National Assembly gulped an opaque N115billion in 2016

Recent revelation has shown that the National Assembly gulped an opaque N115 billion of the national budget for 2016. This information was contained in an official release from the Kaduna State government in response to a call from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara on the state to make public its Security Votes and Local Government expenditure. Governor Nasir El Rufai, whose net pay for February 2017 stood at N470,521.74, had earlier requested the lower chamber to release detail on its opaque N115billion budgeted for 2016, an action which has necessitated the speaker’s request. The document signed by the Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to the Kaduna State governor, Samuel Aruwan, he noted that the budgets of all state governments in Nigeria, including Kaduna, contained spending listed under personnel, overhead and capital expenditure; a clear difference from what obtains at the National Assembly, where its budget provides zero information. According to Aruwan, Kaduna State had since cultivated a culture of public disclosure of state spending. In 2016, Kaduna State unprecedentedly released its budget and those of its 23 local government areas on the state’s websites www.openkaduna.com.ng and www.kdsg.gov.ng. Same is with the proposed 2017 budget presently with the state house of assembly. As per the security vote, Kaduna Comprehensive Security Architecture (KADCoSA) listed the four pillars on which the state is directing security spending, namely Justice, Technology, Community Engagement and Support to Security Agencies. Aruwan also said “The 2017 budget details specific amounts: “N1.5bn (one and half billion naira) for the Procurement & Installation of CCTV Cameras for Monitoring and Surveillance towards Reducing Criminal Activities within the Metropolis.“N193m (one hundred and ninety-three million naira) for Procurement of Geo-position Interceptor and location of GSM UMTS System to Check the Trends and Intercept/locate kidnappers’ GSM calls. “N265m (two hundred and sixty-five million naira) for the Procurement of Drones/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to identify locations of armed bandits in our Forest Reserves across the state and the Establishment of a Forensic Laboratory to assist in determining substantial evidence in cases that otherwise proved difficult in the past. “In addition, N2.6bn (two billion and six hundred million naira) is allocated in 2017 to support the network of federal Security Agencies in Kaduna with communications, logistics and material. “Details of actual spending in 2015 for security and indeed every line item in the State budgets are also publicly available via the annual report of the Accountant-General accessible on www.kdsg.gov.ng”, the special assistant said. Aruwan added that for the purpose of perusal and detailed information, the state site: http://openkaduna.com.ng/Budget/audited is open for public accessibility. The state official statement also read in part: “The call to #OpenNASS is not a personal one. It is one which the leadership of the National Assembly owes to all Nigerians. It is therefore disingenuous for the Speaker to use State Government budgets as the excuse for the opacity of the NASS budget. In 2016, the NASS budget for its 469 members was larger than the capital budget of Kaduna State, with close to 10 million inhabitants. It is also larger than the entire budget of several Nigerian States. Indeed, over the past ten years from 2008, the NASS as an institution has cost the country over a trillion naira without any detail on how this amount was allocated and spent. “There is no state government in Nigeria with a budget nearly as opaque as that of NASS. In March 2016, this National Assembly, led by its Chairman, promised to provide a detailed breakdown of the National Assembly budget. Nigerians are waiting.” Aruwan said.

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