2022 Appropriation: BudgIT Queries N1billion for Installation Of Street Lights In Nigerian Institute Of Marine And Oceanography, Delta Central

A reputable civic organization that applies technology to intersect citizens’ engagement with institutional improvement, to facilitate societal change, BudgIT, has queried the allocation of N1billion to a certain Nigerian Institute of Marine and Oceanography, to install street lights in Delta Central Senatorial District, represented by the Deputy Senate President, Rt. Hon. Ovie Omo-Agege, “When the country has a Federal Ministry of Education”.

A statement obtained this morning, Friday March 18, by Fresh Angle International from the verified twitter handle of BudgIT, revealed that BudgIT’s Country Director, Gabriel Okeowo, made the observation, while speaking on capital budget padding.

Mr. Okeowo, averred: “Also worrisome is the federal government's selective opacity in its budget transparency as it concerns certain agencies that have been indicted for fraud. For emphasis, while the budgets of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Galaxy Backbone, amongst many others, were entirely missing from the 2022 approved budget, that of the Niger Delta Development Commission-although included in the 2022 approved budget, has no breakdown of capital expenditure.

“It is no gainsaying that the National Assembly must demonstrate a stronger commitment to publishing, vetting and appraising the budget proposal from the Executive and their agencies, especially using feedback from the country's Auditor-General to assess allocations to agencies involved in misappropriations, extra-budgetary allocations and other forms of corruption in the previous years.

“Furthermore, there is an urgent need for the amendment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007, before the National Assembly, to be given a speedy hearing and corresponding presidential assent to empower the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to enforce fiscal discipline. Nigeria currently loses trillions of naira in revenues due to MDAS breaching provisions of the FRA 2007.

"Last week, BudgiT also embarked on consultative engagements with critical institutions and stakeholders in the budget process to galvanize stakeholders into action concerning these infractions.

“Another cause for concern is the timeframe within which the 6,576 capital projects were generated and inserted into the FG budget by legislators. BudgiT has valid concerns on whether the Project Design Documents (PDD) were created as required by the 2022 Budget Public Investment Guidelines. A poorly designed and costed public sector project is almost destined to fail ab initio and lead to poor value for money for taxpayers. Also, the insertions of these 6,576 projects bloated the budgets of different federal ministries, contributing further to a breach of the budget ceiling safeguards announced by the Budget Office of the Federation on August 19, 2021.

"Several projects do not meet the definition for capital expenditures according to the Fiscal Responsibility Act. For example, N5.6billion allocated to over 150 Meetings, Conferences, and Board Meetings was listed as capital expenditures across different MDAS. Another case is the N28million allocated to the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture-HQTRS for Quarterly Interaction with Foreign Media/PR Lobby in its capital budget."

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