Ningi vs Senate: “Many Agencies Executing Frivolous Projects”, BudgIT Shares More Insights
- BudgIT Nigeria has weighed in on Senator Abdul Ningi’s allegations against the Nigerian senate and indiscriminate insertions in the country’s 2024 budget
- BudgIT said it is “very evident” that certain agencies and organisations are targeted by national assembly members “to insert projects”
- The organisation stated that many “out-of-scope and frivolous” projects are tied to the political value of the federal lawmakers and are indiscriminately added to the budgets of several MDAs
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Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering governance in Nigeria.
FCT, Abuja - A civic tech organisation, BudgIT, has said Senator Abdul Ningi was right if he posited that there was no detailed allocation for N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget.
BudgIT stated this in a report shared on its official website on Wednesday, March 13.
Source: Twitter
Recall that Ningi, representing Bauchi Central senatorial district, was suspended on Tuesday, March 12, by the senate over his demining allegations against his colleagues.
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Ningi, who was also the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), alleged that the 2024 budget was padded by N3.7 trillion and that the North has been neglected under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Subsequently, the chairman senate committee on appropriation, Senator Olamilekan Adeola on Tuesday, March 12, moved a motion on breach of privilege and after a debate by lawmakers, Ningi was suspended for three months. Senate president Godswill Akpabio made this announcement.
But reacting to the controversy, BudgIT asserted that “there needs to be a final judicial pronouncement on the scope of the powers of appropriation granted to the national assembly in the constitution, especially as it regards the authority to arbitrarily insert new capital projects in the annual budget”.
The organisation’s statement partly reads:
“It is very evident that certain agencies and organisations are targeted by the national assembly members.
"For example, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Lagos; and Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, among others, have become the targets for national assembly members to insert projects.
"Most of these agencies don’t have the required technical capacity to execute the delegated projects, leaving a long list of poorly executed projects across the country.
“Many agencies are executing projects that are out of scope and frivolous, thereby adding zero value to the country.
"Most of the projects are tied to the political value of the lawmakers and are indiscriminately added to the budgets of several Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). How will these agencies, without the requisite knowledge regarding these projects, properly monitor and appraise performance?"
BudgIT added:
“The Judiciary, though ordinarily not part of the budgetary process, can make a significant impact, specifically in Nigeria’s case.
"For some time now, there has been uncertainty about whether or not the national assembly, by constitutional provisions of powers of appropriation, oversight, and review, has powers to insert new projects into the budget proposal without recourse to the Executive. There needs to be a final judicial pronouncement on the scope of the powers of appropriation granted to the national assembly in the constitution, especially as it regards the authority to arbitrarily insert new capital projects in the annual budget.”
Read BudgIT's full analysis here.
Read more about Ningi, budget padding
- Pandemonium at Senate as pressure piles on Akpabio over Sen. Ningi’s budget padding claim
- Alleged budget padding: Akpabio, INEC chair told to resign as fresh protest looms
- Akpabio told to immediately resign amid alleged budget padding accusation, details emerge
Ningi: SAN shares points of ‘grave concern’
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, threw his weight behind suspended federal lawmaker, Ningi.
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"Senate still owe Nigerians clarification": Peter Obi reacts to suspension of Senator Ningi
Okutepa made his stance known via a tweet on Thursday morning, March 14.
The legal practitioner argued that Bauchi indigenes should be the ones to sanction Ningi if he is found wanting — and not the federal lawmakers because he (Ningi) is "not an employee of the senate".
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Source: Legit.ng
