By Othuke Evroh
I will begin this piece by stating that there are two major documents or should I say books that the nationals of every country harness in an attempt to achieve economic prosperity.
With the right policies and programmes implemented by the government, these documents, that is, the Constitution of a state and its Annual appropriation bill, also called the Annual budget, can aid any serious minded government of a country drive the envisioned economic growth and development aspired by that country.
Surprisingly, these documents are the very same documents that leaders and managers of Nigeria, since the outset of the fourth republic have continued to toy with.
Having said that, it is pertinent to say that the concern of this write up, would be centred on the accusations and counter accusations of budget padding by the legislature(Senate) in the 2024 annual appropriation bill and its attendant consequences for the nation at large.
To begin with, the activities of the Senate since the N3.7 trillion budget padding saga remind me of the song of late Sound Sultan titled ”Mathematics”(Jagbajantis) released in 2000. The lyrics of the first stanza of that song which gained street prominence in Nigeria reads;
Everybody oya join Jagbajantis,
solve mathematics, wey dey dabaru our continent,
so, oh oh.
Oyinbo say, na BODMAS we go use take,
solve mathematics,
so follow Jagbajantis.
Oya carry biro.
Going by the lyrics of this then household song, the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration needs BODMAS to solve this protected ”mathematics”(Jagbajantis) of budget padding that has hindered the economic growth and development of Nigeria throughout this democratic dispensation.
The government of President Tinubu with its ”Renewed Hope” mantra would go down history as another failed regime just like its predecessor’s, if it continued in the infamous trajectory of budget padding through constituency projects.
The constituency projects are just another avenue for the legislature through the connivance of some members of the executive to siphon and looth the national treasury.
Since its inception in 1999 under the administration of former president Olusegun Obansanjo, the constituency projects which were capped at N100 billion with the aim of fostering economic development in rural communities have over the years been hijacked by corrupt legislators to service their insatiable taste for greed and corruption. As such, It has become the engine room to perpetrate corruption in Nigeria.
As it were today, the 2024 national budget just like the previous ones in the last eight years has been padded indiscriminately with a lot of irrelevant items.
Under the guise of constituency projects, frivolous items such as renovation of car parks, provision of washing machines, purchase of bikes or motorcycles, servicing traditional leaders, building churches and mosques, among others, which now overshoots the N100 billion cap have found their way into the budget, all in an attempt to perpetuate corruption and stagnate the economic prosperity of Nigerians.
As if these were not enough, some resources allocated in billions of naira in the budget, have no corresponding economic projects attached to them.
According to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his address to the National Assembly in 2017, aired by Channels TV, ” Budget padding must not go unpunished. It is a reality which is a regular and systemic practice. Nobody should pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians. Ganging up and threatening the life of a whistleblower is deplorable and undemocratic”.
”What of the so-called constituency projects which are a veritable source of corruption? These constituency projects are spread over the budget for members of the national assembly for which they are the initiator and the contractor directly or by proxy and money will be fully drawn with the project only partially executed or not executed at all”.
”The national assembly cabal of today is worse than any cabal that anybody may find anywhere in our national government system. Members of the national assembly pay themselves allowances for staff and offices they do not have or maintain. Once you are a member, you are co-opted and your mouth is stuffed with rottenness and corruption that you can not opt out of as you go home with not less than N15 million a month for a Senator and N10 million naira a month for a member of the House of Representatives. The national assembly is a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers”.
The Guardian Editorial of 3rd March, stated that ”from 2003 to date, a staggering sum of N2 trillion has been spent on constituency projects, but there is little to show for this amount in various constituency projects across the country”.
It is all over the media how some Senators have asserted that they got N250 million, N266 million, N500 million and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio got N2.5 billion for constituency projects. The question now is what sharing formula was adopted? What were the criteria for the allocation of the worth of such constituency projects? What were the indices for the selection of such constituency projects? Are Senators not equal in a democracy? These questions among others are significant questions begging for answers.
While it is sufficient to state that all Senators are equal and that principal officers in the Senate are mere first among equals, what is actually worrisome here is that the legislators have obviously absconded from their core mandate.
Suffice it to state that the major responsibilities of the legislators can be summed up by these three basic functions; Law making, Representation and Oversight. So, when the legislators now take over the responsibilities of the executive by executing projects and determining contractors to execute projects, does that not contravene the benefits of the principles of Separation of Power and Checks and Balances?
Currently, our legislators have abandoned their core mandates and are currently engaged in the business of padding annual budgets with constituency projects based on political considerations rather than ideal development needs which have led to serious contractions in the economic development of the country. This has also rubbed-off negatively on the quality of laws that they make and the entire governance system of the country in recent years.
Factly speaking, the 2024 budget lacks transparency. I say this because an annual budget should show detailed expenditure, expected revenues and the judicious allocation of values. This is not the case with this budget because going by what was revealed by the Senate during plenary, about N3 trillion that were not thoroughly explained in the budget were allocated as statutory transfers to some government owned establishments. This is how corruption thrives.
It was in the light of the above that Seun Onigbinde, the CEO of BudgIT, a Nigerian nonprofit organization promoting transparency and accountability in budget and public resources stated on Tuesday that the 2024 budget is not only low in transparency but also that, ”several projects were allocated to agencies with no capacity to deliver”. Citing examples such as the ”Ministry of Agriculture, where an initial proposal of N363 billion ballooned to N993 billion with questionable projects”.
Again, if I may ask, what development plan is the 2024 budget tied to? Where will this budget take Nigeria to in the next four years? What specific development targets does this budget aim to achieve? Will this budget raise the standard of living of Nigerians through access to quality education and affordable healthcare in the next four years? How will it reduce the cost of living of the average Nigerian, among others?
The truth is that while some would argue that the budget is linked to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), I will strongly suggest that the earlier we tied our national budgets to specific realizable development plans, the better for us.
In concluding this monograph, I would suggest that if truly President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wants subsequent national budgets to reflect his ”Renewed Hope” mantra, it behoves on him to set-up a budget desk at his office to scrutinize budgets approved by the national assembly before signing them into law. This budget desk should be composed of seasoned impeccable professionals.
Further, the idea of constituency projects should either be completely expunged from the budgeting process or if the President believes in the effective execution of these projects, ensures that budget padding is seriously punished. And again, since the national assembly has the power of appropriation, President Tinubu should find a way to determine the extent to which the national assembly can alter the budget estimate. A constitutional solution can be sought in this regard. This would go a long way in checkmating budget padding in whatever guise.
In the preparation of subsequent Annual appropriation bills, President Tinubu Should live by examples. He can achieve this by ensuring that his ministers do not leave the entire process of budget computation to civil servants. A breakdown of every resource allocated to government owned establishments should be thoroughly captured. What sense does it actually make to shrewd the financial allocations to certain government owned establishments in secrecy? In addition, he should also ensure that only people’s driver projects tied to specific plans(development plans) that will lead to accelerated economic growth and development are allocated tangible financial values in the budget.
Most significantly is the dire need for Nigerians to pay serious attention to the processes through which people get elected into public offices. When these processes are transparent enough and devoid of election rigging, then we would have legislators who are mindful of the people and not a legislature that wants to pad the budget to suit their whim and caprices.
These among others should be the new trajectory, going forward.
