Senator Babajide Omoworare has joined the list of past and present lawmakers to admit budgets are padded.
The Senator representing Osun East Senatorial District, said it is a fact that federal lawmakers do tinker with budgets to suit their selfish interests.
According to Omoworare, a National Assembly Budget Research Office should be created as a solution to stop this malaise.
Omoworare, made the remarks during an interview he had with journalists in Ile-Ife on Thursday on the sideline of the activities marking the one year remembrance of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade.
He said that before budgets get to the legislators it had already been padded, and it’s further padded by the legislators for selfish gain.
Omoworare said, “I know former President (Olusegun) Obasanjo said something in the past on this; he has been vindicated and I have also been vindicated. I was on Rhythm FM in Abuja awhile back and I said budgets come to us padded by bureaucrats or other people I don’t know.
“When budgets get to us, they also get padded and I said the solution is to put in place National Assembly Budget Research Office, which is equivalent to the congressional budget office. It will be the one to clean up the budget.
“We may have a parliament that has not got experts in the area of budget making as it were, but we can have a body of bureaucrats whose activities are made public. And it won’t cost us more money because it exists already as a department in the National Assembly but they should be responsible to all Nigerians.
“It should have the power to sue or to be sued and be a legal entity on its own. I know either repeated projects or projects that did not exist should be removed and there cannot be Obafemi Awolowo University in Osogbo and another OAU in Ogbomoso. When you see such in the budget, it should be removed and that is the work of NABRO. We have said this several times, that politicians may be tempted to tinker with the budget.
“I have spent over five years in the National Assembly and I know that there are things in the budgets that should not be there.
“That is why some of us are upset and that’s why they removed me as Chairman of Rules and Business Committee and I don’t care.”
Dolapo is a writer and journalist who works with YNaija. He has interests in Christianity, politics and sports.
Most politicians have been Agents of shaytan since the Roman times, yet people continue to put their faith in them.
Not any more
Not any more
Does that make it right? The fact that people like him didn’t raise an alarm shows they are all in on the padding.
so defrauding the Nigerian populace is a norm ? I pity my country . These rouges have fleeced Nigerians if their commonwealth