Budget Padding Scandal: Corruption in the Legislature

The National Assembly passed the much anticipated 2016 Nigerian budget of 6.06 trillion Naira into law on Wednesday March 23rd 2016 after the president had submitted it in December last year for legislative work and subsequent submission back to the president for assent. However the budget was delayed for about 5 months before it was finally signed into law on May 6th 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari. The reasons for this delay was as a result of claims and counterclaims from both the legislature and executive accusing each other of ‘padding’ the budget. The president had said that key projects were removed and others that were not in his original submission were added. Padding has become a buzzword for budget processes in Nigeria and it is simply the act of appropriating revenue for certain projects in certain parts of the country at the expense of others to cause uneven development across the country. This corrupt and unlawful act took a new twist recently when the Former Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation Abdulmumin Jubrin who was sacked by the speaker of the House Hon. Yakubu Dogara made allegations and ‘whistleblew’ about the plot by the House leadership Led by Dogara in collusion with his deputy Yusuf Lasun , Chief whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Whip Leo Ogor to earmark N40 billion Naira to themselves in the budget. The house leadership denied the allegation made by Hon Jubrin and accused him of being a sore loser for trying to take revenge on the House leadership for the loss of his chairmanship position of the powerful appropriations committee. In a swift response, Mr Jubrin in turn denied the allegations and said he was being victimised by the house leadership for being an ‘independent’ voice and that he was not sacked as chairman but willingly resigned because he had grown disillusioned with the position and there was a conflict of interest between his work and his position. Civil Society Groups like Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and others have called for an independent investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). They affirm that a house in disorder cannot investigate itself. This scandal has caused unrest in the House and there are even allegation in some quarters that in anger, 250 reps have signed a petition to impeach the Speaker. Even the party which both warring parties Hon Jubrin and Speaker Dogara belong to have waded into the matter and asked Jibrin not to talk about the issue in the press any longer. In the latest twist to this long-running saga, the Speaker has allegedly even gone as far as running to the president for help by seeking his audience today in the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
This type of scandals are just one in the long list of problems facing the national assembly and governance in Nigeria. The consequence of padding a budget means that some parts of the country will experience development at the expense of others because of the selfish interest of their representatives in the national assembly. This is a microcosm of the widespread division among tribal and cultural lines that is currently tearing the ‘Giant’ of Africa apart today.
We can only hope and pray that God gives us good men and women as leaders who truly believe in one united Nigeria.