THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, on Wednesday maintained that 25 per cent of Nigeria’s annual total overhead cost was spent on lawmakers.
Sanusi, who appeared before the Senate committees on Appropriation, Finance, Banking and Millennium Development Goals, also rejected subtle entreaties from lawmakers to apologise for giving “wrong figures” to the public.
He told the committees that the figures, which according to him, came from the Budget Office, were correct, especially when viewed against the context in which he used them.
The CBN governor said, “By my nature, if I discovered that I was wrong, I need not be told to say I am sorry. If I am not convinced of anything, I cannot be forced to accept it.”
He was summoned by the Senate to defend the claim, which he made while delivering a lecture titled, “Future Prospect of Nigeria’s Economy,” at the 8th convocation of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State.
The claim, which was published in various national dailies under different headlines, was criticised by the National Assembly, which quicly summoned the Minister of Finance, Mr. Segun Aganga. Sanusi and Aganga are also to appear before the House of Representatives.
In recent times, there has been a huge public outcry against the huge salaries and allowances paid to federal legislators by the government.
Asked by the members of the Senate committees to substantiate his claim, the CBN governor said that he had not claimed that the legislature got 25 per cent of the total recurrent expenditure, but 25 per cent of the overhead of the federal budget.
Sanusi said, “I confirm that I did say in my speech at the Igbinedion University that 25 per cent of the overhead of the Federal Government budget goes to the National Assembly. I have figures from the Budget Office for the year 2010.
“Total government overhead is N536, 268, 490, 280. The total overhead of the National Assembly is N136, 259, 768, 112, which is exactly 25.1 per cent of Federal Government overhead.
“The overhead of the National Assembly as a percentage of the Federal Government budget in 2009 was 19. 87 and in 2008, it was 14.19.”
He, however, blamed reporters for misrepresenting his statement.
Sanusi said, “If you read the story, and not the headlines, you will find out that many of the newspapers had what I said as a quotation. Take the Vanguard for example; its headline says ‘National Assembly drains the economy, gulps 25 per cent of the recurrent expenditure’ on page one. But if you go to page 53, it quoted me thus: ‘If you look at the budget, the bulk of government spending is on recurrent expenditure, that is a big problem. 25 per cent of the overhead of the Federal Government goes to the National Assembly.’ That is what is in quotation mark.
“If you go to the Tribune, it has ‘the government is in trouble’ on the front page. It quoted me as saying, ‘If you look at the budget, the bulk of government spending on recurrent expenditure, that is a big problem. 25 per cent of overhead of Federal Government goes to National Assembly.’
“I saw the same quote in The Nation. ‘25 per cent of overhead of Federal Government goes to National Assembly.’”
He further explained that the overhead cost he referred to did not include the service wide vote. The apex bank chief said that there was a difference between overhead and recurrent expenditure.
But his explanations did not sway the lawmakers as they accused him of omitting the “service wide” votes of about N660bn, which is a major component of the overhead of the Federal Government.
They argued that if Sanusi had included the N660bn, he would have arrived at N1.2tn, a figure that would have produced a lower percentage.
He was also accused of misleading the public and aiming his statement at bringing the integrity of the National Assembly to ridicule.
When asked to clarify some issues raised by Sanusi, Aganga told the committees that the correctness of the figures given by the apex governor would depend on the purpose.
He said, “I think what is causing the confusion is the fact that we have 25 per cent of recurrent expenditure and 25 per cent of overhead (in the newspapers). The CBN governor was referring to overhead. If you look at the denominators, they are two different figures completely. If you look at those numbers based on the information the CBN governor has, normally, we have recurrent and overhead together.”
Aganga added that he preferred adding the service wide votes to make up the overheads, instead of treating them separately.
“I confirm that you normally include the service wide votes in the total overhead. I will normally include the service wide votes,” the minister said.
The senators took Sanusi on again on the exclusion of the service wide vote and urged him to admit that he misled Nigerians with his figures.
But he argued that if the figures were taken in the context of the lecture he delivered, there would be no need to include the service wide vote in the calculation.
Asked if he understood the tenets of democracy and if he was thinking of quitting his job, Sanusi replied, “I was a democracy activist and I believe in democracy. During the (Sani) Abacha regime, I was a member of the Kudirat Democracy Movement. One of the rules of democracy is that people should be able to speak.
“Whether I am enjoying the job or not , I am working for the people. I am not holding the job so tight. It is not my life. I am here at your pleasure, if you want me to go, please tell me and I will go without a fight, but I am not thinking of quitting.”
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri insisted that the governor distorted the facts in his statement on what accrued to the National Assembly as overhead.
He said the manner in which Sanusi spoke raised questions on the need to examine whether he had the “required character” to occupy the office of CBN governor.
Senator Iyiola Omisore, who served as the chairman of the committees that questioned the two federal officials, said that Aganga, being the custodian of the national treasury by his position as Minister of Finance, had confirmed that Sanusi got the figures wrong.
According to him, the source of Sanusi’s figures (Budget Office) is answerable to the Minister of Finance.
He noted that the total government recurrent expenditure for 2010 was N3.9tn, while that of the National Assembly alone was N150bn, adding that the ratio was 3.77 per cent of total recurrent.
Omisore, however, gave up on getting Sanusi to change his position, noting that the Senate had achieved its purpose, which was getting out the facts about what the National Assembly actually collects as overhead.
He said, “It is unfortunate that people are being misled. It is incumbent on the Minister of Finance to give the correct details of what the legislature gets.
“We are comfortable that we have clarified that the CBN governor got the wrong figures. He should have also included the N303bn budget of the CBN in arriving at his figures.
“His figures were selected figures at his convenience. This is wrong, his figures are wrong.”
Earlier, Aganga denied that he mentioned to the media that the government would cut the recurrent expenditure of the National Assembly.
He said, “I did not make any statement on the National Assembly’s expenditure or revenue and I never said I was in the process of cutting the National Assembly budget. I read what you read in the papers.”
The minister explained that at a ministerial briefing, he had explained the planned policy of government to reduce the recurrent expenditure, and not specifically that of the National Assembly.
Source:http://www.punchng.com
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