From O. Tamunoprinye Hercules
Public Forum
The acquiescence of our people is as heart-rending as our incredulity is in itself incredulous. It is bewildering how a people prevaricate to unscrupulous elite and their band of political plunderers, pampering and protecting them.
Society is gradually losing its true meaning and purpose. Its “avatars” are endangering it and civility is giving way to the primitive. Is this another era of brigandage by politicians and their handlers? Where is the voice of reason?
The Presidency says: “The National Assembly, in its wisdom, increased the amount proposed by the Executive by N1.2 trillion.
“In the spirit of democracy, which allows give and take, President Tinubu didn’t withhold his assent to the Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly. We want to stress that the National Assembly increased and made the budget figure different from what the Executive proposed in the exercise of its power of appropriation.”
This is from no less a person than the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga.
Yet, some “lost souls” in whatever title are labouring to defend the indefensible. What a shame! Caught in the act!
The National Assembly is at it again. This is insanity. Yes, you heard me. Insanity!
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” said Albert Einstein.
Budget “padding” or “jack-up” has become frequent in Nigeria since inception of democracy in Nigeria on May 29, 1999. It, however, became more pronounced during the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. In 2016, allegations of budget padding by the National Assembly came up as a major scandal that eventually saw the removal of the then chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumini Jibrin, from office on July 20 that year.
Mr. Jibrin had alleged that the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and three other officials shortchanged the House and abused their offices by taking away N40 billion out of the N100 billion allocated for constituency projects and distributing it to themselves.
That year also, some projects worth N480 billion were discovered to have been inserted in the budget during the defense sessions. For instance, the then Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, disowned the budget attributed to his ministry, saying: “This is not what we submitted. We will submit another one. We don’t want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is not there.”
Mr. Lai Mohammed also disowned his ministry’s budget, saying: “No, that is not possible. That was not what we proposed. This cannot be.”
But, this time, the Presidency has endorsed and approved “padding” and dressed “jack-up” in “the spirit of democracy,” going by the statement of Mr. Onanuga.
While signing the 2019 Appropriation Bill of N8.92 trillion into law, former President Muhammadu Buhari accused the National Assembly of raising the budget from N8.83 trillion by N90 billion. He opined that the increment would pose a challenge to achieving the objectives of his government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
A similar concern was raised in the following year, 2020, by Mr. Buhari about projects inserted in that year’s budget by the National Assembly. The legislature had “jacked up” the budget by about N264 billion. The President said projects were being added to the budgets of MDAs with no consideration that their action would trigger incremental recurrent expenditure.
In 2021, the National Assembly reportedly jacked up the federal budget by over N500 billion. President Buhari had proposed to the lawmakers N13.08 trillion. But, during the budget vetting process, the lawmakers arbitrarily jacked it up to N13.6 trillion, an increment of over N500 billion.
In 2022, the President lamented some changes, major additions and reductions made by the lawmakers “without justification” while assenting to the 2022 budget. Among them were an increase in projected federal government independent revenue by N400 billion and reduction of the provisions for the non-regular allowances of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Navy by N15 billion and N5 billion, respectively.
He also frowned at the increase of the budget with new provisions totalling N36.59 billion for National Assembly projects in the service-wide vote. He claimed that most of the projects inserted related to matters that were the responsibilities of state and local governments.
In 2023, while signing the Appropriation Bill into law on January 2, the then President observed that new projects worth about N770.72 billion were nserted by the federal lawmakers, while estimates made by MDAs were “jacked up” by “about N58.55 billion.”
The question is: Where are all the projects today in Nigeria for which the budgets were jacked up under President Buhari?
Tinubu once condemned the National Assembly for “hijacking and padding” the budget. Now, in “the spirit of democracy, which is give and take” he has indirectly endorsed and approved “jack-up” of the budget by N1.2 trillion.
A friend asked: “Please, what is the difference between ‘padding’ and ‘jack-up’?” Another friend answered: “Padding is the pillow added to the budget by the leadership of the National Assembly not hand-picked by the President. While ‘jack-up’ is the prescribed therapeutic king-size mattress added to the budget by the President’s hand-picked ‘wise’ leadership of the National Assembly, endorsed and approved in the spirit of democracy, which is give and take.”
This disposition and new robe or name for the contemptible, our dear Asiwaju, will make your fight against corruption a very entertaining comedy, and recent declarations in Qatar a joke, sir. A country where the Presidency openly admits that the National Assembly “jacked up” the federal budget by N1.2 trillion and the President graciously approved it “in the spirit of democracy, which is give and take” leaves much to be desired. A wise man listens to even a fool and becomes wiser. Do not punish the messenger. Take the message and stop the stealing. Our prayer is that people should speak up and those who do so should not be punished. Otherwise, people will be afraid to speak the truth.
The right thing to do is to invite whoever is alleging to present the facts and figures. If they are correct, make necessary adjustments and show to the world that Nigeria means business, that a new Nigeria is about to be born.
While I am not ignorant of Tinubu’s background as a trained and experienced accountant, there are points that must be made. Budget transparency refers to the full disclosure of all relevant fiscal information in a timely and systematic manner. It needs transparency. Budget transparency ensures that citizens have access to clear, reliable, and comprehensive information about public finances, fostering accountability, trust, and informed participation in governance.
However, there must be budget integrity tests, used to assess the reliability, accuracy, and robustness of budget assumptions and financial projections. The primary purpose is to identify potential risks, vulnerabilities and areas where budget assumptions may be flawed or overly optimistic.
A call for a proper scrutiny of the budget document is not out of place in developed societies. As a result of thorough analysis of budget figures passed, looking into every MDA with a keen eye on the MDAs, which command a large chunk of the budget depicting the area of concentration and focus of the government 2024, may show some difference and the need to identify the source and intention of the difference in such a sensitive document.
This is glaring in the current budget. On pages 488 and 489, N495,926,518 was allocated in just two pages to 10 unrelated projects. The coincidence is too much to be true, and needs to be investigated. Similarly, on page 502, N297,555,911 there is arbitrarily allocated to seven unrelated projects on a single page. On page 319, project ERGP4103042 under the Ministry of Police Affairs is pegged as N443,364,563; under the same project is recorded as N1,443,364,564, representing a difference of N1 billion.
Let us look at what the spirit of democracy actually is, contrary to the impression that it is a quid pro quo or a trade-off for those who, in their wisdom, “jack up” the budget. It is not!
The spirit of democracy is a profound concept that transcends mere procedural mechanisms. Let’s delve into its essence.
A prominent social scientist, Larry Diamond, explores the spirit of democracy in his book titled “The Spirit of Democracy”. In this bold vision, he examines how and why democracy progresses globally.
Despite setbacks, Diamond remains optimistic, believing that most of the world can move toward democracy. He compares the present to 1974, a time when democracy was not widespread, and asserts that even seemingly entrenched regimes like Iran and China could become democracies within a generation.
The Spirit of Democracy asks essential questions: Can democracy exist only in rich and educated countries with a strong middle class? Do all people genuinely desire democracy, or do some, like the Chinese, perhaps believe that a form of authoritarianism is the best way to govern a nation? Diamond’s exploration spans diverse countries, from Malawi to Singapore to Venezuela. He examines nations that broke down after the post-1974 “third wave” of democracy and have yet to recover. His study encompasses topics such as corruption, personal rule, monarchy, populism, and Islam in the Middle East.
Despite challenges, Diamond’s conviction remains: if three-fifths of the world’s states (many of them poor and non-Western) could become democracies, there’s no intrinsic reason why the rest of the world cannot follow suit.
In summary, the spirit of democracy embodies hope, resilience and the belief that societies can evolve toward greater freedom and self-governance. Democratic ideals encompass the essential qualities and standards necessary for the continuation of a democratic system.
One takeaway from this episode is that Nigerians will now follow the implementation of the 2024 Budget very keenly. I do not envy those who have allocation for constituency projects. We shall ensure all the facts and figures are in public space.
•Hercules is a current affairs analyst