Provision of N1.5b in Abia budget for 2 Hilux vehicles a mistake – Gov. Otti

However, Governor Otti has clarified the matter, attributing the controversial figure to a software failure during the preparation of the budget, using  the Excel package.

“When I saw that report, I knew something was wrong. I knew it could either be the units or the price. So, I called the Commissioner for Budget and Planning and asked him to check it out and call me back. He did and reported that it was neither the units nor the price that was wrong but the excel,” Otti said:

“If you use excel and the formula is not very right on a particular line, you are bound to have a problem like that. It’s a mistake that has been corrected.

“When the news of the bloated figure got to me, I immediately had to cross-check the budget numbers and found that the N1.5 billion was not translated to the total budget figure.

“In statistics and even in accounting, there is what is referred to as the materiality concept, and that talks to the significance of a number to influence the outcome. So if you check N1.5 billion against N487 billion budget, that translates to about 0.3%, less than half percent of the total figure, and I believe that it is not that significant in determining the outcome. So even if the wrong number was carried down to the total, it wouldn’t have been material.

“But suffice it to say that anything that comes from government must be correct. It is an error, and it has been corrected.

“I must thank the people who pointed out the error. It means that people are vigilant; people are checking and I encourage people to check, and hold the government to account.

“I believe that our people should remain awake and be vigilant and hold governments to account because the governments are governments of the people, for the people, and by the people and that is the definition of democracy.”

However, Otti has clarified the matter, attributing the controversial figure to a software failure during the preparation of the budget, using  the Excel package.

“When I saw that report, I knew something was wrong. I knew it could either be the units or the price. So, I called the Commissioner for Budget and Planning and asked him to check it out and call me back. He did and reported that it was neither the units nor the price that was wrong but the excel,” Otto said:

“If you use excel and the formula is not very right on a particular line, you are bound to have a problem like that. It’s a mistake that has been corrected.

“When the news of the bloated figure got to me, I immediately had to cross-check the budget numbers and found that the N1.5 billion was not translated to the total budget figure.

“In statistics and even in accounting, there is what is referred to as the materiality concept, and that talks to the significance of a number to influence the outcome. So if you check N1.5 billion against N487 billion budget, that translates to about 0.3%, less than half percent of the total figure, and I believe that it is not that significant in determining the outcome. So even if the wrong number was carried down to the total, it wouldn’t have been material.

“But suffice it to say that anything that comes from government must be correct. It is an error, and it has been corrected.

“I must thank the people who pointed out the error. It means that people are vigilant; people are checking and I encourage people to check, and hold the government to account.

“I believe that our people should remain awake and be vigilant and hold governments to account because the governments are governments of the people, for the people, and by the people and that is the definition of democracy.”