2022 Budget: Senate Faults NEITI Over N960m Personnel Cost for 43 Staff

Sunday Aborisade, in Abuja

The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) has faulted the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on its N960 million personnel cost claim in the 2022 budget, for 43 members of staff.

The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr.  Ogbonnaya Orji, appeared before the SPAC to present his 2023 Budget, for the first time.
Orji read the 2022 budget performance to the Committee and said the personnel cost of the agency was N960 million, while overhead cost was N760.9 million and capital budget put at N344 million.

He said 51 per cent of the personnel cost had been spent; while 58 per cent of overhead cost, but only 50 per cent of the capital vote has been released so far.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, in his response wondered how the agency spent only 51 per cent of its personnel cost as of November 2022.

He said it was the case of over bloated personnel cost in the agency.
He said, “You have only taken 51 per cent of your personnel cost at November, your personnel cost is really too high, you have only two months, you have just collected 51 per cent of your personnel cost.

“This is one case of personnel budget over bloated, what we are dealing with is systemic leakage.
“We are going to reduce your personnel cost to less than N500 million.”

The Executive Secretary explained that when the agency started operations, it was only on oil and gas, saying that now, the agency has moved into solid minerals and that the agency needed more manpower to carry out its operations.

The agency currently has 43 staff, according to NIETI Executive Secretary.
He said the agency had approval to recruit more staff and the provision was made available in the 2022 budget and the process had just been concluded.
He added that the newly recruited 70 staff were already captured by IPPIS and not yet being paid.

A member of the panel, Senator Ibrahim Danbaba, asked the Executive Secretary of NEITI to submit the nominal role of the agency to ascertain what he told the lawmakers.