President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowed
determination to punish culprits who smuggled
foreign items into the 2016 budget and who
caused both national and international
embarrassment are back to work, Economic
Confidential can report.
Investigation by the Economic Intelligence
Magazine indicates that the officials who were
sanctioned by their deployment outside Federal
Ministry of Finance have since resumed duties
in the same Ministry without the highly
publicized punishment the President promised
while speaking to Nigerians resident in Saudi
Arabia.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in February
this year while speaking in Saudi Arabia
threatened to punish all those who were
involved in the padding of the budget.
Apart from the removal of Director General of
Budget Office and deployment of several
directors and senior officials from the
Ministry, President Buhari also merged the
budget office with the Ministry of Planning.
About 15 senior officials from other Ministries
and Departments were posted to the Budget
Office to replace the sanctioned officials that
were recalled to Office of the Head of Civil
Service of the Federation.
Other Ministries involved in the un-wholesome
attitudes include but not limited to Federal
Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of
Education, Health, Agriculture and Rural
Development, Trade and Investment, and
Interior Ministry.
Meanwhile, Economic Confidential learnt that
there has been an unhealthy rivalry between
the Ministry of Finance and the Budget and
Planning Ministry which are under the
supervision of Kemi Adeosun and Udo Udoma
respectively over who should superintend over
budget processes and implementations in the
country.
The development has no doubt created frictions
between the two ministries and lack of the
needed synergy required by both to put up a
forward looking national budget. In view of
these concerns, some departments have been
created in the Federal Ministry of Finance that
play critical roles on budget implementation.
The departments include: Cash Management,
Special Projects and Technical Services,
bringing the total departments in the Ministry
to more than 10. Some of the sanctioned
officials are said to be performing strategic
roles on the nation’s economy in these
departments.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari has
vowed that all those involved in the padding of
the 2016 National Budget, which led to the
discrepancies in the document, would face the
most severe punishment.
He said the alterations, which he described as
embarrassing and disappointing, made the
document, which was debated in the National
Assembly, completely different from what was
prepared by the Ministry of Budget and
National Planning.
In a statement, then by his Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the
President spoke in Riyadh while addressing the
Nigerian community in Saudi Arabia.
The President was said to have condemned the
distortion of the budget proposals by those he
called entrenched interests.
Buhari stated that since he had been holding
public offices, he had never heard about
budget padding before the current incident.
He regretted that the unauthorized alterations
had completely changed the document from the
one he presented to the National Assembly.
The President, however, gave the Minister of
Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, a
clean bill of health, saying he did a good job.
Buhari said, “The culprits will not go
unpunished. I have been a military governor,
petroleum minister, military Head of State and
headed the Petroleum Trust Fund.
“Never had I heard the words budget padding.
Our Minister of Budget and National Planning
did a great job with his team.
“The minister became almost half his size
during the time, working night and day to get
the budget ready, only for some people to pad
it.
“What he gave us was not what was finally
being debated. It is very embarrassing and
disappointing. We will not allow those who did
it to go unpunished.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/11/budget-padding-sanctioned-padders-back-work-ministry-investigations/


Our Leader is indeed fighting Corruption