‘Constitution allows House of Reps to pad any budget from Presidency’- Jibrin

Jibrin

Former Chairman of the Appropriation Committee in the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin has revealed that even though the chambers had the right to ‘pad’ any budget presented before it, he discovered over N284 billion inserted into the 2016 budget by the House of Representatives.

He also accused the leadership of the House of recklessness in the alleged padding of the budget in question.

Jibrin became the center of a controversy currently rocking the House of Representatives after he made allegations against the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, the deputy speaker, and other key stakeholders in the House.

He had alleged that Dogara and his cohorts heavily padded the 2016 budget which was signed on May 6 by President Muhammadu Buhari following a controversial and tedious back and forth between the Presidency and the Legislative arm of government.

However, speaking to Channels TV on Sunday, the lawmaker insisted that he never accused the legislative chamber of ‘padding’ the budget, instead he would rather describe the situation as an ‘insertion’ made into the said budget.

He further explained that the House had the power to ‘insert’ expenditures and projects into the budget according to the constitutions of the country.

When asked if the 2016 budget was really padded, Jibrin said, “Of course this is one area where there is animosity in the National Assembly. We don’t completely agree with the words ‘padding’.

“For me, I have been consistent with the word ‘insertions’.

“There have been a lot of insertions in the budget even though the law allows it.”

In line with his allegations against Dogara, the former chairman of the appropriation committee said he was initially comfortable with some of the insertions in the budget but he raised an alarm when he felt the insertions were too much.

He said, “I discussed with Dogara because I felt it (insertion) was too much. Even though the law agrees, the intention of the constitution is not for senseless insertions.”

Jibrin further said, “There were a lot of senseless insertions in the budget and it was passed. I discovered that in btw about 10 standing committees of the house, 2,000 projects were posted worth over 284 billion naira.”

“I have never seen that number of insertions in a budget and I felt there was a bit of recklessness from some of the standing committees.”

Jibrin further explained that he was not against the insertions of projects into the budget but he is of the view that it should be done with moderation.

In addition to declaring that insertions into the budget in itself was not illegal or wrong, “what i think is wrong is when insertions go above limits.”

He further declared that in his 5 years of being at the House of Reps he had witnessed insertions in the national budget but “2016 budget went overboard.”

“It amounted to about 284 billion,” he declared.

Furthermore, the lawmaker, who chaired the appropriation committee that presented the first budget which was rejected by the President further explained why it took him long to blow the whistle on the alleged insertions in the budget.

Jibrin has been accused of raising allegations against Dogara because he was sacked as the chairman of the appropriation committee.

The lawmaker refuted these reports even as he explained, “It is a difficult system and things are more complex in the National Assembly but i raised this (insertion) issue internally and fought with my life for it.

“I was not a part of the insertions but i didnt help myself because I started speaking up quite late.

“The event that led me to start talking doesn’t look good either,” he admitted.

Jibrin however, claimed that his reason for opening up the can of worms in the hallowed chambers was because he wanted to do right by his conscience and ‘trigger’ reforms and a revolution in the National Assembly.

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