Buhari Spends N10trn In War Against Boko Haram, Bandits, BudgIT Alerts

Amid flagrant disregard for accountability and transparency, President Muhammadu Buhari has spent, at least, N10trillion in his unsuccessful campaign against Boko Haram insurgency and banditry, says BudgIT.
Similarly, despite the administration’s unrestrained spending spree, federal agencies have also been accused of using “security votes” to siphon public treasury.
The governance body, therefore, called for a probe of Buhari’s unaudited humongous military spending since he assumed office in 2015.
Touted as ‘Mr Integrity,’ Buhari’s regime is characterised by nepotism, corruption, and ineptitude.
In a presentation at a virtual webinar to mark the 2021 World Press Freedom Day organised by the US Mission in Nigeria, last Monday, BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation, said its analysis exposed “over 316 capital projects worth N39.5billion, among other loopholes for corruption.”
It disclosed that N1.9trillion was allocated for the security sector in the 2021 budget, a 14 per cent increase from N1.78trillion allocated in 2020.
Despite the increase in the funds allocated and Buhari’s promises to crush insurgents, the country continues to experience wanton killings and kidnapping at the hands of Boko Haram, bandits, and killer herdsmen.
BudgIT revealed that other non-security related agencies now receive allocations for “security votes”, describing the spending as “an opaque feature of the Nigerian security ecosystem devoid of accountability.”
In the 2021 budget, a total of 117 federal agencies received allocations for “security votes” worth N24.3billion, despite many of the agencies already having allocations for “security charges” to cover each agency’s security needs.
BudgIT indicated that there had been thefts in the allocations provided to other sectors.
“Our investigations into the 2021 budget revealed, at least, 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5billion, with 115 of those duplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health,” the civic organisation pointed out.
It described the loopholes as disturbing “considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging Covid-19 pandemic affecting Nigeria.”
Citing the National Agriculture Seed Council as an instance, BudgIT indicated that there had been allocations for projects left unexecuted.
“Even worse, agencies now receive allocations for capital projects they cannot execute. For example, the National Agriculture Seed Council has an allocation for N400million to construct solar street lights across all six geopolitical zones,” BudgIT explained.
It added, “The Federal College of Forestry in Ibadan in Oyo State got N50million for the construction of street lights in Edo State. These are aberrations that need to be corrected.”
Explaining that “Nigeria is already haunted by a staggering N3.31tillion debt servicing burden, which will wipe out nearly 41.63 per cent of the projected N7.99trillion 2021 revenue,” BudgIT advised the Federal Government to maximise the funds left by blocking the leakages.
It, however, pointed out that the government could not fulfil its promise of curbing corruption and grand theft with the budget riddled with loopholes.
“Virement provided in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, or the Opportunity for Corrigenda recently provided in Section 16 of the 2021 Appropriation Act Implementation Guidelines published by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and Planning in March, 2021, are handy starting tools the government can immediately use in plugging loopholes,” BudgIT added.
Commenting on the report, Chief Executive Officer, BudgIT, Gabriel Okeowo, enjoined the Federal Government to urgently block all loopholes in the budget creation and implementation process, some of which are highlighted in the recently released publication.
“Nigeria is already haunted by a staggering N3.31trillion debt servicing burden which will wipe out nearly 41.63% of the projected N7.99trillion 2021 revenue. The Federal Government can maximise the little public funds left by blocking the leakages BudgIT has identified”, Okeowo added.