Hopes of an early passage of the 2008 Budget might have been pushed farther a field as fresh facts have emerged that unspent funds placed in private and interest-yielding bank accounts by directors of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) stand at a staggering N600 billion.

Last December, Senate had raised an alarm that over N300 billion appropriated by the National Assembly for the MDAs are in private bank accounts. Based on that astounding discovery, the National Assembly insisted that work on the 2008 Appropriation Bill would not progress until the Finance Minister furnishes it with complete details of the revenue profile on which it would predicate the new budget.

However, Sunday Independent authoritatively gathered at the weekend that about N600 billion past appropriations are lodged in interest-yielding bank accounts by directors of MDAs.
Also, Finance Minister, Shamsudeen Usman has submitted a revenue profile of N217 billion to the Senate but the amount did not capture the N7billion returned by the Senate to the treasury.
Usman reportedly met with both the Finance and Appropriation Committees at different times during the week, after the expiration of a two-week ultimatum to submit the revenue profile for the 2008 Appropriation Bill.

But a source very close to the Appropriation Committee indicates that the Finance Minister only submitted a partial revenue profile which "did not tally with the facts at our disposal. The minister’s briefing fell short of our expectations." According to our source, On Wednesday, "the Finance Minister briefed us about what was supposed to be the revenue profile for the 2008 budget. He came with details of only N217 billion unspent funds. We were surprised that out of that figure, the N7 billion returned by the National Assembly was not even captured. Again, we discovered that there were some statutory transfers, such as mining levies, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and others (that) were not reflected in the revenue profile.

"So far, the committee has now come to know that funds, outside the budget are almost bigger than the size of the 2008 Appropriation Bill. Imagine a situation where the proposed capital expenditure for 2008 is N600 billion and unspent government funds which have been lodged in private accounts is over N600 billion.

"We are now aware that a lot of things have not been tidied up in the revenue profile. We will not conclude work on the budget until the Finance Minister provides us with complete details of the revenue profile," said a source close to the Appropriation Committee.

Meanwhile, it has also been discovered that the deficit projected for the new budget is in excess of N400 billion. Briefing newsmen after Tuesday’s plenary session, Senate Spokesman, Ayogu Eze, had said that the Appropriation Committee was working in concert with the Finance Committee to lower the N100 billion budget deficit embedded in the 2008 budget. Said Eze: "Right now, as proposed by the executive, we already have over N100 billion deficit embed in that budget. We want to reduce the deficit level in that budget. It is our belief that there are still funds trapped outside the budget."

But another source in the committee countered that claim. He insisted that the deficit projected for the new budget is in excess of N400 billion. "The deficit calculated for the 2008 budget is in excess of N400 billion. We will make sure that we reduce the deficit to the barest minimum. That is why the Appropriation Committee is insisting that all unspent funds must be returned," said he.

In his opening remarks last Tuesday, Senate president, David Mark, explained that Senate returned the N7billoion in keeping with the principle of transparency and accountability, regardless of the fact that the money was released on December 31, 2007.

He said: "In accordance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we also know that due process must be complied with in incurring any expenditure. As lawmakers, we were not, therefore, prepared to breach the standards set to ensure proper accountability and transparency in the conduct of Government business." Senate had set a January 8 deadline for consideration of the Appropriation Bill while the House of Representatives had initially scheduled passage of the budget for January 9.

Source: Sunday Independent