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Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption - Politics - Nairaland

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Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Davo93(m): 9:05am On Aug 09, 2016
What is budget padding? I don’t know, educate me. I am a lawyer and the speaker, and I have never heard of the word “padding”. What does padding mean?

Those were some of the questions that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, fired back at members of the press, last Friday. This was in response to questions of his role in the controversy surrounding an alleged budget padding and whether he plans on resigning from office as a result. The speaker stressed that he had never heard of the word “padding” in all his years as a member of the legislature, and that it wasn’t a criminal offense under any Nigerian law.

Who is Yakubu Dogara?
Yakubu Dogara is Nigeria’s latest hot mess of a politician who also doubles as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the fourth highest ranking citizen in all of Nigeria, who made the mistake of firing one of his colleagues who then accused him of budget padding. And it all went downhill from there.

What is budget padding and why should I care?
Contrary to what Speaker Dogara says, budget padding isn’t some new phenomenon in the history of Nigerian civilisation. It’s been with us ever since money was invented. That time that you told mumsy that you needed fifty-thousand Naira for books when really they only cost five thousand and you were planning on using the left over cash for a new smartphone? That was budget padding, and that’s what Nigerian government officials are doing. Only they are taking billions of Naira from hard working Nigerians in the middle of a recession and spending it on cars, renovating their offices and homes, and trips for their girlfriends. You should care because the padded funds are actually your tax money that should be paying for power, schools, healthcare and possibly airfare for our olympic athletes.

Why do I need to know that Dogara is a lawyer?
You don’t, except that he wants you to think that he’s “Mr Efiko.” Dogara has every right to be proud that he studied the law at some point in his life and that but that doesn’t change the fact that strictly speaking it isn’t okay to say to tell your mom that your school fees are N100,000 when the school only expects you to pay N50,000.

But he does have a point that budget padding is not a crime, at least not according to ‘the books,’ and definitely not in the books of financial strategists. To this end, he appears to be sticking to his legally obtained guns claiming that adding extra amounts for contingencies, in order to be ready for possible emergencies is not a crime but only if he and his cohorts employed the practice of padding for its original purpose and not… say luxury vacations for Nigerian lawmakers.

The discomfort for many Nigerians lies in the fact that Dogara has, in fact, heard of the term “budget padding.” He is simply implying, by virtue of refusing to acknowledge it, that he does not agree that it makes him responsible for corrupt activities. Sorry Yakubu Dogara Esq.; it does.

It is important to flesh out the issue a bit more, however.

Does Dogara know anything about how Nigerians survive economically?
In the first place, how does he not understand that the manner in which Nigerian public officials go about budget padding is corrupt? There has never been a single Nigerian who isn’t a politician that has said “My community and I have benefitted from the government putting our money into purchasing property abroad.” Again, if the Nigerian political process were transparent enough to accommodate budget padding, or its American cousin known as ‘pork barrel spending’ or ‘earmarking’ which is common in the United States Congress, we would not be entertaining the current discourse of whether or not it is criminal.

In countries where the aforementioned is popular, constituencies and municipalities benefit hugely from the outcome. Legislators pad budgets in order to advance socioeconomic projects that they have lined up to improve their localities and the lives of the people in them. Yet even then the act comes under a lot of scrutiny from the voting publics in these countries. If these legislators personally benefit from the process in any way they are labeled corrupt and most of the time it probably doesn’t completely destabilize the economy.

But as we know in Nigeria, anything worth doing is worth doing well. So we should clap for Hon. Dogara for adding nonexistent expenditures to the 2016 Appropriation Bill (National Budget) with the intent to later extract their financial equivalent for personal use as alleged by the former Chairman of the House of Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin. Legally speaking Dogara may not have committed a crime because he didn’t have a chance to take anything and no one has proven anything… yet. But in the eyes of the millions of Nigerians who have to suffer economic hardship because the Vice President supposedly needs more books than all the university students in Nigeria, he has.

…Or maybe he doesn’t care?
Maybe Honorable “Efiko” Dogara just doesn’t give a…

It is disturbing that Dogara is not “worried over anything,” or remorseful in the face of calls for his resignation. Members of the rights advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), are part of the section of Nigerians who disagree with Speaker Dogara on his stance. The group was involved in petitioning for Dogara’s probe and believe that he and other corrupt officials should indeed resign. According to SERAP, Dogara’s offense is in the same league as diversion and misappropriation of public funds, conspiracy to act corruptly and illicit enrichment. These are crimes under Nigerian laws. SERAP has pointed out, amongst other things that “budget padding” is actually stealing under the provisions of both the EFCC and ICPC Acts.

But, what about the angles? Doesn’t the legality of budget padding, in the current context, depend on where you’re standing?
Sadly, it does. Especially if you’re in a position of power in Nigeria.

Dogara is not alone in his attempt to veil his offence against the Nigerian state and people by placing it in a conceived ‘legal grey area.’ One of his predecessors, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, doesn’t believe that Dogara deserves to be asked to resign. In his opinion, stealing funds (by House of Representatives members) is impossible without the active connivance of some members of the executive arm and the general public: “If padding is seen as an offence, it is when some members of the National Assembly decide to add items of expenditures through the back door after the budget has been passed by both houses. It therefore behoves on Nigerians to decide who represents them in the National Assembly.”

That sounds like a load of …
Yes it is. This is exactly what you do when mumsy catches you taking biscuits from the pantry and you say its your little sister’s fault. It’s also the former Speaker of the House blaming Nigerians for someone else stealing their own money.

But Na’Abba does have a point…
Nigerians do have a tendency to elect people to office who could care less about the wellbeing of the Nigerian people. We continue to cast our votes based on who provides bags of rice rather than who will actually implement the Nigerian Dream even more so now that Nigerians appear to have more faith in ‘change’ rather than what history provides as evidence of a clear example of what to expect from certain politicians.

So what’s the point of all this argument?
In summary, all the Dogaras in Nigeria need to quit the legal semantics. On one hand, Nigeria is clearly not ready to practice budget padding effectively enough for the people to benefit from it. This is likely to be the case for a long time. On the other hand, frankly, Nigerians could care less whether or not Dogara understands the term “budget padding.” We care if he participated in robbing us of our birthright at any point. That’s the real crime here even if he doesn’t think what he’s doing is illegal.

So get your plantain chips and popcorn ready and stay tuned because this could be more drama than the Saraki debacle.

http://venturesafrica.com/features/dogaras-take-note-heres-why-budget-padding-in-nigeria-is-definitely-corruption/

6 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by oglalasioux(m): 9:21am On Aug 09, 2016
The rate of rot in our system is worse than the plague of the middle ages. Sadly there's no solution in sight. We simply need one eastern European country to come and re colonise us. Maybe even India or Afghanistan will do. Nigeria is a joke.

10 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by ITbomb(m): 11:38am On Aug 09, 2016
Of course

When we say the youth are just waiting to get rich overnight, who are the mentors

If someone can manipulate figures an get rich overnight and is being celebrated, how can some still believe that there will still be bones left for the patient dog.

Check out this step by step guide by Premium Times on how to pad a budget and become rich overnight
Click here


The man should resign

3 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Landloard01(m): 11:38am On Aug 09, 2016
Dogara has seen padding a tradition...It has been happening and no action was taken. Tell me, how wouldn't he be confident enough to say Padding is never or in any way "corruption".! He believed in the traditional definition of corruption, were cash is shared at a cool dining. Believe it or not, everybody is corrupt, as far as this country is concern...

When you were in school, you padded a list for parents/caretakers. When demanding some money from your husband to buy food stuffs, you must pad. Why don't you return most of those balance when you were sent on errands those days? Obviously, Dogara is looking at corruption as defined by Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.... Meanwhile, the true definition of corruption in there is not what we need to believe in this country. PMB is not using that dictionary. Dogara needs to be reminded that illicit arrangements are gross corruptions.

perhaps, Corruption in developing countries continues to be one of the greatest factors of poverty, development and internecine conflicts. We must change the orientation of our people through setting strong institutions, not setting strong leaders. Dogara is not a good leader following his recent statement on the padding saga (padding is not corruption).


Nigeria will continue to struggle and scramble for position in the lower rungs of the United Nations Development Index. I wonder while pressure to develop his constituency must be fulfilled through corrupt means.

In as much as there is massive hatred for PMB, we must also understand that we need to set the records straight, through the current affairs of the country. Fight corruption using any approach, witch-hunt, devil hunt, any hunt. What I am telling you here is that, our representatives are not honourable and should not be honoured.

You can rant and say whatever thing you want, siding openly with the corrupt leaders, but remember you are not the last generation to this country. We need to kill the giant ants biting us under the garment for the next generation to be able to sleep well at night.

11 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by shyling(f): 11:39am On Aug 09, 2016
King Ahabs in power 1Kings 21

[b]The Lord Condemns Ahab
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. 19 You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Have you murdered and also taken possession?”’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.”’”

20 So Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?”

And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord: 21 ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free. 22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.’ 23 And concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall[a] of Jezreel.’ 24 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.[/b]

4 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by szkz(m): 11:39am On Aug 09, 2016
I wonder if these people have our best interest at heart, chai Dogara, God save Nigeria

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by SweetJoystick(m): 11:40am On Aug 09, 2016
Seconded
Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by bigerboy200: 11:40am On Aug 09, 2016
ALL POLITICIANS ARE THIEVES....

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Free36(m): 11:40am On Aug 09, 2016
Nigeria Is a failed nation already. If Nigeria today breaks into 10 different countries, each country will never grow.

Corruption has grown to be our daily food. Only few out of millions Nigeria can resist corruption.

Meet a ten year old boy today and ask what he wants. You will hear Ferrari, Muscle sport, 10million e.t.c

Our Youth Mind has been poisoned with corruption. What is the future of our great country when the old are stealing and the youth are waiting for their turn to loot.

Ask yourself:: If am in Dogara's position today, won't I do this? All our youth will say yes.

Ask American single and America Banks how much they loose daily to our corrupt youths. The world is suffering for the maximum corruption which has taken over Nigera

7 Likes 1 Share

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by eph12(m): 11:41am On Aug 09, 2016
If you read this completely you should be given medal

4 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by szkz(m): 11:41am On Aug 09, 2016
In some saner climes, the man would have resigned, but not in our country

2 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Judolisco(m): 11:42am On Aug 09, 2016
If dogara can say openly dat padding isn't an offense then wat r they investigating again...with that boldness self he knows he can't be jailed

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Vidamia(m): 11:42am On Aug 09, 2016
democracy is a curse to nigeria

3 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Nobody: 11:42am On Aug 09, 2016
Please where is PADDING defined as corruption in our Constitution.

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by makzeze: 11:43am On Aug 09, 2016
Padding is also defined as:
to add false items to (an expense report or bill) in order to receive unjustified payment.

8 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by ephi123(f): 11:43am On Aug 09, 2016
Bunch of thieves undecided

2 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Nobody: 11:44am On Aug 09, 2016
APC - All Poo Congress

2 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by SOLUTION99(m): 11:45am On Aug 09, 2016

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by OLUJOSHINS(m): 11:45am On Aug 09, 2016
Abeg make una keep quiet jare.

Dogara this Dogara that & at the end of the day, He will still walk away as a free man

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Yalakalibari007: 11:45am On Aug 09, 2016
Is dat all?
Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by mrbillz(m): 11:46am On Aug 09, 2016
Nigeria is a corporate jungle
Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by adaweezy(m): 11:46am On Aug 09, 2016
Rubbish write up I was expecting to see the punishment for budget padding.
Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by MadCow1: 11:46am On Aug 09, 2016
Wait lemme park so I can comment...


2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by stano2(m): 11:47am On Aug 09, 2016
Oh this country! !! The people at the top are just being bad leaders and bad role models to the ones hoping to learn from them and definitely there is nothing worth learning, their dumbness and selfishness is next to nothing .

Any guy you ask if placed at the top, how will he run the organizations, state or country will give u an answer of. "I will pack and pack money but I will work sha" that's the response I have gotten from the few I asked this question.
Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Oyimeoyimemua(f): 11:50am On Aug 09, 2016
this write up is not fair
why did jibrin wait until he was sacked to speak up I just feel jibrin is part of what he is accusing Dogara of
Apc is not helping matters by asking jibrin to keep quite the fact remains that our politicians are corrupt

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Harwoyeez(m): 11:54am On Aug 09, 2016
In a more civilised environment, only an indictment is enough for the public officer to resign as d case of panama which made the Icelandic PM to resign but ours is different. Fantastically corrupt people

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by TEYA: 11:54am On Aug 09, 2016
Judolisco:
If dogara can say openly dat padding isn't an offense then wat r they investigating again...with that boldness self he knows he can't be jailed
Salisu buhari was even bolder than dogara but we saw him cry in the end.
Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by dilini(m): 11:55am On Aug 09, 2016
Mr. Dogara and his cohorts are PADDED THIEVES and they SHOULD BE IMPEACHED!!!

3 Likes

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by Harwoyeez(m): 11:56am On Aug 09, 2016
U maybe right tho but there's no time frame in instituting legal proceedings against any culprit what matters most is whether d offense was committed or not
Oyimeoyimemua:
this write up is not fair
why did jibrin wait until he was sacked to speak up I just feel jibrin is part of what he is accusing Dogara of
Apc is not helping matters by asking jibrin to keep quite the fact remains that our politicians are corrupt
Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by tempex88(m): 11:56am On Aug 09, 2016
Pastor Yakubu Dogara, God is watching you

1 Like

Re: Dogara Needs To Go Back To Law School Because Budget Padding Is Corruption by tuvade: 11:56am On Aug 09, 2016
ITbomb:
Of course

When we say the youth are just waiting to get rich overnight, who are the mentors

Quick rich syndrome is 99.9% of we Nigerians. If someone can manipulate figures an get rich overnight and is being celebrated, how can some still believe that there will still be bones left for the patient dog.

Check out this step by step guide by Premium Times on how to pad a budget and become rich overnight
Click here


The man should resign

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