President Bola Tinubu Budgets for Phantom Chief Economic Adviser: N215.8m

(iexclusivenews) – President Bola Tinubu has proposed to spend N215,816,088 on the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President (OCEAP) in the 2024 budget.

This is one of the allocations in the 2024 appropriation bill that Tinubu presented to the National Assembly.

According to FIJ the office has been virtually non-existent since 2015, when Goodluck Jonathan left office.

The OCEAP has no official website, as www.oceap.gov.ng is a dead link that does not open on any browser or network.

Zero Personnel, Huge Overhead and Capital

The OCEAP is the 15th item on page four of the 2,290-page budget document. It has no personnel cost, which means that no staff salaries or allowances are paid for this office.

However, the entire allocation is divided into overhead and capital expenditure, with N76,146,337 and N139,669,751 respectively.

According to FIJ who examined the line items under these categories and found that the most costly item is N13.9 million for miscellaneous expenses.

These include refreshment and meals, honorarium and sitting allowance, publicity and advertisements, postages and courier services, and annual budget expenses and administration.

The total amount for these items is N13,935,540, according to the budget.

Another N13,300,673 is allocated for maintenance of various items, such as motor vehicle, office furniture, office building, office/IT equipment, and plants/generators.

The OCEAP also plans to spend N10,384,680 on materials and supplies, with the bulk of the money going to office stationeries/computer consumables (N4,458,899) and newspapers (N2,440,000).

MORE NEWS:

FG Slashes 50% Fare Cut Free Train Rides For Festive Season Lists Transporters 

CBN Cracks Down on Cash Hoarders, POS Merchants, Launches Complaint Portal

A History of Vacancy and Waste

The OCEAP was established in 1999 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who appointed Philip Asiodu as his Chief Economic Adviser (CEA).

Asiodu resigned in 2001 and was replaced by Magnus Kpakol.

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua appointed Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi as his CEA in 2007, and President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Precious Garba as his CEA in 2010.

Meanwhile, Garba was the last CEA to the President until 2022, when Muhammadu Buhari appointed Doyin Salami as his CEA in his final year in office.

President Buhari had governed the country without a CEA for seven years, during which Nigeria experienced two economic recessions.

Buhari was the first Nigerian president to operate without a CEA, and Tinubu has followed his footsteps.

Despite the absence of a CEA, the OCEAP has continued to receive budgetary allocations every year.

iexclusivenews gathered that between 2015 and 2021, the OCEAP received over N543.66 million, even though no one was occupying the office.

On September 16, 2023, Tinubu appointed Tope Fasua as his special adviser on economic affairs.

However, this is not the same as the CEA, as Adeyemi Dipeolu, who held the same position under Buhari, confirmed to a newspaper that he was not the CEA.

The role of the CEA is crucial for the economic management and policy formulation of the country.

However, Tinubu seems to have no interest in filling this vacancy, while allocating millions of naira to a phantom office.

It is unclear who will justify this allocation at the National Assembly, and who will account for its utilization at the end of the fiscal year.

Source: FIJ