WEEKLY FEC BILLION NAIRA CONTRACT APPROVALS MUST END WITH BUHARI'S FIRST TERM!

ZION B-BC   NEWSLETTER.  

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 301. 18th May, 2019.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You   Free! (John.8:32).

WEEKLY FEC BILLION NAIRA CONTRACT APPROVALS MUST END WITH BUHARI'S FIRST TERM!

The acronym FEC, (Federal Executive Council), under which the regular weekly meetings between the President, his Vice and Ministers of Government is convened is an aberration - a misnomer, because the term neither exists nor conforms with any provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999!

Chapter VI, Section 148 (1) (2) (a) (b) (c), titled, "Executive responsibilities of Ministers" specifically charged that,” the President may, in his discretion, assign to the Vice President or any Minister. ...responsibility for any business of the Government of the Federation, including the administration of any department of government;.....HOLD REGULAR meetings with his Vice and all the Ministers. .... for the purposes of: .... DETERMINING the general direction of domestic and foreign policies of Government. ..... CO-ORDINATING the activities of the President, his Vice and Ministers of the Federation in the discharge of their executive responsibilities. ..... and ADVISING the President generally in the discharge of his executive functions ...... OTHER THAN. ...... those functions with respect to which he is required BY THE CONSTITUTION to SEEK the ADVICE or ACT on the RECOMMENDATION of any OTHER PERSON or BODY."

In view of the above Constitutional provisions, a change of nomenclature should be effected without further delay for the APC Administration to be Constitution compliant. The title, "PRESIDENT AND MINISTERS MEETING" (PMM), no doubt is a more appropriate appellation and not FEC; second, outside of constitutional budgets formulation and execution according to due process with Legislative oversight and approval, it was not stated that the President and his Ministers "in council", should approve weekly appropriation bills always solicited for by the ministers!

FEC, was introduced through an error of commission or omission or as a carry-over of the military mentality as the nation transited from martial to "civil" laws under a retired Army General! Although the aberration had been publicly criticised by the media, civil societies and various organisations, but the appointed professionals who should check the anomaly especially, in the Ministry of Information/National Orientation Agency, of the consecutive administrations since 1999, insist on correct procedure, did not bother to correct a glaring error which was at variance to the Federal Constitution! Approval of BILLION NAIRA CONTRACTS for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including parastatals had been a weekly exercise in 20 years of the new democratic process, while less attention was given to more pressing demands of the nation's political, economic, and social programmes especially, the recalcitrant challenge of insecurity across board!
On our part, We had drawn the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to this anomaly, and had pointed out that if the Constitution and the LAW had to prevail in the long run, all administrative and financial transactions of that body from 1999-2019, would be termed as VERY CORRUPT, NON-TRANSPARENT, IRREGULAR, UNLAWFUL, CRIMINALLY-MOTIVATED AND EXECUTED, would be declared NULL & VOID and should be punished appropriately!
The Presidents Management/Economic Teams, past and present, which were appointed on the basis of their professional capabilities/dexterity, (especially, the Ministers for Justice and Attorney Generals), who should have rightly interpreted the law, should first be held responsible while total blames rest on the executive presidents on whose tables," THE BUCK STOP!

WHERE WERE THE BILLIONS OF WEEKLY NAIRA CONTRACTS STACHED?
Until 2015, when some measure of sanity pervaded Nigeria's economic and fiscal responsibility space, through the advent of the Change APC Government, which was persistent on checks and balances through meticulous monitoring of budget execution and implementation, methods of budget approval on weekly basis, was an all-comers affair by PDP's consecutive PREDATOR Administrations which had no qualms about probity or the welfare/security of the citizens and most contract monies were embezzled with institutional impunity because the TREASURY was virtually empty at the exchange of guards! 

We have no doubt that the guilty would someday answer to posterity and to God in respect of discrepancies which they deliberately condoned for their illicit gains but to the hurt of the Talakawas who still wallow in abject poverty in the 21st Century where digital information technology infrastructure holds sway globally and can proffer solutions to virtually any subject or challenge under the Sun!

FLURRY OF CONTRACT AWARD ACTIVITIES AT FEC MEETINGS AS APC'S FIRST TERM WINDS UP!
If the transition from 29th May 2019, would not be a continuity of the All Progressives Congress (APC's), administration, the rate at which FEC Meetings of the past two months had awarded contracts worth billions of naira to Ministers/Ministries, SHOULD BE SUSPECT! Our attention is especially drawn to the Ministry of Aviation which committed the nation to the loss of millions of US dollars, during an adventurous solo-venture into its pet-dream of the launch of a National Carrier, tagged, "Nigeria Air`", initiated and, or, commissioned (?), without the blessings of the Federal Government, at a London Air Fair in July, 2018!
According to its Minister, the anticipated "Carrier" would have begun operations before December 2018, with Federal Government Share put at 05%, while undisclosed Private Partners' Share was fixed at 95%, but the CONTRACT was rejected and aborted because Government said, "it was not carried along"!
Having failed in that venture, the Ministry had sought for and succeeded in getting the following contracts through FEC:
N 743 million for procurement of security and safety gadgets as well as incidences laboratory for Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),
N391.8 million for procurement of pavement marking machines - visual aid for pilots for safe operations;
N1.187, 960,000 million Euros or N 414,543,760.23 million naira, excluding taxes!
Up till Wednesday, 16th, May, 2019, contracts were still approved to MDA's but to what purpose were these financial contract approvals intended? How many billions of naira approved to contractors at this dying days of APC's first term? Could the contracts still be executed before 29th May, 2019  or rolled over to the 2019 Budget Appropriation yet to receive Presidential assent; or would unspent monies be returned the Federation/Treasury Single Account, just like in the days of the late President Umaru Yar'Adua, of blessed memory?
ARE THE ALLEGED BAD EGGS AMONG PMB'S KITCHEN CABINET STILL HOLDING SWAY? If it were ("before, before"), between 1999-2015, no one would have raised an eye brow, because the norm then was to deliberately delay contracts execution till the end of every budget year with a view to withdrawing lots of monies into private pockets of the awardees and their collaborators!

IF FEC IS THE PROCURER, WHAT IS THE DUTY OF THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (BPP)?
We will not assume that our readers are accustomed to how annual budgets (itemized summary of intended expenditure), are formulated and executed, but will just break down the whole gamut in their proper perspectives according to the 1999 Federal Constitution: The Executive Arm is empowered to initiate proceedings of budget formulation being the Administrative Head of government by requesting all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies to forward to the Ministry of Finance, within a stipulated period, their sundry NEEDS, for a calendar year, for vetting, scrutiny and approval. [Chapter V, Section 81 (1) (2)].
THE National Assembly (NASS), has constitutional powers and control over public funds and also of oversight to subject the budget to rigorous scrutiny with the aim of sifting out discrepancies, according to Chapter V, Section 80 (1) (2) (3) (4), and also to conduct investigations, expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement of administration of funds appropriated by it.
During the recent public hearing on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), held at the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Finance, Appropriation, Aids, Loans, and Debt Management, the following parameters for executing the 2019 Budget, were agreed on: (1) Oil Production of 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd); (2) Oil price benchmark of USD $ 60 dollars; (3) Foreign exchange rate of N305 naira to a dollar; (4) Inflation rate at single digit 9.98%; (5) Nominal consumption at N119.28 trillion; (6) Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP),  N 139.65 trillion; and (7) GDP Growth Rate at 3.01%.
Once the budget received presidential assent as contained in the estimates, the Accountant General of the Federation will issue guidelines on public expenditure through: THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT WHICH ARE THE REGULATORY AUTHORITIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MONITORING AND OVERSIGHT OF: PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, HARMONIZING EXISTING GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES THROUGH REGULATIONS, SETTING STANDARDS, DEVELOPING LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY FOR PUBLIC PROCUREMENT IN NIGERIA! "FEC" HAS NO BUSINESS IN CONTRACT APPROVALS!

Between the year 1999-2000, procurement assessment report exposed an on-going fraud that the sum of 60 kobo was always lost to under-hand practices out of every One naira spent by the Federal Government! A swift reaction by government in 2001, brought on board an intervention crack detectives of the "Budget monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit”, which quickly checkmated the national financial embarrassment! NIGERIANS MUST ALSO RISE IN UNISON TO MONITOR ALL THE RECENT FEC BILLION NAIRA ALLOCATIONS TO MDA's AND BLOW THE WHISTLE  AGAINST  ECONOMIC SABOTEURS IN BUHARI'S GOVERNMENT! FOLLOW THE MONEY - YOUNG HAMZA, NGOs, CSOs, ORGANISED LABOUR, STUDENT BODIES, NANS, SERAP!

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to all people.”(Proverbs. 14:34).

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to:  facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch.

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations.

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390.  08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.