I WILL RESIGN, THE CENTRAL BANK IS NOT MY LIFE. CBN GOVT SAID.

[Zagaina]

IT was a day of anger and grandstanding Wednesday at the Senate.

Senators engaged Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in a fierce verbal exchange over the duo's public statements on the National Assembly's spending profile.

Aganga denied ever making any public comments on the matter.

Sanusi owned up to his statement, saying he relied on a document he got from the Director-General of the Budget Office to draw his conclusion.

At a point, he told the Senators that he could quit the job, "if you want me to."

"I'm not tired of my job, but if you want me to resign, I will resign. The Central Bank is not my life."

Senator Gyang Dantong was asking him whether he was tired of his job.

Sanusi maintained that the National Assembly alone gets N136.25 billion of the Federal Government's overhead of N536.26 billion, representing 25.4 per cent.

But, the senators tendered the 2010 Budget, which revealed that the estimate for the National Assembly was N158 billion of the N3.9 trillion national budget, representing 3.77 per cent of the total appropriation.

To discredit the CBN Governor's claims, the senators called on the Finance Minister to do the percentage calculation of N158 billion of N3.9 trillion.

Aganga also arrived at 3.77 per cent.

But Sanusi was not deterred by Aganga's concurrence with the senators' calculation; he said he did not know where the Minister got his figures.

He resisted further pressure from the lawmakers to make a recant and apologise.

Sanusi said: "I confirm that I did say in my speech at the Igbinedion University that 25 percent of the overhead of the Federal Government goes to National Assembly. I have figures from the Budget Office for the year 2010.

"The total government overhead is N536, 268, 49, 280. Total overhead of the National Assembly is N136, 259, 768, 112 which is exactly 25.4 percent of Federal Government overhead.

"The overhead of the National Assembly as a percentage of the Federal Government budget in 2009 was 19. 87 and 14.19 in 2008"

Apparently to douse the tension in the meeting room, Aganga explained that the CBN Governor could be right, depending on the context in which he made the computation and the purpose for which it was made.

According to Aganga, the document, which Sanusi relied on did not consider what he described as service wide votes in the course of computation. Besides, his submission could not be totally written off as misleading, although it might not be as accurate as it should be, the minister said.

The senators rejected Aganga's explanation, saying that it was apparent that Sanusi made his computation primarily to serve mischievous ends aimed at inciting the public against members of the National Assembly.

Chairman of the Appropriation Committee Senator Iyiola Omisore accused Sanusi of misleading the public by his statement and demanded that the CBN Governor should correct the misinformation.

But Sanusi fired back: "I have not misled anybody. I am on oath. I got my document from the Budget Office. You can ask the Director of Budget.

"I think it was important for us to say in what context that statement was made. I was giving a lecture on the growth prospect of the Nigerian economy. I talked about financial plans, economic policies, banking system and government finances.

"As the Finance Minister has mentioned, if you look at the structure of government financing especially in 2008 and 2009, we have had a rapid increase in recurrent expenditure and decline in capital expenditure.

Apparently miffed by what they perceived as Sanusi's grandstanding, the senators demanded to know the annual 2010 budget of the CBN. Sanusi replied: "N 303 billion". The response attracted hash comments from the agitated lawmakers.

"The entire National Assembly budget is N158 billion; that of the CBN is N303 billion. In that case, if the National Assembly gets 25 per cent of the federal funds, going by your response, it means that the CBN spends over 57 per cent of the federal funds", one of the senators told Sanusi.

He did not reply.

Incidentally, Sanusi's line of defence was inadvertently punctured by the Finance Minister when he said that the CBN Governor got the document he relied on only Wednesday morning.

Sanusi made the statement about a week ago.

This was all the senators needed to impugn mischief into Sanusi's action. One after the other, the lawmakers jeered at the CBN governor.

The panel then urged the minister to take the sector in order and ensure that key operators in finance comport themselves with decorum.

[gogannaka]

I am so angry at the national assembly that i don't even know how to react.
The chairman of the senate committee on Finance is one extremely arrogant brat. The whole bunch were utterly biased.
They were so vehement on their attacks on the CBN governor that it turned to personal denigration and embarrassment.
Sanusi,at several points seemed as if he would drop the job right there. He was very brave and courageous for standing up to his words.

Another useless brat was the Finance minister. He was virtually shivering out of fear. DUMB!
I seem to have absolutely no respect for the man anymore. Who does not know that the national assembly gulps more than what they deserve of the national resources.
The same thing happened when Former FCT minister accused them of asking him for a 55million Naira bribe before they could confirm him. They embarrased him so much as if he were lying.

Nemesis will catch up with them.

[Muhsin]

Salam,

I didn't watch the episodic drama. I only read about it on newspapers, hence I can tell of little about it.

Generally speaking I don't like SLS for his always being too arrogant and his strongly held attitude of "I know everything" while many others, if not all, know little or nothing. Yet I was so happy at how he uncovered and parades their--NASS's egoism and self-centeredness to the Nigerians. More interesting was how he threatens to drop his appointment if they persist. That I know many Nigerian would not dare doing.

But that, I am afraid and sure, will not change anything in this country. The whole drama will soon be thrown to oblivion as it has never happened. Oh Nija!

[gogannaka]

By Obinna Chima, 12.03.2010 Thisday Newspapers.

As the controversy on the exact budgetary overheads of the federal legislature continues to rage, THISDAY investigations have revealed that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was right in his assessment that the National Assembly accounts for the 25 percent of total federal government overheads of  536.27 billion.

Documents obtained from the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper forwarded to the National Assembly and accompanied by a letter signed by President Goodluck Jonathan last September, revealed that the total federal government overhead budget for 2010 is 536.27 billion, of which the overhead budget of the National Assembly is 136,159,768.12.

These were the same figures quoted by Sanusi during the lecture at the Igbinedion University last weekend that generated the ruckus from the National Assembly and the subsequent attempt by the Senate Committees on Appropri-ation, Finance, Banking and MDGs to downplay the National Assembly's overheads relative to the federal government's overhead budget.

The committees had summoned Sanusi and the Finance Minster, Dr. Olusegun Aganga last Wednesday to clarify the statement on the lawmakers'recurrent expenditure budget.

During the hearing, Sanusi bluntly stood his ground and refused to apologise over the statement, which he readily acknowledged was made by him that the National Assembly accounts for 25 per cent of the Federal Government's total overhead budget.

Even after Aganga, who shockingly denied a statement credited to him when he said a committee would be set up to review funds allocated to the National Assembly, faulted Sanusi's figures, the CBN governor insisted that the figures he quoted last weekend at the  Igbinedion University were the same obtained from the Budget Office, which handles all budgetary issues.

"I confirm that 25 per cent of total overheads of the nation goes to the National Assembly," he said.On his part, Aganga, who was the first to testify at the public hearing, told the senators: "I have never made any statement to the effect that I was in the  process of cutting the expenditure of the National Assembly or the national budget.

"I don't know why I was invited; it wasn't clear to me. I have not and I did not and would not make any statement to anybody in the media that I believe could be so misconstrued."He said: "As public figures, we get quoted out of context every time, so we must be careful what we say and how we say it," he said.

Further findings also confirmed from the Ministry of Finance's website that there was no ambiguity on what constitutes the exact definition of overheads.

In a publication posted on its website titled "A Citizen's Guide to Understanding the 2009 Federal Budget", it was explicitly captured in Part A under General Issues, the components of Recurrent Expenditure.
Overheads as contained in the document are basically costs such as payment for electricity, water, telecommunications, office rent, office equipment and consumables, staff training, transportation, etc.

Analysts are of the opinion that NASS should have done its homework first before engaging in the drama that led to the hot exchange between members of the Committee and the CBN Governor.

The role of the Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga in the entire saga has been considered unwholesome in view of the fact that the MTEF document forwarded by the president to the NASS last September originated from the Ministry of Finance.
Most members of the public, including commentators were surprised that Aganga sat on the fence when confronted by the committees on the issue.

Sources at the ministry confirmed that the minister was in a binder over the development and he is alleged to have sent another version of the computation to the National Assembly, ostensibly to exonerate himself and align this with the views of the members of the committees.

[gogannaka]

From the Punch newspaper of Monday 6th December 2010

EACH senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria earns N15.18m in salaries and allowances monthly, just as each member of the House of Representatives takes home N10.59m a month, investigation has revealed.


For the Senate, each senator (excluding the Senate President and his deputy) takes home about N198.54m annually (N16.64m per month). This translates into a total of N21.243bn.


The amount includes each senator's N45m quarterly allowance, which amount to N180m annually for the four quarters of the year, and the official N18.54m that goes into their individual accounts annually as salaries and other emoluments.


According to our correspondents' findings, every member of the House of Representatives takes home about N127.18m annually (or N10.59m per month).


The amount includes N28m quarterly allowance for each member, which translates into N112m annually for the four quarters of the year. It also includes the official N15.18m annual salary and other emoluments of each member, contained in a document obtained from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.


To keep the federal lawmakers in office for one year, the Federal Government spends a staggering N67.32bn on their salaries and other allowances.


There are 469 federal lawmakers, comprising 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives.


The figure, however, excludes the lawmakers' constituency votes, which are not paid directly to them.


This implies that at N127.18m per member (excluding the Speaker and his deputy), N45.466bn is being expended as wage bill annually on 358 legislators in the House of Representatives.


According to available statistics, the Speaker takes home N117.20m annually (N9.76m per month), while his deputy gets about N116.80m annually (N9.73m per month). The seemingly lower pay for the leadership of the House is explained by the fact that the officers are entitled to full provision of some items that had been monetised for other members.


The allowances that are not monetised are for vehicle maintenance and fuelling, personal assistants, house maintenance, domestic staff, entertainment, utilities, wardrobe, newspapers and periodicals.


When the wage bill of these principal officers of the lower chamber is added to the total take-home (N45.466bn) of the other 358 members, the total wage bill of the entire House of Representatives adds up to N45.699bn.


Further analyses of the RMAFC document revealed that the Senate President gets N188.94m annually (N15.74 per month), while his deputy takes home N188.31m annually (N15.69m per month) as salaries and allowances.


As with the leadership of the lower chamber, the amounts exclude other allowances, which are not monetised.


When the wage bill of the Senate President and that of his deputy is added to what the other 107 senators earn, the total take-home for the entire Senate becomes N21.621bn.


But some of the legislators have insisted that the quarterly allowances are for running their offices and so, should not be included in their take-home.


However, there are other earnings not captured in the above figure because they are not fixed.


For instance, each senator is entitled to a severance package of N6,079,200 upon successful completion of a term; duty tour allowance of N23,000 per night when they travel within the country and estacode of $800 per night when they travel out of the country. Should they desire, they are also entitled to a car loan of N8,105,600 each. This is, however, refundable.


Each member of the House of Representatives is also entitled to a severance package of N5,955,637.50 upon successful completion of tenure; refundable vehicle loan of N7,940,850; N21,000 duty tour allowance per night when they travel within the country and $550 estacode per night when they travel outside the country.


However, senators who obtained car loans at the beginning of the legislative session had, through the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, reportedly made an official request that the loans be converted to grants since they were not told at the onset that the money would be repaid.


A source at the RMAFC told one of our correspondents that any earning by the legislators outside what was approved by the commission and ratified by an Act of Parliament was illegal.


He, however, added that the commission was not in the position to monitor such illegal earnings that members of the National Assembly could appropriate to themselves, noting that it could not also penalise them for such illegal earnings.


The earnings of legislators and other political office holders had been controversial, especially in recent times. The controversy reached its high point when the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, alleged that 25 per cent of Nigeria's annual total overhead cost was spent on lawmakers.


The worry of Nigerians, however, has not been about the official earnings, as the legislators are constantly accused of appropriating huge amount of money to themselves as constituency project funds on a quarterly basis.


It is alleged that these funds, which run into billions of naira, end up in the pockets of legislators as the constituency projects are hardly executed and the exact amounts of money collected are hardly known.


The Federal Government has yet to implement the reduced emoluments of political office holders and judges recommended 18 months ago by the RMAFC.


Sources close to the commission confirmed to THE PUNCH that the recommendation had not been implemented because it lacked the force of law.


The commission had forwarded a bill, titled, "Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008," to the National Assembly through the Federal Executive Council to legislate upon.


If the bill had been passed and implemented, the official emolument of a senator would have reduced to N12,209,060 per annum, while that of a House of Representatives member would have been N10,273,474 annually.

[bakangizo]

It is sad really how the issue was turned into a personal vendetta by the (dis)-honourable members. Everyone knows how that the national assembly is a conduit pipe for nigeria's financial resources. And for doing nothing. Nigerians salute Sanusi for courage, honesty and fearlessness. Contrast that with the jelly minister of finance, who tried everything to pacify them. He wanted to keep his job. I know Sanusi would rather resign than apologise on something he knew he was right. Nigeria needs people like him at the helm of affairs.

[gogannaka]

[gogannaka]