Nigeria: Budget 2016 - the Devil Is in the Details!

By Wole Olaoye

The recent revelation that President Buhari was only
presented with the summary of the 2016 Budget shows
clearly that the monster of corruption will not die easily. I
am told that in the past, legislators hide some juicy items to
which they allocate large sums of money under allocations
to ministries or parastatals and then approach the relevant
government agency after the president's accent to 'deliver'
their share of the loot.

This time, they more than met their match in Buhari who
obviously had his ears to the ground.
If there is no intent to defraud, how would legislators
announce to the nation that they had finished work on the
budget and submitted same to the president, only to now
plead to be given two weeks to present the details?

How did they arrive at the total figures earlier presented? If
there was no fraudulent intent, wouldn't it just be a matter
of opening one drawer and bringing out the details upon
which their totals were arrived at? The National Assembly
passed the 2016 budget of N6.06trillion, down from the
N6.077billion proposed by the executive on March 23.
Wasn't the approved N6.06 trillion based on easily
retrievable figures?

The ugly truth staring us in the face is that there were a lot
of questionable allocations which the Appropriation
Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives
cannot defend. Now, they need time to tidy up the mess and
come up with a set of figures they think can stand public
scrutiny.

I am not impressed by all the excuses given by the Senator
Ndume (Senate Chair) and Jibrin Abdulmumin (Reps Chair),
both of whom have been accused by even their colleagues
of hoarding information regarding the full details of the
budget. It is now known that most of the legislators did not
have access to the full details of the budget they passed and
are embarrassed that they have been made to look stupid
before the public.

Senator Ndume himself has confessed that he was merely
following the PDP template. In his words, "During the PDP
regime, the budget would be passed and sent to the
president for assent without the details. The details of the
budget would then be transmitted to the president later.

This time around, the president is saying that he cannot sign
the budget without the details. It is not a big deal; the details
of the budget will be transmitted to the president shortly.
The budget is about 1800 pages in three volumes. The
chairmen of the Appropriation Committee of the two
chambers will go through the details page by page and sign
them. Some time you have to print out the copies for them
to sign." Hogwash!

Interpretation: Sign first, details later. It is difficult to
imagine something more opaque. Anyone with half a brain
knows that as far as corruption goes, the devil is in the
details. And the fact that the Appropriation Committees of both the Senate and the House of Reps tried to pull a fast one on us speaks volumes about the quality of individuals at the head of strategic committees in the National Assembly.

I think Ndume and his colleagues have only succeeded in exposing the soft underbelly of the National Assembly when it comes to issues of probity. If they can get away with it, they will attempt to pull wool over our eyes.

Some legislators allege that Senate President Saraki and
House Speaker Dogara are complicit with the Appropriation
Committee. They are miffed that the Budget matter was
handled as if it was some secret cult. Some privileged
members had access to the details. The plebeians among
the legislators didn't.

Out of ignorance, or possibly out of mischief, some people
have been calling on President Buhari to sign the budget as
presented without details and let the bazar begin. But a
budget without details is like a 'one chance' kabukabu. How
do we hold the government accountable if, from the onset,
we don't know the specific details of the appropriation?

Remember, this same budget had suffered 'padding' shortly
after the president presented it to the National Assembly.
There was so much heat generated by that discovery. Now,
the budget has been passed with undisclosed details.

Gladly, the conspirators have met their match in Buhari who
recently declared: "I have to look at the bill that has been
passed by the National Assembly, ministry by ministry, to
be sure that what has been brought back for me to sign is in
line with our original submission."

Buhari's position on this matter is right. And he deserves
the support of all and sundry. He should go over the details
presented to him with a fine tooth comb and satisfy himself
that there are no ghost items before appending his
signature. Once Buhari signs the document, it becomes law
and he has to stand by it.

We want to hold this administration accountable. We shall
monitor the implementation of the budget every step of the
way and criticise the government when adjudged necessary.
But first, let's straighten out the small matter of the details
on which the figures of the Budget are based. Is that asking
for too much?


www.allafrica.com/stories/201604040424.html

good

Na so

The devil is in the details indeed . . . If not how did the final value come about without the details being in place?

Corruption has eaten deep into our heart. 99% of Nigeria is corrupt hence the fight against corruption is a weste of time.

Standing5:
The devil is in the details indeed . . . If not how did the final value come about without the details being in place?

That is it

The Nigerian system that throws up the worst as their President needs serious rework. First we had a President with sense but no spine. Now we have one with spine but no sense