The National Assembly has discovered at least 590 suspicious line items allegedly smuggled into the 2017 budget during the ongoing budget defence by government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Consequently, Senate President Bukola Saraki has given all Senate committee chairmen a working document and directed them to thoroughly examine all allocations in the budget in the bid to avoid another ‘budget padding’ that characterised the 2016 Budget.
The working document, entitled “2017 Budget: Frivolous & Suspicious Items”, was presented yesterday at a meeting of the Senate president and all the standing committee chairmen where they deliberated on the budget defence exercise.
The document, which was specifically prepared for the National Assembly by a leading government transparency organisation – BudgiT, outlined questionable 590 line items in the 2017 budget from 32 MDAs. The document was presented to each committee chairman by Saraki.
BudgiT listed the concerned MDAs, the suspicious or frivolous line items, amount budgeted and a question or comment against each which will be determined by the National Assembly standing committees during the budget defence exercise.
Reports have it that the State House (Presidential Villa) has 21 questionable line items listed against it; the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) has 30; while the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has 16. Anti-corruption agencies are not excluded with 11 line items listed against the ICPC and three against the Code of Conduct Bureau (CBB).
Affected MDAs include the ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Interior, Justice, Mines and Steel Development, Industry, Trade and Investment, Niger Delta, Water Resources, Information and Culture, Transport, Labour & Employment, Agriculture, Petroleum Resources, Education, Defence, Environment and Power, Works and Housing.
Others are the ministries of Health, Youth and Sport Development, Foreign Affairs, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF), Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, Police Service Commission (PSC), Bureau of Public Service Reforms, National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) and Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).
According to the document, its authors are a civic organisation driven by the desire to make the Nigerian budget and public data more understandable and accessible across every literacy span.
“This document does not exhaust all the frivolous and suspicious items in the proposed 2017 budget. We hope this will serve as a guide to the National Assembly during the budget defence sessions.
“We state that our comments are without prejudice and are raised from concerned citizens. This should allow the National Assembly to ask questions to ensure proper allocation of funds,” it noted.