The Federal Government will spend the sum of N94.5 million to purchase
bullet-proof tyres for the use of President Muhammadu Buhari and others in
the 2017 fiscal year, Permanent Secretary, State House, Jalal A. Arabi,
has said.
The purchase of canteen and Kitchen equipment on the other hand will gulp
N100.8 million.
This is contained in the break-down of the State House 2017 budget
presented by Arabi to the Senate Committee on Federal Character and
Inter-Governmental Affairs.
The number of treated (bullet-proof) tyres that will be purchased with
N94.5 million was however unspecified.
The Permanent Secretary told the committee that a total sum of N94.5
million is proposed for 2017 representing 50% of the actual sought for in
2016.
He noted that they expected that the amount will address the shortfall and
compliment the requirement of “the sector which are mostly treated tyres
procured at exorbitant price.”
On why the tyres should be purchased at “exorbitant price” Arabi explained
that “some of the tyres being purchased are actually treated
(bullet-proof)” and hence constituted the bulk of the purchase cost.
On canteen and kitchen equipment, Arabi said that the sum of N100.8
million was provided for in the 2017 proposal for the items.
He added, “This amount is principally the un-released appropriation for
2016 which was the unpaid balance in 2015 for contracts awarded and
executed. The sum of N80.2million appropriated in 2016 has up to this
moment not been released hence its roll over and inclusion in 2017.”
He noted that it was important to mention that the proposal covered
kitchen equipment in the main residence, VP residence, banquet hall, State
House medical centre, State House auditorium and 22 other guest houses.
On electricity charges, he said that N45.3 million was approved in the
2016 budget for the purpose.
He said that the State House electricity bill for 2016 alone as forwarded
by Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for State House Abuja was
N252 million with another outstanding liability of over N300 million for
State House, Lagos facilities.
He noted that the provision in the 2016 budget could not accommodate the
outstanding liability.
He said that the management of the State House was forced to install
meters in 2016 to ensure proper billing “and that was what reduced the
bill to a reasonable figure.”
Arabi said that since the bills were currently subject of reconciliation
“we have made a modest provision of the sum of N319.6 million for 2017 to
settle current and part of outstanding bills as noted above.”
He said that other outstanding bills will be captured in 2018 proposals.
Arabi said that a “modest provision of N4.9 billion” was made for annual
routine maintenance of Villa facilities for the 2017 fiscal year.
He said that they considered some factors including exchange rate and
inflation trends before coming up with the provision.
He said, “The services under this heading are very wide and vary. For
instance in 2016 alone, our analysis indicated a consumption of about 123
trailers (about 4million liters) of diesel in the State House Power House
alone and which falls under this arrangement. This gives a conservative
estimate of almost N900 million on diesel consumption alone. This would
rise higher in 2017 unless drastic measures are taken to lower the price
of diesel and improve power supply in 2017.”
Arabi said that another major contributing factor to the rising cost was
the undetermined nature of unscheduled works that come at the instance of
“our principals.”
He noted that the facilities covered under the maintenance arrangement
included but not limited to maintenance of electrical/mechanical
installations, building and civil infrastructure in President/VP
residences and offices, President/VP safe houses, banquet hall, council
chambers, State House conference center, Villa administrative block,
presidential and ministerial chalets as well as Airport lounges.
The Permanent Secretary said that the sum of N52.8 million was provided
for sewerage charges in 2017.
He said that the bills received from Abuja Environmental Protection Board
(AEPB) for liquid waste disposal for the State House for 2016 is N15.6
million with outstanding liabilities of previous years standing at N37.5
million totaling N52.8 million.
He noted that the figure remained consistent over the years which informed
the provision of the same amount in the sum of N52.8million in 2017.
Arabi said that the position was the same sought for in 2016 proposal “but
only a paltry sum of N6.1 million was appropriated.
He said that they have already commenced negotiation with AEPB to arrive
at a mutually acceptable charges henceforth.
The Permanent Secretary put the sum of N5.08 billion as the total sum of
overhead expenditure.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Tijjani Kaura said that the State House
Medical centre should be properly funded by the center does not serve the
Presidential Villa alone but provides services for outsiders.