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Civil non-profit organisation BudgIT has revealed that it found loopholes in the 2021 budget which the National Assembly passed in December 2020 while raising it by N505bn.
The BudgIT’s publication noted that various non-security related government agencies now request and receive allocations for “Security Votes”.
This is an opaque feature of the Nigerian security ecosystem devoid of accountability.
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In the 2021 budget, a total of 117 federal agencies received allocations for “Security Votes” worth N24bn despite many of these agencies already having allocations for security charges to cover each agents security needs.
A statement released by BudgIT reads: “Our investigation into the 2021 budget revealed at least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5bn.
According to the statement, 115 of those duplicate projects occur in the ministry of health.
When considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging covid 19 pandemics affecting Nigeria, this is a devastating number.
More so, agencies now receive allocations for capital projects they cannot execute.
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The statement cites the allocation of N400m to the National Agriculture Seed Council for the construction of solar light across all six geopolitical zones.
Another one is the Federal College of Forestry in Ibadan Oyo state who got N50m for the construction of street lights in Edo State.
“These are allocations that need to be corrected”, it said.
The CEO BudgIT enjoins the FG to urgently block all loopholes in the budget creation and implementation process.
