No due diligence

Editorial

BudgIT, the civic-tech non-profit organisation in Nigeria has raised some issues about corruption with the budgeting processes in the country. It alleged that the 2021 budget of the Federal Government contains 316 duplicated projects valued at N39.5bn, and that 115 duplicated projects were from the Federal Ministry of Health alone.

BudgIT also claims that it discovered there is a preponderance of capital projects that are doubtful whether the agencies with the allocations would be able to execute them. It discovered that the National Agricultural Seed Council has an allocation of N400m to construct solar street lights across six geopolitical zones and the Federal College of Forestry in Ibadan, Oyo State, got N50m for the construction of street lights in Edo State.

The security sector also came under the scrutiny of BudgIT as it claims that its investigation shows that between 2015 and 2021, N10.02trn had been budgeted for security and that has not translated to a more secure nation as the country is experiencing the worst form of insecurity since the civil war. The danger is that other sectors are suffering while there is not much to show for the huge amount that the security sector has got in six years.

We find the allegations of BudgIT extremely disturbing because there is no worse destabilising force in a nation’s race to development than insecurity. BudgIT considers the allegation that some 117 federal agencies received security votes worth N24.3bn in a curious duplication of security votes already contained in their budgets very disturbing because it all goes to show that there are huge loopholes in the country’s budgeting processes.

The N10.02trn that is quoted to have been spent on security is definitely a very huge sum. For the country to be almost on the edge of the precipice as a result of the killings, abductions, arson, banditry, herdsmen and Boko Haram attacks on communities across the country is enough cause for concern. The NGO advocates for a better organised and detailed audit of the security budgeting processes. We cannot agree less.

Security, in our view, is the heart of any development effort in any nation. No sector can be productive without a secure environment that guarantees citizens the confidence to go about their businesses without fear of danger to their lives.

The primacy of security is what led political philosophers to insist that the essence of government is the protection of lives and property of its citizens. Security has to be better handled in the country. As things stand, governments at all levels do not seem to behave as though the welfare of the citizens is their primary responsibility.

In a twenty-first century world, security is a global issue and with a heightened sense of nationalism. Given the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and economic recession, Nigeria must wake up and do the needful for a more secure country. Security in any nation must be handled with the highest degree of carefulness and probity. We find it curious that the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning have been seemingly mute over these allegations.

Again, given the complaints that have plagued the heads of security agencies for years now, we feel that something is fundamentally wrong. The National Assembly has committees that are supposed to carry out oversight functions on the ministries, how come these alleged duplication of budgetary allocations consistently happen? How does their oversight function skip due diligence in ways that external agencies would be the ones scrutinising and discovering these anomalies?

The Senate must also take part of the blame for often not being thorough in its screening processes for confirmation of appointments forwarded to the chamber. It is its duty to go through the tedious task of due diligence in confirming names forwarded by the executive. Competence and patriotism must trump party loyalty and nepotistic tendencies because, at the root of all the results of the investigations is flawed leadership at those levels.  The legislators seem to be failing in their oversight duties and the country is worse for it. They must equally be held accountable if the allegations are true.