Nigeria producing crude at a loss

With the international oil prices currently pegged at about $30, Nigeria may be currently selling its crude at a loss.

According to industry sources, it costs the oil companies between $25 and $30 to produce a barrel. When the cost of shipping and demurrage is added to the cost of exploration, the total cost is above $30.

Hence, there is a concern that the Federal Government may not be able to recoup the cost of production in coming years.

Ministries plans to spend N10tr on capital projects in 2016

But for the Federal Government's constraint, ministries, departments and agencies planned to spend N10 trillion on capital projects in the current year, findings revealed.

A source at the Budget Office of the Federation said the MDAs' capital budgets were shutdown by the zero-based budgeting model adopted by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Zero-based budgeting, as against envelope budgeting, is thorough, critical and performance-based. Ongoing projects are critically analysed with each minister justifying why a project needs to be allocated funds to. 

The source also noted that the current budgeting was rushed, hence there were many errors that the government later struggled to correct the errors. 

According to the source, the missing budget saga was part of the arrangement aimed at correcting the errors that were committed during the budgeting. 

See a copy of the #MissingBudget

There was an online controversy on Wednesday, as millions of Nigerians and foreigners mocked the National Assembly over the reported missing 2016 appropriation document.

An online media broke the “missing document” story on Tuesday, a development that attracted scathing criticisms from many stakeholders. Many described the ‘speculation’ as the height of mischief by the lawmakers.

In the early hours of Wednesday, a former aide of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, mocked the National Assembly on Twitter.

He satirically called on the organisers of the Gulder Ultimate Search to dedicate the next edition of the annual television reality show to searching for the “missing document.”

“In case you buy akara, corn, suya or anything that can be wrapped with paper, please check that the wrapping paper is not the #MissingBudget. I think the #MissingBudget should be the object of the next Gulder Ultimate Search,” tweeted Omokri.

Interestingly, there was a mild drama on Twitter on Wednesday when a Qatar-based tweeter, Nasser Al-Saadi, urged Nigerian social media users to leave him out of the “missing document” palaver and channel their questions to the appropriate authorities.

Al-Saadi got into ‘trouble’ because of his Twitter handle – @nass. As Nigerian tweeters dismissed issues bearing on NASS, which had started trending since Tuesday, their tweets flooded the foreigner’s timeline.

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“My mention is on fire at the moment. Salute to people from Nigeria.

“Nigerians are asking me about their missing budget.

“Dear people of Nigeria, it is too late in #Qatar and I need to sleep. Take a break and start ranting tomorrow,” the tweeter said.

“@Nass, you have to change your Twitter handle. Otherwise, our National Assembly and its members will force us to continue to flood your timeline,” responded a Nigerian.

The Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, had dismissed the report, saying the document was not missing.

In a comment posted on the Senate’s Facebook page, he said, “The budget cannot be missing. The budget will be in custody of both chambers of the National Assembly. It cannot be stolen. It cannot be missing. Once the budget is before the National Assembly, it has become the property of the National Assembly.

On the visit of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to President Muhammadu Buhari after the report went viral, Ndume said, “Saraki's visit to the Villa is for Senate to know the President's priority. We want to see how we can fast track the passage of the budget before the end of February. What is before the Senate is a proposal; once the president signs it, there can be no amendment. We can turn the budget upside down, it cannot be missing.”

Despite the lawmaker’s denial, many Nigerians continued to criticise the National Assembly over the issue. Some people described it as the height of official negligence.

One Devine Prosper wrote, “Our lawmakers have disappointed us. We don't need Ndume’s make-up story; they all deserve to be recalled.”

On its part, Akolo Anzaku described “the loss” as connivance between the parliament and the executive to tinker with figures on the document. He, however, noted that Nigerians would not be fooled, especially as they had already taken note of the content of the Appropriation Bill.

Many commenters had also queried the proposal; especially the amount budgeted for the maintenance of the Presidential Villa. The critics said the figures did not show that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was ready to deviate from the perennial waste confronting the nation’s development.

As of Wednesday, there was online circulation of the soft copies of the bill. Those who posted them urged the National Assembly to visit the Internet to gather its pieces, supposing it was no longer in either executive or legislative official files.

As laughable as the advice sounded, that some Nigerians had already downloaded and kept copies of the yet-to-be approved document seem to underscore the level of vigilance among digital media users.   

Dogara in 'trouble' row for using escorts in church

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has defended his decision to attend church services with armed security operatives attached to him.

Dismissing online complaints that his decision amounted to abuse, Dogara, on Wednesday, called on those not comfortable with the presence of his security details at church services to ask the Federal Government to withdraw them.

Inasmuch as he remained the Speaker, the lawmaker told his critics, he would always go to church with the operatives.

“The day Dogara goes to church, he will have no security. At the moment, it is the Speaker and not Dogara that you see,” he noted in a tweet.

According to him, his official status demands that he goes everywhere with the full complement of security. 

Distinguishing between his person and the office, he tweeted, “The Speaker must always have full complement of security wherever he goes but not Dogara. The nation provides security not Dogara. Tell Nigeria the Speaker needs no security.”

His critics, had earlier in the week, bombarded him with questions on why he attended church services with armed security personnel. According to them, the decision is an abuse of his official privilege and a demonstration of unbelief in the power of God to protect him even in His presence.

“Whether you are a Speaker or not, you do not need security escorts to go with you to a house of God; except, you have unbelief,” Fadipe Adeoye, a self-acclaimed social critic, tweeted at Dogara.

“Why do you have to go to church with armed security men? Does that not mean that you do not feel safe in the house of God? One Dayo Aiyetan asked.

Tweeting on @abneroke, another social media commentator said the abuse of official facilities had become a disturbing feature in Nigeria’s public sector. Abner Oke said the only way the government could check the practice was to compel office holders to pay for official facilities whenever they use them for personal assignments.

However, some fans of the Speaker have stoutly defended his decision on the matter. Some of them, in fact, encouraged him, noting that religious houses in the country have become increasingly unsafe.

This not the first time Dogara would face a social media backlash with critics on issues relating to religion. Critics attacked him last year when he claimed in Jerusalem that the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose’s prayer helped him to win the speakership race.