ABUJA—Despite strident denials by top officials of
the National Assembly, it has been discovered that
the legislators padded the 2016 budget to the tune
of N481 billion.
Documents obtained by Vanguard showed that apart
from padding the budget with the huge sum, forcing
the Presidency to raise alarm over it, NASS also
unilaterally jerked the votes meant for constituency
projects from N60 billion to N100 billion.
from padding the budget with the huge sum, forcing
the Presidency to raise alarm over it, NASS also
unilaterally jerked the votes meant for constituency
projects from N60 billion to N100 billion.
But the Chairman of the House of Representatives
Committee on Appropriation, Abdul Jibrin, who was
fired last week, had said the Speaker allowed 10
committee chairmen to insert projects worth N284
billion and washed his hands off the illegal action.
The House leadership, however, said Jubrin was
fired for fixing the budget, a development he
vehemently denied.
Vanguard found out from the document exclusively
obtained from the National Assembly that the
lawmakers ingeniously removed some key projects
proposed by the executive or drastically reduced
their costs and introduced many others not
contemplated by the Presidency which prepared the
budget.
Among the projects which votes were surreptitiously
jerked up without the knowledge of the executive,
were Nigerian railway modernization project: Lagos
– Kano standard gauge rail line project, which cost
was raised by N32.5 billion and the consultancy
dredging and river training works (N609 million)
under the Ministry of Transportation.
Others, according to the document, are the Code of
Conduct Bureau which had N4.4billion added to its
vote, provision of broadband Internet Service to
National Assembly by Nigcomsat, N318 million,
Training and Consultancy for Nigcomsat 2 Project,
N3.5 billion etc, in the Ministry of Communications.
Most scandalous, according to the document, is the
case of Ministry of Works, Power and Housing
where 82 new projects, principally roads, with a
total provision of about N50.63 billion, were
inserted in the budget..
The Presidency, which reviewed the budget, said: “A
large number of these projects are outside the
mandate of the relevant Ministry (e.g. the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the
Ministry of Works, Power & Housing); or statutorily
outside the FGN’s mandate (like intra-city and state
road projects); or cannot be implemented as there
are no designs or costings made for them.
“The amounts proposed for some MDAs’ projects
were increased significantly without due
consultations on implementation capacity or
additional financing needs for the projects.
This amounts to tying down resources that could
have been applied to more impactful projects in
other areas.
“In addition, hundreds of new projects that have no
relationship to the MDA’s were introduced and
simply cannot be implemented. Among these are
the construction of town halls, township street
lights, procurement of transformers and tricycles
under the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing
and the building of classrooms under the Ministry
of Agriculture etc,” the document revealed.
Also, the executive proposal of N4.06 billion for the
provision for test kits, vaccines and anti-retroviral
drugs under the Federal Ministry of Health was
reduced to N1.01 billion.
“As a result of this reduction, there shall be
vaccines stock-out by October 2016 and, among
other things, the gains of polio eradication will be
lost, and the government will be hampered in the
battle against HIV.
“Very large cuts have been made to proposals for
many important projects in several MDAs and the
sums applied to fund hundreds of new projects.
“The Bill (2016 budget) cannot be implemented in
its current form because some of the figures in the
Bill passed do not correspond with the figures in
the budget details accompanying the Bill.
“The aggregate expenditure as contained in the
budget details as passed, is higher than that in the
Appropriation Bill by about N481 billion, compared
to the Appropriation Bill.
“The executive made provision for the sum of N60
billion to be used by members of the National
Assembly in funding their constituency projects.
This was increased by the National Assembly to
N100 billion.
“It is, therefore, unclear why, in spite of this
increase, the National Assembly felt it necessary to
divert funds from line Ministries for their
constituency projects, having already provided for
same in the Service Wide votes.
“The amounts allocated to a number of important
projects in a number of key ministries have been so
reduced that they cannot be implemented. The
savings from these reductions have been re-
allocated to hundreds of new projects which have
not been designed or costed and so cannot be
implemented.
Giving specific details of the projects, which votes
were slashed and the fund moved to other
extraneous ones, the document revealed that some
key allocations for programmes/projects under the
Service-Wide Votes, SWV, were either reduced or
removed outright, pointing out the dangers posed
by such decisions.
For instance, the provision of N3 billion for
adjustment to capital cost was removed, while the
provision for “capital exigency” was reduced by
about 56% from N12.5 billion to N5.5 billion. The
executive fears the reduction may affect the ability
to meet any unforeseen capital expenditure.
The provision for pensions & gratuity was reduced
by about N12.06 billion, while that for Public
Service Wage Adjustment, PSWA, was reduced by
N14 billion.
Among others, allocations to the health sector for
outstanding payments to health professionals (by
N2bn), Internal Operations for the Armed Forces (by
N3bn), and Operation Lafiya Dole (by N2bn) were
also reduced. These reductions could potentially
trigger industrial actions or pensioners’ protests and
constrain the ongoing security operations in the
North-East during the fiscal year, if not remedied.
The emergence of the document seems to have put
paid to the claim by the NASS that it did not pad
the budget, a claim dismissed by Jibrin.
Jibrin had said: “When the budget harmonization
committee headed by Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun
gave out 80% concession across board to the
executive demands during the harmonization
negotiation, it was agreed that the remaining 20%
should go to the entire NASS. The deputy speaker
excused himself that he wanted to go and consult
with Mr Speaker.
“He came back after a few hours and in an
unprecedented display of greed, presented to me a
hand written note distributing the remaining 20% to
only principal officers. 70% of the 20% was reserved
for Mr Speaker and himself while the remaining
30% of the 20% goes to other principal officers.”
How Jibrin changed 2016 budget —Reps
Meamwhile, the House of Representatives,
yesterday, alleged that Jibrin, single handedly
changed the budget estimates presented by
President Muhammadu Buhari to the National
Assembly by adding N250 billion into it.
The House also accused the embattled former
Appropriations Chairman of deliberate plot to
blackmail the President during the budget process
by inserting funds for the so called Muhammadu
Buhari Film Village in his constituency in Kano State
without the consent or solicitation of the President
.
This is as the Chairman, House Committee on
Health Services, Chike John Okafor, accused the
embattled former appropriations committee
chairman of tampering with the health budget by
allegedly putting for himself N500 million health
project in his constituency without the consent of
the committee.
This is as the Chairman, House Committee on
Health Services, Chike John Okafor, accused the
embattled former appropriations committee
chairman of tampering with the health budget by
allegedly putting for himself N500 million health
project in his constituency without the consent of
the committee.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, Chairman, House
Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak
Namdas, accompanied by other committee
members, explained that Jibrin was removed as a
result of credibility problem he had brought to the
House in particular and National Assembly as a
whole.
He said: “His removal was based on sundry acts of
misconduct, incompetence, total disregard for his
colleagues and abuse of the budgetary process,
Immaturity and lack of capacity to handle the Office
of Chairman, Appropriations.”
Jibrin makes
U-turn, demands police protection
Meantime, Jibrin, who disclosed at the weekend
that Nigerian Police operatives were laying siege to
his Abuja residence with a view to arresting him
over budget padding revelations, has made a U-turn
and is requesting police protection.
Vanguard gathered last Thursday, following his
removal as Chairman of the Appropriation
Committee and his threat to reveal dealings
involving alleged padding of the budget by principal
officers of the House, the Police at Force
headquarters invited him to depose to a statement
about his allegations.
After several invitations, including telephone
conversations, Jibrin refused to answer the Police
summons but instead relocated from his home to
an unknown place to, according to him, avoid being
arrested by the Police who allegedly laid siege to
his house.
