‘No vacancy in Aso Rock'

Former chairman of the board of trustees of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tony Anenih, on Monday, advised all presidential aspirants to forget such ambition, saying that there is no vacancy in the presidency, even as preparations for the presidential primaries of the party gathers momentum.

Mr. Anenih, who spoke in Benin at the opening of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation in Benin City, insisted that President Goodluck Jonathan remains Nigeria's consensus candidate for the election.

"We know that there is the Adamu Ciroma consensus candidate. We also know that there is a Nigerian consensus candidate and for that reason, there is no vacancy in Aso Rock. I don't waste my words, but we should prepare not only for the primaries, but for the general election to elect Goodluck Jonathan as president and Namadi Sambo as vice president," Mr. Anenih stated.

Speaking in the same vein, the director general of Jonathan/Sambo campaign organisation, Dahlatu Tafida, corroborated Mr. Anenih's comments, saying, "it is evident that there is no vacancy in every state we have visited. This is because we trying to sell a national product (Jonathan) and not a local product."

Mr. Tafida told the mammoth crowd at the ceremony that Edo State was the 27th state his organisation has so far visited, just as he called on warring PDP members of the state to close ranks and forge a common front to dislodge their opponent from the Edo State Government House.

Edo State coordinator of the campaign organisation and former deputy governor of the state, Lucky Imasuen, said the support for Jonathan was as a result of his ability to deliver democracy dividends to the people.

The event was witnessed by the deputy governor of Cross River State; a representative of the acting governor of Delta State; PDP senators, House of Representatives members, and PDP chairman in the state, Dan Orbih, amongst others.

Government budgets N4.2tr for 2011

The federal government has proposed a budget of N4.2 trillion for the 2011 financial year, with a crude oil benchmark pegged at $62 per barrel.

Capital expenditure is expected to take N1 trillion while the remaining N3.2 trillion will be gulped by recurrent expenditure.

It was confirmed that contrary to earlier reports, the federal government intends to commence a cut in the recurrent expenditure starting from the 2012 financial year. The Presidency was however still tinkering with the budget proposal ahead of its presentation to the joint session of the national assembly today.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, approved a request by President Goodluck Jonathan to extend the lifespan of the 2010 budget to March 31, 2011.

Mr Jonathan had made the request to the National Assembly two weeks ago, following the row between the House and the Executive arm over the poor implementation of the capital component of the budget.

The House had threatened not to consider the 2011 Appropriation Bill until it was satisfied with the implementation of the capital profile of the budget. It however, rescinded the decision last week after the president’s letter.

Cutting the work force

It was learnt that the government can only cut recurrent expediture if things can be reviewed, like the downsizing of the workforce in the ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) of government; and the merging of ministries, and parastatals.

Available information also revealed that the government is looking at the prospect of voluntary retirement and payoff for civil servants who are willing to leave the service.

“All these are cost saving measures but they are things that cannot be done overnight. It is not a six months thing. The government will have to do this gradually and over time,” a top Presidency official said yesterday in an interview.

The ministry of finance, as part of steps towards the auditing of staff of the civil service and MDAs had already spent over N12 billion in building a database of staff in 16 MDAs with a view to cover all the MDAs and parastatals of government by the end of the 2011 financial year.

“This processes require time,” the source said adding that “people who will be laid off will have to be paid or provided alternative jobs. It has to be planned carefully in order for it not to have a back lash effect,” the source said.

It was however gathered that the disproportionate budgeting pattern had been a subject of concern to the Minister of Finance Olusegun Aganga, hence the setting up of a committee in September to review the expenditure pattern and advise government appropriately.

The committee, as at the time of finalising the 2011 budget proposal, was yet to turn in its report.