…As Reps say: We over-promise in our budget and under-deliver***
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said a total of N421.33m is ready to be paid to whistle-blowers for the November batch.
She said the amount included that of the whistle-blower for the cash recovered from a building in Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Adeosun disclosed this on Wednesday while answering questions from State House correspondents, after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
She said the money would be paid to the whistle-blower who signed the agreement and not any firm.
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government would pay applicable taxes on the sum directly to the state government where the whistle-blower is domiciled.
She said, “The total amount, which also include Osborne Road, Ikoyi is N421, 330, 595. This is for the November batch and it is ready for payment.
“The only condition necessary is that the money will be paid to the whistle-blower who signed the agreement, not to any company.
“If we get the court judgement, we have to wait for three months to ensure that there are no encumbrances.”
She added, “We will also make sure that all applicable taxes are paid ahead. We will get in touch with the state government where the person is domiciled and we will pay the tax directly to the state and issue the tax receipt.
“We built in these procedures to protect the whistle-blower.”
Meanwhile, in their different submissions at Wednesday plenary, members of the House of Representatives literally said that the 2018 budget proposal laid on November 7 by President Muhammadu Buhari was watery.
They, however enjoined the House to sufficient thinker with the document to give make usable for the benefit of the citizenry. They, however enjoined the House to sufficiently thinker with the document to make it usable for the benefit of the citizenry.
The submissions came on the second of the debate on the general principles of the financial estimates also called Appropriate Bill.
The members had at the commencement of debate on the proposal on Tuesday berated the Executive Arm of government for poorly executing the 2017 budget which is currently running. Recall that President Buhari had proposed a total of N8.6 trillion for income and expenditure in the 2018 fiscal year. But barring their minds on the 2018, the members said that the proposal was lacking in capital projects.
We must do the right thing for Nigerians- Baba Munir Dan-Agundi (Kano State) “We didn’t achieve much in the year 2017 as regards to capital implementation.
We have to tell ourselves the truth. We have a social contract with Nigerians. What we do here will reflect to Nigerians. This is my 6th year of witnessing budget. What’s the performance of 2016 and 2017.
In the budget of today, we did we put in place to address this poor revenue generation? “What emphasis did we put in place to generate revenue? We need to make a distinction between administrative capital project and developmental capital project. Another thing we should be careful about is the issue of oil price projection.
We need to ask ourselves what transpired in this chamber last three weeks on Ken Saro Wiwa. The people there are not happy. “Another issue is agriculture. The ministers and the executive will always come here and tell us what they want us to hear. We have a duty to do the needful for Nigerians in 2018/2019 budget. Let us do the right thing, explore the nitty-gritty of this budget for Nigeria.”
Citizen with additional report from Vanguard
