The PPA and other extant laws and regulations should be faithfully adhered to; complicit civil servants should be identified, punished, and flushed out of the service. These are some of the silver bullets the Tinubu’s administration should deploy to stop budget padding that benefits few vested interest to the detriment of millions Nigerians.
Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi central,has stirred the honeth nest with his allegation of budget padding to the tune of 3.7 trillions in the 2024 budget. Senator Ningi’s budget padding outburst has further put the integrity of the 10th National Assembly at stake. Senators are constitutional empowered to make laws, approve budget and carry out oversight function etc.
However, since the inception of democracy in 1999, the hallowed red chamber, has been under scrutiny from Nigerians for wrong reasons. Our senators have been accused for throwing decorum to the wind ,demand bribes and engaged in many acts of corruptions. It was the former FCT minister, Nasiru Elrufai, who first in 1999 opened up the Pandora box . Elrufai who was a ministerial nominee, accused the senators for demanding bribes before they could screen him. Though, the senators had denied demanding anything from him, the weighty allegations against them that time, did not only paint the red chamber black, but also shatter its integrity. Not only that, late Senator Nuhu Aliyu, from Niger state had thrown another bomb shell. Late Nuhu Aliyu, who was a retired deputy commissioner of police, alleged in 2007 that, many serving senators were ex-convict. Nuhu stated that he arrested many of them but was surprised to see them elected as senators.
Besides, the Senate leadership is notorious for budget padding.
The issue of budget padding is known to be a recurring phenomenon in Nigeria, with the Executive accusing the legislature of padding the spending plan almost every fiscal year. This glaring sins have refused to go. Every leadership of the national assembly seems quilty of it. There have been allegations of budget padding under Buhari’s government since 2016.
The first allegation came to public light when Honourable Abulmumin Jibrin, the then House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, blew the whistle of padding in the 2016 budget.Jibrin, in 2016, alleged that Yakubu Dogara, the then speaker of the House of Representatives; his deputy, Yusuf Lasun; House whip, Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, had inserted projects worth several billions of naira into the 2016 budget. Jibrin later added another lawmaker, Abonta Abonta, to the list.Among the many allegations was the introduction of “about 2,000 projects … amounting to about N284 billion” into the 2016 budget by members of ’10 out of the 96 Standing Committees of the House.’In 2018, President Buhari accused lawmakers of budget padding when he signed the 2018 budget.According to him, the projects inserted by the National Assembly would be “be difficult to execute.”
Similarly, president Buhari, on January 2,2023 signed the 2023 appropriation Bill into law with aggregate expenditures of N21.83 trillions,an increase of 1.32 trillion over the initial executive proposal for a total expenditure of 20.51 trillion. Buhari noted that the national assembly introduced new projects into the budget proposal costing up to N770.72 billions and increased the Provisions made by ministries, Departments and agencies (MDAs) by 58.55 billions. These incidents point on how budget paddings were exposed under Buhari’s government.
Senator Abdul Ningi is not a first time Senator.
When he talked, there must be an element of truth. Instead of suspending him, the Senate president should have constituted a committee to investigate his claims. Little wonder,since his outburst and subsequent suspension,the Bauchi born lawmaker has been receiving sympathy and applause from Nigerians. Despite the fact budget padding is a recurring phenomenon, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu needs to put an end to it. Amidst dwindling revenues, inserted fictitious or no existence projects worth trillions of naira will push the country into precipe.
Although the constitution confers the powers of appropriation on the NASS, such powers are not absolute. Lawmakers have no right to introduce new projects into budget proposals, especially projects that have not undergone environmental impact assessment. Projects require planning, feasibility tests, land acquisition and buy-in by state and local stakeholders. There should be an identified source of funding. Budgeting is an executive document which contains the priority projects of the executive. However, when priority projects are removed outright and unplanned projects of lawmakers are introduced arbitrarily, this frustrates the agenda of the executive and renders budgets un-implementable. Annoyingly, lawmakers never care about funding sources when inserting spending items or creating new ones.There should be an end to the padding. One option is to take the matter before the Supreme Court for interpretation of the constitution on budgeting.
Padding can also be tackled from the crime and law enforcement perspective. Lawmakers and civil servants implicated in budget padding should not be spared. Failure to prosecute offenders has sustained corrupt practices, emboldened, and enriched the perpetrators. The anti-corruption agencies should pursue offenders with tenacious efficiency. The PPA and other extant laws and regulations should be faithfully adhered to; complicit civil servants should be identified, punished, and flushed out of the service. These are some of the silver bullets the Tinubu’s administration should deploy to stop budget padding that benefits few vested interest to the detriment of millions Nigerians.
IBRAHIM MUSTAPHA PAMBEGUA, KADUNA STATE. 08169056963.