Programme

N500 billion for FGN Special Intervention Programme (including Home Grown; School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, and N-Power Job Creation Programme, Conditional Cash Transfers etc).

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