When Remi Babalola, an accomplished banker was announced as Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Finance and being among the young men in the cabinet, he saw the appointment as an opportunity to learn the political dynamism of public finance at higher level and to further contribute towards economic development of the country... Read

INTERVIEW: We Manage Disasters to Protect the Economy- AVM Audu-Bida

In this Exclusive Interview with the Editorial Team of the Economic Confidential, the Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it all about disaster management in Nigeria, citing recent examples, including development after the discovery of Beechcraft aircraft that was missing and the fate of its blackbox amongst other issues... Read

Federation Account: How They Share N579bn and N71bn in October 2008

At the meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in October 2008, the three tiers of government in Nigeria receive double allocations. The first is from the mandatory statutory and Vat with a total sum of N579bn, while withdrawal of N71bn from Excess Crude Account was made for augmentation. In the first disbursement (statutory) of nets after deductions, the highest recipients are from the oil producing states with Rivers receiving N18.5bn, Akwa Ibom N13.2bn, Delta N9.5bn and Bayelsa N8.3bn. The highest recipients from non-oil –producing states are Lagos N7.9bn and Kano N7.7bn. The lowest recipients with as is authoritatively revealed in the table below are Gombe N2.7bn, Nasarawa N2.6bn, Ebonyi N3bn and Ekiti N3.3bn... Read

Reviewing Obasanjo’s Sermon on Obama’s Election

One thing our former President doesn’t state, which is necessary in an article like that is that Obama doesn’t have any godfather and doesn’t use any big corporate mafia to foot his campaign bills. He did not lobby members of his political party in public offices to channel states resources for his campaign... Read

Excise Duty and VAT Increase: Driving SMEs Underground

The collapse of crude oil prices from an all time high of almost $150/barrel to about $60/barrel in the last three months has jolted the major beneficiaries of our bloated export revenue. We, of course, do not include the 80% or over 100 million Nigerians who manage to find sleep every night in spite of empty stomachs in the class of major beneficiaries of our oil revenue... Read

Pension Scheme Generates N970bn

From the Director General of National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mr Muhammad K. Ahmad comes the news that the new pension scheme has generated over N970 billion as at end of August, 2008 which is made up of 300 billion naira Retirement Savings Account (RSA), contributed by about three and half million Nigerians and the remaining is inherited pension assets, known as Legacy Fund... Read

Obama's Election and the Needed Change- By Olusegun Obasanjo

Let me relate my first and only encounter with Senator Barrack Obama. In September 2007, during the Black Caucus Convention in Washington DC, I met and chatted with both Senator Hilary Clinton and Senator Barrack Obama separately, albeit briefly. One cannot but be impressed by Senator Obama's disposition, he was intelligent, quick-witted and smart in his reactions and answers to my few questions... Read

Kalu Leadership Series; An Insult on Intellect

Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of the south east Nigerian state of Abia is undoubtedly a young man with hot blood flowing in his veins. This intense adrenaline push on his system has giving him the impression he can foray into anything his deluded self impresses on him... Read

Can Nigeria Develop in the Face of Entrenched Fiscal Illegitimacies?

Budgets Don’t Matter Anymore

Virtually all national budgets in the last two decades have had very poor macroeconomic impact. Severe mismatch exist between the huge sums appropriated and the eventual developmental outcomes. Many reasons account for this trend... Read

Nigeria's Foreign Reserve: How Safe?

At present, Nigeria's external reserves, put currently at $63bn, are placed at the disposal of global financial sharks to gamble with, while there are monumental developmental challenges facing the country which require the injection of huge resources... Read

Another Controversy over N13.6tr Excess Revenue

Another controversy may likely brew on who should account for over N13.6tr shared between 2004 to date, Economic Confidential gathered. The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the constitutional body empowered to monitor accruals and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account has disclosed that N13.6 trillion excess revenue appropriated by the federal government and state governments from 2004 does not have record of spending and do not seem to be reflected in a subsequent year budget proposals to the legislators at the federal and state levels.... Read

*Financial Meltdown: Impact on Nigeria’s Capital Market and Foreign Reserves

*NEMA needs N6.7bn for equipment

*Etisalat Still Gambling in Nigeria’s Market

*FEDERATION ACCOUNT: ANOTHER DOUBLE ALLOCATION IN SEPTEMBER 2008

Statutory and VAT Disbursement: N715bn

Augmentation: N31bn

*INTERVIEW: World Bank Won’t Force Nigeria on Fresh Loan- Country Director

*INTERVIEW: One Oil Company Defaulted to Audit Enquiry- NEITI Boss

*How Federal, States and Local Governments Shared N16 trillion in 8 years of OBJ

*EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

We Monitor Revenue and Other Agencies Closely- FCC Boss

*Details of N3.3 tr Allocation to Local Governments in 8years