BudgIT, a civic-tech
non-profit organisation, says the national assembly inserted 7,447 constituency
projects worth N2.24 trillion in the 2024 project.
The organisation said most of the projects inserted into the
budget by the national assembly have “no national significance but narrowed to
personal interests”.
BudgIT, on Wednesday, released a
report on its findings of the allegation of
budget padding by the national assembly made by Abdul Ningi, senator
representing Bauchi central.
BACKGROUND
Last Saturday, Ningi stirred controversy when he alleged that the 2024 budget was
padded by N3 trillion and that the country is operating two budgets
concurrently.
The Bauchi senator said “huge damage” has been done to the
north and the entire country in the budget.
On Tuesday, the allegations were debated during plenary at
the red chamber, amid a
rowdy session.
Subsequently, the senator was suspended for three months.
In December 2023, the two arms of the national assembly
passed the 2024 appropriation bill, increasing its size from the N27.5 trillion
proposed by President Bola Tinubu to N28.7 trillion.
BUDGIT’S FINDINGS
In the report, BudgIT said a breakdown of the 2024 budget
shows that N25.4 trillion was earmarked for ministries, departments, and
agencies.
The organisation said the N3.32 trillion allocation
earmarked for government-owned enterprises (GOEs), the national assembly, the
National Judicial Commission (NJC), the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Tertiary Education
Trust Fund (TETFUND), was excluded from the budget passed and published.
“However, our findings show that a budget breakdown totaling
N25.4tn was provided for the budgets of the Ministries, Departments, and
Agencies (MDAs) and some other agencies receiving statutory allocation from the
federal government,” the report reads.
“The comprehensive budget breakdown of government-owned
enterprises, the National Assembly, the National Judicial Commission, the
Public Complaints Commission, INEC, and TETFUND totaling N3.32tn was excluded
from the budget that was passed and published.
“This does not mean the country operates two separate
budgets and that there’s only one final budget known to us.”
‘INSERTED PROJECTS’
In the report, the organisation said the 10th national
assembly continued the “ugly trend” of indiscriminate insertion of projects in
the budget.
“A total of 7,447
projects culminating in N2.24tn were inserted in the 2024 budget by the National
Assembly, an ugly trend that was accelerated in the 9th National Assembly.
“Fifty-five of the projects range with a value of N580.7bn
are greater than N5bn in value. We also noticed that 281 projects worth N491bn,
and 3,706 projects within the range of N100–500m, worth 759bn, were inserted
into the budget.
“The national
assembly has indiscriminately added projects to the budget, with most projects
having no national significance but narrowed to personal interests.”
BudgIT said the members of the national assembly target some
agencies and organisations for the insertion of projects.
The organisation said the federal ministry of agriculture
and food security has the highest number of inserted projects, with 2,470
projects worth N632.31 billion.
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