Budget & payroll padding: The place of developing structural defense

The narratives of corruption and bad system of administration in Nigeria has remained long seated phenomena devouring the fabrics of good governance. Recently, the saga of budget padding and clandestine recruitments have been making rounds. At the wake of unraveling incongruous items and duplications in the budget of Miniseries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the phenomenon of budget padding has come to light as watch financial organisations and the legislative house have been awakened to the need to scrutinised thoroughly the proposed budgets of Federal MDAs. In May, a public finance transparency advocacy firm, BudgIT, had disclosed that the 2021 national budget  contained no less than 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5 billion. Mentioning that the duplication of projects was just one among other loopholes for corruption in the spending plan, the firm had said, “Our investigations into the 2021 budget revealed at least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5 billion, with 115 of those duplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health. This is very disturbing, especially considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging COVID-19 pandemic affecting Nigeria. BudgIT also found zero audit records of the N10.02trillion received by the security sector between 2015 and 2021.”

More recently on Tuesday, 23rd, November, the Senate Committee on Environment chaired by former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, had thrown light onto another controversial  N16billion inserted in the proposed 2022 Appropriation Bill for the repayment of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP). In his explanation, Ekweremadu had disclosed that the identification and questioning of the N16billion Erosion Management loan repayment by the Committee on Environment came in view following consideration of the loan repayment plan which was meant to be covered by a 10-year moratorium expiring in 2023. According to him, the Committee discovered there was no need for any provision for the repayment ‘at this time,’ following the term of the 10-year moratorium expiring in 2023.

Ekweremadu who disclosed that the loan ought to be serviced by various State governments, which utilised them, and not the Federal Government,  said that if for any reason the Federal government wants to repay the loan, such should be provided for in the service-wide vote, not in the budgets of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, (MDAs). Ekweremadu had said that, while there was a N6billion allotment in the Environment budget for the servicing of a multilateral loan regarding erosion control, a project called NEWMAP, about N1.5 billion of it was released to Environment and later the Ministry of Finance wrote, saying it was a mistake, that it was supposed to be part of the service-wide vote for the serving of loans. He had observed that in the 2022 Appropriation Bill, there was a N16bn allocation for the same reason in the Ministry of Environment.

In a statement by his Media Adviser, Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu had explained, “Regrettably, about N1.5 billion of it was released to Environment and later the Ministry of Finance wrote, saying it was a mistake, that it was supposed to be part of the service-wide vote for the serving of loans. That money was taken back to the Ministry of Finance.

“Surprisingly, in the 2022 Appropriation Bill, there is a N16 billion allocation for the same reason in the Ministry of Environment. There is a directive from the leadership of the National Assembly that Committees should not tamper with monies provided for multilateral loans. But we in the Committee on Environment decided to find out what this N16 billion is all about, especially with our experience with the N6 billion of last year.

“So, we invited the Ministry to throw more light on the N16bn provision for NEWMAP loan repayment. They now stated that the N16 billion was not in the Ministry’s envelope when they received the envelope. They only saw the N16 billion when the Appropriation Bill was submitted to the National Assembly. We also found out that the loan for NEWMAP has a 10-year moratorium, which ends in 2023. So, there was no need for any provision for it at this time. We equally found out that about 21 states are beneficiaries of the NEWMAP project and it is their responsibility to repay the loan, not the Federal Government. And importantly, if there is any reason for the Federal Government to repay, that should be in the service-wide votes, not in the respective budgets of the MDAs. It is wrong and untidy.”

This is just as the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, at  the 3rd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector, organised by the office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Tuesday disclosed that the Commission in its review found that 257 projects amounting to N20.138billion were duplicated in the 2021 budget.

He was quoted, “Our findings indicate that the same malady of corruption afflicts executive as well as zip projects thus undermining government projections, escalating the cost of governance and denying Nigeria value for money. These maladies include poor needs assessment that disconnects projects from beneficiaries; false certification of uncompleted contracts as completed, deliberate under performance of contracts incessant criminal diversion and conversion of public property by civil servants, to name just a few. Other challenges relate to duplication of projects in the budget. ICPC review found that 257 projects amounting to N20.138b were duplicated in the 2021 budget leading us to submit an advisory to the HMF which was promptly actioned by the Minister to prevent abuse.”

At the same occasion on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari, had vowed that his government will punish public officers found wanting of bringing personnel into the public workforce by illegal recruitment, padding their payroll and retaining ghost workers.

Buhari while speaking warned that his Administration will not hesitate to punish errant MDAs involved in fraudulently presenting new projects as ongoing projects in the budget.

He was quoted, “We reduced the cost of governance by maintaining our promise to complete abandoned or ongoing projects commenced by previous administrations and have ensured that MDAs do not put forward new capital projects at the expense of ongoing projects. Government has, however, noted from the activities of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that some MDAs have devised the fraudulent practice of presenting new projects as ongoing projects.Necessary action and sanctions will continue against the heads of such errant MDAs. I am confident that ICPC will continue to maintain the vigilance required of her by the ICPC Act in this regard.”

While the caveat may be presumed applaudable, it is however more instructive to state that only a systemic approach is required to block the channels through which the dastardly act against the Nigerian State, as an entity, can be eliminated. While the instruments of punitive coercion have its role to play, the place of structural responses which proactively make the possibility of such act taking profound reflection, difficult remains sacrosanct, towards eliminating lacunas that have reduced the profile of public finance and governance in the Country to the corridor of failure, frustration and inefficiency.