Following the recent outcry over the inconsistencies in the 2016 budget and the subsequent indefinite suspension of deliberation on the bill, the Presidency has ordered an investigation into the allegation of padding of allocation in the 2016 Appropriation Bill.
According to Premium Times, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered for all inconsistencies, ambiguities and errors to be investigated and resolved immediately.
A senior official in the Buhari administration recently placed the blame on budget mafia- civil servants, as being responsible for writing the budget- for the inconsistency and litany of errors in the budget.
Another government official who spoke to Premium Times on the condition of anonymity, revealed that government was working to respond to the embarrassing budget allocations.
He further revealed that both the Ministry of Finance as well as the Ministry of Budget and National Planning were set to effect corrections and produce a more consistent version of the budget.
The official blamed the error on “over-ambitious civil servants” that prepared the budget before the ministers presiding over the ministries were appointed.
He further stated that the ministers had no time to properly examine the budget due to the time they were appointed and the deadline they had to present the budget.
The source was quoted as saying that: “The presidency has ordered the immediate investigation of all the allegations and issues, particularly on padding, raised by the National Assembly on various ministries, departments and agencies of government,” he said.
“The investigative panel is expected to critically look into the budget item-by-item, incident-by-incident, with particular attention to the reactions from the National Assembly, ministries, media, civil society groups or indeed anybody that raised concerns regarding the padding of the budget.
“All corrections would be made to ensure that the budget was passed as soon as possible. I assure you government is working cautiously on the corrections with the intention of correcting any error or malfeasance spotted in the 2016 Appropriation Bill. If there is any error whatsoever, it is being sorted out straight away.”
The source, however, did not say what sanctions the government had in store for officials who will be found guilty of padding the budget.
He further absolved the minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma of any blame, stating that ‘the budget could be presented the day it was presented and in the manner it was done was due to the extra effort and hard work by the ministers who inherited what the civil servants had already prepared.’
”By the time they took over, most of the ministers did not have a good grasp of the details of the budget of their ministries”.
