N3.3 Trillion Vanished From Federal Coffers Between 2003 and 2008…

Considering the fact that the federal budget is N2.3 Trillion, it is ridiculous beyond belief to think that N3.3 Trillion of Nigeria’s money could have simply vanished into thin air between 2003 and 2008.

Vanguard

OUR governments ignore reports of missing, mismanaged, misappropriated and misapplied public funds. Hardly a day passes without media reports of fraud in government dealings. Governments just lament the situation.

It is not speculative to suggest that when the present governments are gone, accusations of non-transparent transactions would commence against them.

The latest in these missing funds is the report of the House of Representatives Finance Committee that Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, failed to remit N3. 3 trillion of revenue they generated over the past four years.

This report covered January 2003 to March 2008, it did not capture activities of MDAs in the first four years of our new civilian administrations.

If poor accounting is rampant at the federal level, it is only left to the imagination what goes on in the States and the nation’s 774 local government councils.

One way of putting the size of the federal waste in perspective is to note that it is bigger than the 2009 federal budget of N2.3 trillion. The unaccounted funds could be more, as the Presidency revealed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, did not account for N600 billion it used in subsidising prices of petroleum products.

The legitimate government agency on petroleum products pricing is the Petroleum Products and Price Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, not NNPC.

Mismanagement of public resources has become an integral essence of governments. Scandals swirling round public funds are normal. Those who are to use these funds for public good deploy them as they please. They get away with the infractions because the system tolerates them.

In the face of the unrestrained capacities of the authorities to place the public till at their disposal, a culture of impunity has multiplied over the years. It is important our legislators move from words to action in tackling the mismanagement (in some cases non-management) of public funds.

The only reason this may not be a prospect legislators would pursue with enthusiasm is that their own financial undertakings are equally cloudy. Legislators have powers to enforce accountability in these institutions, but their interests foreclose service to the common good.

As has become their practice, once the legislators throw up these figures, they consider their work done. The affected MDAs would ignore them. They know legislators would impose no sanctions, the two parties can do business together for their mutual benefit. The twaddle continues.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act, which seeks to enforce stringent financial regulations, is in limbo six months after the President signed it. There is no Fiscal Responsibility Commission to implement regulations the Act proposes. The President did not submit names to the National Assembly to screen for the Commission’s membership.

Solutions lie in a fiscal regime that punishes non-compliance in a manner that makes financial crimes unprofitable. Tame sanctions for looters of public funds motivate others to steal even more.

It is time we broke the circle, if we are to rescue the resources to run the country.