[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n this third part of the #SaatahBudgetSeries publishing on The Trent. we will take a look at the budget for the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). Seeing the quagmire the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has found himself in, we will do good to pay attention to this particular office and see if anything really “Changed” from what we had in the past.
Before we continue, if you have not been following the series, you can check out all previous parts HERE and HERE.
The agencies/institutions that can be found under the Office of the National Security Adviser are as follows: National Security Adviser, Directorate of State Security Service, National Intelligence Agency, and the Presidential Air Fleets (State House).
The total allocation to the Office of the National Security Adviser is 90,350,068,052; out of which 57,730,068,052 is for “Recurrent Expenditure” while 32,620,000,000 is for “Capital Expenditure.”
OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER
7,180,489 will be spent on “Subscription to Professional Bodies.” What “Professional Bodies” does the Office of the National Security Adviser belong to? I don’t know of any.
The National Security Adviser will spend 9,065,996,000 to “Construct Stravisnky Project” and 8,721,364,000 to “Develop All Eye Project.” I do not know what these projects are and if they are worth the amount that has been budgeted for them, so I cannot say much about them.
1,015,000,000 on the other hand, will be used to “Renovate/Furnish ONSA Annex Office.” If we can spend this huge amount to “Renovate/Furnish” a building, what will happen when we will have to construct new buildings? Will we have to dedicate our entire National budget to it?
737,150,500 is budgeted for the “Procurement of Medical Equipment for the Service Medical Centre” by the Directorate of State Security Service. That is more than what 15 Teaching Hospitals in the country will spend on “Medical Equipment” combined: University of Uyo, University College Hospital (Ibadan), Lagos University, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Nigeria, University of Benin, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ilorin, University of Port Harcourt, University of Calabar, University of Maiduguri, Usman Dan Fodio University, Aminu Kanu University, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, and the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital. These fifteen Teaching Hospitals I just mentioned will spend a cumulative total of 680,700, 840 on “Medical Equipment,” less than what the Directorate of State Security Service will spend on the same item. It is quite startling, the priorities or scale of preference the drafters of our budget work with.
The National Intelligence Agency will spend 123,128,961 on the “Purchase of Sporting/Gaming Equipment.” That is almost double the amount of what the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth development, the Nigeria Football Federation and the National Institute for Sports will spend on the same item. The people at the National Intelligence Agency should decide if they want to gather actionable intelligence that will help our security agencies protect the territorial integrity of this country, or participate in the upcoming Olympics.
The National Intelligence Agency also budgeted 167,000,000 for the “Construction/Provision of Sporting Facilities” and another 398,395,500 for the “Construction/Provision of Recreational Facilities.” We need to find out what the people at the National Intelligence Agency actually do, because their budget looks like one for an expensive private secondary school.
The National Intelligence Agency also budgets a total of 533,395,500 for the “Construction/Provision/Rehabilitation/Repairs of Fire-Fighting Stations.” The Federal Fire Service on the other hand will spend 749,943,030 for the “Rehabilitation of Fire-Fighting Equipment (Abuja-Lagos).” Juxtaposing with the budget for the same item in the National Intelligence Agency, nothing justifies that amount except they somehow managed to open the fiery gates of hell, and are now battling the flames, or maybe they have just decided to play with fire this year.
The National Intelligence Agency (with all their intelligence) probably did not think the budget would be scrutinised, so they budgeted 2,479,581,721 for “Refund to State for Federal Government Road Projects.” You read it correctly. That item, of all places to be found, ended up in the budget for the National Intelligence Agency and not the Ministry of Works. If you are wondering what the National Intelligence Agency does, just know that their job is simply to gather foreign intelligence. So the questions now should be: why on earth should the National Intelligence Agency have a budget for the “Refund to State for Federal Government Road Projects?” Are they the Ministry of Works? Do they construct roads? Of what concern are road projects to them? Is it part of their job description? The best answer I can give to these questions is that, someone was definitely not intelligent enough in trying to fix in the budget, figures to be diverted to personal bank accounts.
The National Intelligence Agency will spend 1,331,033,200 on “Open-Source Internet Monitoring System.” Now, www.opensource.com defines Open-source software as “…software that can be FREELY used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone.” Wikipedia defines Open-source as “a development model [that] promotes universal access via a FREE license to a product’s design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.” I hope you paid attention to the capitalised words in both definitions. Now, what kind of “Open-source Internet Monitoring System” are we PAYING 1,331,033,200 for? They also budgeted 1,250,000,000 for “License for Microsoft Application and Other Software.” Not only does this smell of graft, in total, it is almost the entire budget for the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
“Fellow Nigerians” the Presidential Air Fleets have a budget of 3,652,577,943, that means 10,007,062 will be spent on the President’s Air-Fleet every single day till the end of 2016. 1,059,064,752 will be for the “Maintenance of Aircrafts”; 10,123,841 for “Generator Fuel”; 2,654,864 for “Honorarium and Sitting Allowance”; 235,970,921 is the budget for “Tools for Fixed Wing and Helicopter”; and 1,986,304 for “Plumbing Tools.”
We have come to the end of the eighth part of this budget analysis series. The in-between for today is: 500,000,000, the amount the National Hajj Commission will spend on the “Rehabilitation of Reception Centre.”
Have a wonderful day!
Saatah Nubari is a public affairs commentator. He tweets from @Saatah.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
