Nigeria's 2022 Budget is Riddled With Corruption as BudgIT Discovers Over N378bn Hidden Duplicated Projects
- The 2022 budget has been described as an opportunity for corruption in President Muhammadu Buhari's administration
- According to BudgIT many of the projects earmarked to that MDAs will be spending over N378bn are duplicated projects
- It has also been disclosed that the budget includes a list of a number of projects to be carried by MDAs that does not have the competence to do so
Nigeria's civic tech organisation, BudgIT, has revealed that out of 21,108 capital projects in the 2022 approved budget , 460 are duplicated projects worth over N378.9billion.
The budget tracker also raised alarm over inflated projects amounting to billions of Naira directly linked to the State House and the Presidency.
According to Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT’s Country Director the loopholes for fraud in the 2022 FG budget is a crime against the 86million Nigerians living below the poverty line.
Source: Facebook
He also added that the gaps is an injustice to hardworking taxpayers and an open mockery of countries and lending institutions that intend to borrow Nigeria N6.29trillion in 2022.
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Other anomalies in the 2022 budget
The Cable reports that BudgIT also discovered that many MDAs inserted into their budget various programmes that they do not have the capacity to execute.
One of which is National Agency For Great Green Wall which was set up to prevent land degradation and desertification afflicting 11 states in northern Nigeria, and to boost food security in the country.
The Agency has N1.3billion or 64% of its capital budget dedicated to purchasing motorcycles, street lights and other projects outside its mandate.
BudgIT added:
“Likewise, four (4) recreational parks under the Ministry of Environment, have a total allocation of N67.8million to construct “Gun Armouries” in Cross Rivers, Kaduna, Borno & Yobe States, even though the Ministry of Environment is not a security agency. This raises the question – Why is the ministry of environment stashing guns in recreational parks in these states in an election campaign year and at a time when the country is facing unrest in nearly all of the 36 states?”
Others discovered is River Basin Development Authorities (RBDA), under the Ministry of Water Resources which was set up to facilitate management of water resources for agriculture that would end the tide of food supply fluctuations that affect food prices, has instead metamorphosed into an agency that constructs roads and supplies street lights.
It showed that a cumulative total of N6.3billion was allocated to supplying street lights by the ministries in 73 communities across the 36 states, while N14.8billion was allocated for the construction of 219 roads across 36 states; whereas the majority of the roads are the responsibilities of State and Local governments and not the Federal Government.
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The president made the revelation on Thursday, October 7, when he submitted the 2022 Appropriation Bill before the Joint Session of the National Assembly in Abuja.
His speech during the presentation was shared on Facebook by one of his spokesmen, Femi Adesina.
President Buhari also argued that Nigeria does not have a debt sustainability problem but a revenue challenge.
Source: Legit.ng
