A group of former lawmakers, Faculty Board of Initiatives, has said that<\/p>\n
the term budget padding is alien to legislative practice and should be
\ndiscarded in the Nigerian context.<\/p>\n
Eseme Eyibo, a former member of the House and one of the conveners of the
\nInitiative said during a press conference yesterday in Abuja that using
\nbudget padding as a term where lawmakers use their constitutional powers
\nto appropriate funds in a budget proposal was a misapplication of the
\nterm.<\/p>\n
Eyibo said they were not concerned about any allegations made on the
\nbudget issue but the integrity of the National Assembly as an institution.<\/p>\n
“We’re very concerned about the jurisprudence of our constitutional
\ndemocracy. Any issue that has to do with institutional integrity of the
\nlegislature is something we pick interest on.<\/p>\n
“I have read one language, which is very strange in the legislature, which
\nis padding. I know the word padding has to do with tailoring. The
\npersonalities involved are all brothers and colleagues, so they can sort
\nthemselves out at any time. Our own is the integrity of the institution.<\/p>\n
“We feel we should appeal to Nigerians through you. What the legislature
\nis suffering today at all levels is because of poor perception. We feel
\nthat Nigerians should give a chance to the legislature.”<\/p>\n
He said the National Assembly has the constitutional powers to tinker with
\nthe budget proposal sent to it by the Executive arm, which should not be
\nmisunderstood as padding.<\/p>\n
“Section 81 doesn’t intend that a proposal would be sent to the
\nlegislature and then the legislature stamps it and then it becomes law. In
\nthe course of budget preparation, there maybe adjustment, which could be
\nby way of deletion or addition.<\/p>\n
“That doesn’t mean there is no issue of indiscretion. The adjustment of
\nthe budget shouldn’t be misconstrued as padding. We agree that there are
\nbounds to be indiscretion,” he said.<\/p>\n
On the issue of constituency projects, Eyibo said it was a good initiative
\nfor equitable distribution of projects, but that there may be
\nindiscretions and abuses here and there.<\/p>\n
For such abuses to be curtailed, he said, the Public Procurement law must
\nbe complied with in order not to allow some people access to the funds for
\nthe projects.<\/p>\n
“The word padding is the misapplication of the word in the sense of budget
\nprocess in Nigeria. Constituency projects and zonal intervention
\nprogrammes are meant to provide equity in the distribution of projects in
\nthe country.”<\/p>\n
For his part, a member of the initiative and also a former lawmaker, Chris
\nEta, said they would advocate that both budget summary and details should
\nbe made available at the early stage for every lawmaker and other
\nNigerians to see.<\/p>\n
He said if that was done, it would go a long way to reduce the kind of
\ncontroversy witnessed in the 2016 budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A group of former lawmakers, Faculty Board of Initiatives, has said that the term budget padding is alien to legislative practice and should be discarded in the Nigerian context. Eseme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n