Wednesday, May 05, 2021 /02:49 PM / by BudgIT/ Header Image Credit: Vanguard News

BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation leadingthe advocacy for transparency and accountability in public finance in Nigeria,has called on the government to audit security spending and close loopholes forcorruption in the budget process.

While speaking on BudglT's recent publication, "Demanding Budget Reforms for Resource Optimization", Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT'sCEO, said, "2021 has been a horrifying year for Nigerians concerning securityas the country combats mutating forms of crime and terror across all its 36states; this is despite allocating over N10.02tn to security between 2015 and2021. In the 2021 budget, the entire security sector's allocation was N1.97tn,representing a 14% increase from the N1.78tn allocated in 2020."

Increased resources allocated to the security sectormeans that less money is available to develop other sectors; thus, there is aneed for more scrutiny of how these allocations are budgeted and spent.Likewise, BudgIT's publication noted that various non-security relatedgovernment agencies now request and receive allocations for "Security Votes",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 N24.3bn, despite many of these agencies already havingallocations for "Security Charges" to cover each agency's security needs.

Furthermore, BudglT observed that the littlebudgetary allocation provided to other sectors are plagued with variousloopholes for leakages and theft of public funds.

"Our investigations into the 2021 budget revealedat least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5bn, with 115 of thoseduplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health. This is very disturbingespecially considering the health infrastructure deficit and the ragingCOVID-19 pandemic affecting Nigeria."

"Even worse, agencies now receive allocations forcapital projects they cannot execute. For example, the National AgricultureSeed Council has an allocation for N400m to construct solar street lightsacross all six geopolitical zones, while the Federal College of Forestry inIbadan in Oyo State got N50m for the construction of street lights in EdoState." These are aberrations that need to be corrected.

Mr Okeowo enjoined the federal government tourgently 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 N3.31tndebt servicing burden which will wipe out nearly 41.63% of the projectedN7.99tn 2021 revenue. The federal government can maximise the little publicfunds left by blocking the leakages BudgIT has identified." Okeowo added.

Nigeria's budget can be an excellent tool toaccelerate economic recovery, but if the budget is left with the currentloopholes, it can cover corruption and grand theft. The Nigerian governmentalready plans to borrow N4.69tn to meet its expenditure needs in 2021; thus, itcannot afford to allow these borrowed funds to be stolen by a few corruptelites through loopholes in the budget. Virement provided in the FiscalResponsibility Act 2007, or the opportunity for Corrigenda recently provided inSection 16 of the 2021

Appropriation Act Implementation Guidelinespublished by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning in March 2021are handy starting tools the government can immediately use in pluggingloopholes.

Download Full PDF ReportHere - Demanding Budget Reforms for Resource Optimization

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