- Buhari orders mass sackings at Budget Office
Palpable fears gripped several critical maritime stakeholders, including the nation’s core importers, as the country’s currency the Naira, on Wednesday crumbled to N385 to a Dollar, in the parallel market.
While industry watchers observed and commented from the angle of demand and supply, in terms of the scarcity of one, against the other, the core operators wondered if those managing the financial fortunes of the country were still awake or slumbering.
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun
“We can’t import anything again at this rate. It would be suicidal!”, a member of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) who spoke on conditions of anonymity indicated.
” I just finished talking with a friend who imports cars, before you came in. Nigerians can do without importing new or old cars, if the cost gets out of hand. But, can we afford not to import the basic equipment and raw materials? If we can’t, the next question then is at what price are we going to sell to break even. And then, how many more men are you going to lay off, to break even?! ” he asked, declining further questions, because he was simply not in the mood.
A pharmaceutical dealer and importer, Anthony Emeordi wondered if the Naira at its currently run-away slide was not heading to N500 to a dollar, and wondered how many Nigerians would lose their lives, when basic life sustaining medications go out of reach of the average Nigerians.
“Tell me, can we afford not to import certain life-saving injections and drugs? Can we? We can’t. So, we shall continue to import them, on reduced scales. But, how many Nigerians at this rate, would afford to pay for them?”, he asked, adding that he knows, people die mostly in war time, because they could not afford to buy black market priced drugs and wondered if we were not gradually, inching towards that direction.
Another importer, James Oladele said the slide would no doubt further reduce activities at the Port, noting that more empty berthing spaces would develop; and more retrenchment of workers would follow.
Even though the dollar closed at N323-5 at Apapa last Friday, black-marketers this morning at Randle Road/ Tetrazzini area freely offered N385/6, even as the British Pounds hit the N506 mark!
In the meantime, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the complete purge of the Budget Office because of the discrepancies and padding of the 2016 budget, The PUNCH has learnt.
Our correspondent gathered on Wednesday that the President handed down the directive following the embarrassment that the budget discrepancies had attracted to his government.
It will be recalled that Buhari had on Monday sacked Mr. Yahaya Gusau as the Director-General of the Budget Office for the same reason and approved the appointment of Mr. Tijjani Mohammed Abdullahi as his replacement.
But a top government official who pleaded anonymity told The PUNCH on Wednesday that the President was not yet done with the issue.
The source said Buhari had been properly briefed of the activities of government officials in the Budget Office who were described as “budget mafia” and accused of sabotaging the budget process.
He said that a decision had been taken that while many of the identified officials would be sacked, the remaining ones should be posted out of the office.
He added that the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, had been directed to implement the presidential directive and communicate the decision to the affected officials.
The source said, “The President is really angry over the discrepancies discovered in the 2016 budget. It has been confirmed that it was a clear case of sabotage. It was said to have been carried out by a budget mafia whose members are strongly enshrined in the office.
“The President’s decision is that the former Director-General should not be the only casualty in this matter.
“He has ordered that the Budget Office should be purged. Many of the officials there will be sacked while others will be transferred to other places other than where they have already constituted themselves to a mafia.”
When asked when the President’s directive would take effect, the source said “it is with immediate effect.”
In sacking Guasu as DG, Budget Office on Monday, Buhari had also approved the appointment of Mr. Ben Akabueze as the Special Adviser on Planning to the Minister of Budget and National Planning.
Sources in the Presidency had, on February 6, alleged that a budget mafia planned to scuttle the innovations introduced by the current administration into the budget by inflating the figures.
A mafia was alleged to have proposed a budget of N9.7tn for capital and overhead spending, excluding personnel cost, as against the Presidency’s initial estimate of about N8tn.
The group was said to have proposed N3tn as overheads alone out of the N9.7tn, a figure the Presidency later slashed to N163bn.
The Ministry of Budget and National planning had also promised to investigate and punish those responsible for the errors and strange figures found in the budget, which was presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari in December, 2015.
The errors had delayed the passage of the budget with the federal legislature, saying the February 25 deadline it set for its approval was no longer feasible.
Additional report from Punch
