REVEALED: Jonathan’s Government Spent N825bn on Travel, Allowance in 3 Years –FGN

The Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance yesterday disclosed that N828bn was spent as overhead expenditure on travel allowances, stationery and other expenditure items by top government functionaries and institutions from 2012 to 2014. This is even as the Unit hinted that in furtherance of its efforts to re-prioritise spending and cut cost on recurrent expenditure, it was also planning to introduce detailed price guidelines to ensure value for money in procurement by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
A statement by Special Assistant to the Finance Minister, Festus Akanbi, quoted the Head of the Efficiency Unit, Ms Patience Oniha, as making these disclosures at a Lagos event, adding that in order to reduce the incidence of cash, the deployment of Ministerial Debit Cards is being piloted. She stated that findings by the Unit of huge overhead expenditures by political and public office holders in the MDAs were based on extensive and detailed review of the Overhead Expenditure data of government for the period 2012 to 2014. According to her, another finding from the review was the large expenditure on honoraria and sitting allowances, refreshment and meals, books, fuel, publicity and adverts, thereby making overheads expenditures to surpass capital allocations during the three-year period.
She said: "The Cumulative Expenditure on these five items was N825bn, representing 61 per cent of the Cumulative Total Overhead Expenditure of N1,353bn for 2012 to 2014. "This means that the average amount expended annually on these five items during this period was N275bn. The estimate for 2015 shows a continuation of this trend." Oniha disclosed further than in relation to procurement, which has been identified as a major source of potential savings for government, the Efficiency Unit had prepared a list of goods and services which are regularly procured by MDAs. She pointed out that by pooling the demand of MDAs, there would be opportunities to leverage the resultant bargaining power and secure price discounts and other benefits from suppliers. This strategy will deliver savings and reduce the administrative costs inherent in the current procurement process, which is rather fragmented. "Developed countries such as the USA, UK, Canada and Hong Kong have used this strategy successfully to manage their expenditure.
Within Nigeria, large and diversified private sector organisations manage their procurement in a similar manner. "As a country, Nigeria should be no exception, more so when resources need to be managed tightly to promote spending on capital projects such as infrastructure," she said. Oniha also disclosed that the Unit had initiated discussions with suppliers of air travel services for the purpose of price negotiation, adding that this expenditure item was prioritised because local and international travels represented the single largest overhead expenditure item in the period under review, with an average of N83bn spent annually. This presents a potential savings opportunity of N4.14bn annually at an estimated price discount of five per cent.
The Unit Head explained that honoraria and sitting allowances was another expenditure item where the Unit has identified potential for cost savings, representing one of the top eight expenditure areas with an average of almost N13bn spent yearly She assured that, with the support of the Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, she was confident that the Unit will pursue the implementation of its recommendations to deliver cost savings to government, while it continues its engagement with stakeholders in order to achieve its objectives.