Written by Bosede Olusola-Obasa
Frontline business professionals have said the failure to implement previous budgets on human development allowed security to take much of the 2012 budget proposals.
In the budget presented to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday, the highest vote went to security, an area perceived to be challenging for the administration.
Security got N922bn, education got N400.15bn, health – N282.8bn, works–N180.8bn, power –N161.4bn, agriculture–N78.98bn, Niger Delta –N59.7bn, petroleum resources–N59.7bn, transportation–N54.8bn, aviation – N49.2bn, among others.
Although the budget is tagged a stepping stone to economic transformation, analysts said its breakdown did not suggest that things would go that way except if the votes for education, health, works, agriculture, power were religiously implemented.
They urged the Federal Government to ensure accountability in the use of the security vote.
The President and Chairman of Governing Council, National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, Chief Lugard Aimiuwu, said Jonathan and his team must ensure that the security vote was disbursed in a way that would bring a recovery to the economy.
He said all security agencies must be co-opted and be adequately trained to get the job done; while international allies must also be strategically courted.
He said, “I really appreciated what the National Security Adviser did recently when he held a meeting with past security advisers and service chiefs on the state of the nation. That was an intelligent thing to do; it showed that the man is a true professional. That is a crucial aspect of gathering intelligence.
“The Federal Government must prove its sincerity in putting so much on security.”
A director of the Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi, said it was unfortunate that a budget tagged ‘economic transformation’ had its highest vote on security.
He said that budgets in Nigeria had become mere documents, which the government did what it pleased with.
He called for a strategy that would prove that the FG understood what it wanted to achieve from the budget and not just pay lip service to security and economic transformation.
He said, “For a long time, I have not been paying close attention to the national budget because of the frustrations and disappointments that have arisen from non-implementation of same.
“This is a country where the budget is not fully implemented and they talk of returning money to government coffers. If we are serious about it this time, let emphasis be placed on funding all the security agencies, because it has become a huge challenge.”
Utomi, a management expert and entrepreneur, tasked civil society groups to monitor the government to ensure that results were achieved.
He said it was unfortunate that Nigeria currently ranked very low in Millennium Development Goals compared to smaller African countries it gave aids to.
Commission dismisses two senior policemen for misconduct Featured
Written by Adelani Adepegba, Abuja
The Police Service Commission has dismissed from service two senior policemen for acts of professional misconduct.
The commission, at the end of its meeting in Abuja on Thursday, approved the dismissal of Babatunde Jonathan and Sheikh Usman Umar, both Chief Superintendent of Police.
The PSC also approved the promotion of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Hassan Biu, to the rank of Commissioner of Police with effect from December 15, 2011 based on the Inspector-General of Police’s recommendation.
Similarly, nine other officers were reprimanded, while a Deputy Superintendent of Police had his rank reduced to Assistant Superintendent of Police for conduct unexpected of a senior police officer.
The chairman of the commission, Parry Osayande, said the PSC would always reward hard work and diligence with elevation, while all acts against police conduct would not go unpunished.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, has inaugurated the Police Biometric Central Motor Registry with a call on the force to take an advantage of the advancement in technological innovations to protect lives and property.
He called for the integration of the BCMR with the new driving licence database and the National Communication Commission database for effective security system, adding that a proper utilisation of these databases would help to detect stolen vehicles and reduce car theft in the country.
The IG, Hafiz Ringim, said the upgraded BCMR would provide first-hand information and authentic database for police operational guide on crime prevention and detection in place of reliance on secondary data hitherto provided the force by other agencies.
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