Jonathan cuts feeding cost by N90 million, drops plan to buy N280 million exotic cars
The president has made cuts on the controversial ‘feeding allowance’ which was presented in the 2012 budget in December, 2012
President
Goodluck Jonathan discreetly reversed his administration’s plan to
spend more than half a billion naira on assorted armoured utility cars
after a bloody protest in January, but only managed to lower a
controversial N947 million feeding cost by a meager N90 million, a
re-examination of the approved 2012 budget has shown.
The
budget, revised once by Mr. Jonathan before a final passage by the
National Assembly in April, provides details of how the president
responded stealthily to the barrage of criticisms he faced over the
proposed expenditures without making public the adjustments.
The
anti-fuel subsidy removal demonstrations, in which at least a dozen
Nigerians died, had drawn steam, in part from public anger over media
exposes that the presidency planned the mega car and food spending.
Weeks
after the protest, Mr. Jonathan cautiously overturned the decision to
purchase two Mercedes Benz Cars for himself and Vice President Namadi
Sambo’s at N280 million, and also stopped the purchase of other utility
vehicles totalling N238 million.
The
presidency also re-ordered several sub-heads in its budget, lowered the
initial costs of purchasing electronic equipment including scanners,
photocopiers and printers, and restructured its recurrent expenditure by
N2 billion. But the most controversial subhead, the N947 million
feeding bill, was only reduced to N857 million.
The
amendments are contained in the budget revision which the president
re-submitted to the National Assembly in February, in which he made
N101b cut on the N4.8 trillion budget earlier presented to the
lawmakers. The cuts spread across ministries and departments.
The
reductions appear a major win for a public query of government
spending, although the presidency’s own adjustments seemed not to have
been intended for immediate public knowledge, and even lawmakers may not
have spotted them.
John
Enoh, the Chairman House of Representatives Appropriation committee,
said “if” there were changes in the presidency’s budget during the
revision, then it came from the executive as would be expected.
“The
budget was later withdrawn by the president and revised. If you notice
any difference at that stage, then it came from the executive, but if
the difference came after the passage, then it came from the National
Assembly,” he told PREMIUM TIMES, when asked if the lawmakers made the
changes or prodded the presidency for them in the face of the public
controversy.
At
the time, the president told the lawmakers the reductions were informed
by “the recent domestic developments, key among which are partial
withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products and the ripple effect on the
government revenue expenditure items.”
But the decision may have as well been driven by public outcry.
In
the initial budget, first reported by PREMIUM TIMES in December, 2011,
the first and second families planned to spend N477 million for
“foodstuffs and catering materials supplies” for the president’s office,
while N293 million was to take care of “refreshment and meals” for the
president’s office and home.
An
extra N45.4 million was to be used for purchasing “kitchen equipment”
for the president’s house, while vice president’s “refreshment and
meals” was to cost N20.8 million, and kitchen equipment, N45.4 million.
Mr.
Sambo’s foodstuffs, catering and material supplies, were estimated at
N104 million while cooking fuel was to cost N6.2 million.
For
the cars, N280 million was for two Mercedes Benz armoured S-guard,
while another N144 million was to be spent on assorted utility vehicles,
another N18 million on Toyota Hiace bus, and still another N77million
on other cars to be added to the presidential fleet.
In
the new budget, all car purchases totalling N518 million were
suspended. For the feeding, each subhead received modest reductions with
the president’s foodstuff/catering materials receiving the biggest cut
of about N50 million while “refreshments and meals” followed with N30
million cut.
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