2021 Budget: How N47.023 Billion Special Allowance On Foreign Missions Can Solve Nigeria Problems
President Mohammadu Buhari will spend N47.023 billion as special allowance for staff mostly political appointees on foreign missions.
This is in addition to the bogus salary being received by the staff most of whom are political appointees.
N47.023 billion (N47,023,737,292) can create and pay annual salary of more than fifty thousand (50,000) new jobs for Nigerian graduates.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Directorate of Technical Coop. in Africa, Technical AIDS Corps, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Nigerians In Diaspora Commission among others including the 109 Foreign Missions will spend N4.256 billion (4,256,657,866) as salary , N510 million (N510,348,662) as social contribution and N23.806 billion (N23,806,565,318) as overhead cost.
The overhead cost is mostly cost of transportation for international and local travels.
The MDA will spend a total of N47.023 billion as special allowance for the work they are already being paid for.
The special allowance is coded in the budget as foreign service.
There is nothing wrong in paying special allowance to staff on special assignment.
But it can only be done based on available resources.
A country like Nigeria with high rate of youth unemployment have right and the legitimacy to scrap, reduce or avoid such expenses.
Technical AIDS Corps alone will spend more than N3 billion as special allowance.
The Nigerian embassy in New York (PM) will spend more than N1.6 billion (N1,626,558,216) as special allowance.
Bad as it maybe, the whole staff in the University of Benin have less than N48 million as special allowance.
Other Foreign Missions special allowance include: London; N1,317,443,286, Washington; N1,115,040,470, New York (CG); N978,006,433, Berlin; N868,905,975, Tokyo; N723,702,941 amongst others too numerous to mention.
Available resources is a key factor in planning and preparing a budget.
It is more appropriate to make our recurrent expenditure 40% to available revenue. 20% saved as reserve and the remaining 40% used for new investment. We can only borrow when the new investment require more funds.
How can will borrow more than N5 trillion to finance special allowance payment to few individuals who are already receiving bogus salary.
A sinking ship cannot carry a moving ship.
But in the case of Nigeria, Buhari is planning for a dying plane to airlift an airworthy aircraft.
This is the precarious situation Buhari want to put us in 2021.
Gino tomatoes is already scarce in the market.
During a market survey yesterday, the traders said they could not buy the Gino tin and sachet tomatoes due to the new increase in prices of prepared tomatoes.
According to them, Gino is more on the high side. A sachet tomatoes of N50 is now N100.
2021 budget is nothing but a budget of doom.
