Nigeria's Presidency must as a matter of priority, reveal the entire details of the alleged inclusions by the National Assembly into the 2016 budget and immediately initiate a full probe into this infraction determining the full extent of criminality for onward prosecution.A crime would have been committed if the National Assembly secretly added items to the budget without informing the Executive. No such crime or criminality and brazen corruption is acceptable in these trying and deadly times.
The delays in the passing of the 2016 budget has constituted a great deprivement to Nigerians due to the initial Executive paddings as well as the subsequent secret paddings by the National Assembly.
This is not a joke or trivial matter.
Nothing serious has been done to the Executives, Ministers and/or Permanent secretaries and whoever was involved in the criminal actions. Likewise the Presidency must investigate and publish every single item added secretly to the budget by the Assembly and punish all those involved.
This is Nigeria's budget. These are all civil servants and their duty is to Nigeria. Nigerians are not beholden to any government agencies or employees. There is no secret in the nation's budget. There is no reason for delay in announcing the exact details of the manipulations. It defies logic that if the Assembly indeed secretly re-padded the budget, the same has been sent back to them to amend. This deadlock can only be resolved if the Executive takes the right and serious actions to deal with this menace to Nigeria's progress.
We call on the Presidency to exigently address the nation on the exact details of the padding and re-padding and setup the right and full probes into all involved so these perpetrators can be punished according to the laws of the land.
Dr. Peregrino Brimah
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