(“Every generation must
out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.” - Frantz Fanon)
The
National Assembly is constitutionally mandated to make laws for the peace,
order and good governance of the country. It is also responsible for executive
oversight and passing the country’s budget. Therefore, as civil society
organizations, we are committed to ensuring that the nation has a credible and
functional National Assembly that works for all Nigerians.
Lack
of accountability in the National Assembly is very dangerous for our democracy
because those who are elected to provide oversight over the executive arm’s implementation
of our budget cannot be expected to provide leadership and ensure
accountability when they have refused to be accountable with resources
allocated to them.
Background
Over
the last 3 years, the National Assembly has refused to respond to Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests and a court order to provide its detailed budget. Since
the 8th Assembly was inaugurated, both
the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives have promised
to make the details of the National Assembly spending public. They are yet to
do so.
It
is against this back-drop of a failure to be accountable in something as basic
as a budget, that our National Assembly has been rocked from one crisis to
another including trying to gag social media; pushing a bill that would
seriously undermine the work and independence of civil society and thereby
violate constitutional rights to freedom of expression and association;
purchasing new cars at exorbitant prices; fraud allegations against the Senate
President that has paralyzed proceedings on several occasions; deliberating
immunity and life pension for its leadership when they already get a gratuity
after every term; and a possibility that they’ve violated the Constitution by
not sitting the requisite number of days.
The Allegations
The
most recent crisis are the allegations and counter-allegations between Mr
Abdulmumin Jibrin, former Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and Mr
Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker, other principal officers and 12 other members of
the House of Representatives on a flawed budgeting process and the haphazard
allocation of constituency projects that are less about the communities’ needs
and more about the legislators’ wants.
Mr
Jibrin and Mr Dogara were approached to meet with civil society organizations
to provide context to the various reports in the public domain. Mr Jibrin
agreed to meet and Mr Dogara’s office responded that he had publicly denied all
allegations.
Allegations
requiring urgent answers and clarifications are:
1.
Amendments
to the Budget
We are clear that the
constitution empowers the legislature to make additions, subtractions and
deletions in the budget estimates presented by the executive, but not
arbitrarily, without the consent of all members and definitely not in a manner
that enriches individuals and is detrimental to the citizens they were elected
to represent.
It
has been alleged that amendments were made to the budget by a few officers
including Mr Jibrin, as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, without the
knowledge of other members of the National Assembly.
2.
Constituency
Projects
N100 billion of the budget is
surreptitiously allocated to constituency projects - zonal intervention
projects. These funds are usually shared equally on a zonal basis between the 6
geopolitical zones.
It has been alleged that N40
billion was shared by the principal officers for their constituencies to the detriment
of other constituencies.
3.
Fraud
and Misappropriation of Funds
It has been alleged that insertions
of over 2,000 projects worth N284billionwere made in the budget; National
Assembly members are living above their salaries; there is wasteful
procurement; and there is secrecy in the management of the finances of the House
of Representatives.
4.
Controversial
Allowances
It has been alleged that 10
principal officers have received over N10 billion in illegal allowances since
2007.
Rebuilding the National Assembly
There
is something fundamentally wrong with how the National Assembly discharges its
legislative and oversight duties. At the heart of these allegations are corrupt
enrichment, conspiracy to act corruptly, embezzlement, diversion and
misappropriation of public funds for lavish lifestyles, abuse of office and
public trust.
It
is of great concern to Nigerians that members of the National Assembly do not
know the content of their own budget, yet they hold court over how the budget
of the country is spent. Public auditing of spending by the National Assembly and
several reports on allegations of corruption that have been investigated remain
shrouded in secrecy. This does nothing for an institution that seeks to be
‘responsive, accessible, representative and accountable’.
The
fact that the House of Representatives was not reconvened to address these
allegations and Nigeria’s weakening economy speaks volumes of the importance
that our lawmakers place on these issues. Furthermore, on resumption, they have
chosen to focus on voice votes, shouts of solidarity, personalization of issues
and rowdy sessions rather than making their books open to confirm or dismiss
the allegations raised above.
Given
the seriousness and gravity of allegations against the House leadership in
particular, the outcome of any investigation under the leadership of the
current principal officers of the House would not meet the threshold of an
effective, transparent and independent investigation.
The
budgets of the National Assembly, the National Judicial Commission (NJC), and
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), amongst others, are a
first line charge. As such, it is not necessary for these institutions to
provide a detailed breakdown of their budget as part of the annual budgeting
process. This is a great disservice to Nigerians as it does nothing for
transparency and accountability.
Our
Recommendations
1.
The
Principal Officers in the House of Representatives and the Senate should step
down from their roles pending the conclusion of investigations and court cases.
The principal officers in both
chambers have spent an inordinate amount of time defending themselves while the
business of lawmaking and executive oversight suffers. The only reasonable
option is for the named principal officers to step down for an effective and
transparent investigation because our country cannot afford this distraction
especially with the current economic recession.
2.
An
Open Investigation of these Allegations
We
have read reports in the media of the investigation by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into the allegations regarding the House of
Representatives. We encourage the Commission to conduct this expeditiously and
ensure prosecution of those in violation of the laws of the country.
It
is also important to note that the Department of State Security (DSS) has no
jurisdiction in this matter based on the allegations thus far and it should be
mindful that its involvement does not provide parties in the matter with the opportunity
to challenge the legal validity of any criminal charge that might arise from
its intervention using the premise of a flawed investigation process.
3.
Zero-Based
Budgeting and Citizens Involvement in the Budgeting Process
Spending public funds on vague
line items like ‘Youth Empowerment’ to the tune of N450 million and ‘Strategic
Youth Empowerment’ to the tune of N500 million is ludicrous! The budgeting
process needs to include budget details not just estimates. In addition, the
technical capacity of the Budget Office in the National Assembly should be
enhanced.
4.
Reform
Constituency Projects
To ensure that the provision for
constituency projects is not used as a conduit to siphon funds, it must be
integrated into the budgeting process from the MDAs, based on a needs
assessment in the constituencies and consulting the legislators who represent
those constituencies.
5.
An
Open National Assembly - #OpenNASS
The National Assembly should:
(1) Publish its detailed 2016 budget; (2) Scrap voice voting and use the
e-voting system already installed; (3) Activate the switchboard in the National
Assembly complex so citizens can engage their
representatives; (4) Ensure the National Assembly’s website is updated
regularly with bills and contact information of members; (5) Provide an online
attendance register for plenary sessions.
Finally, we would like
to reiterate that if the allegations are found to be true, the 2016 Budget
should be amended accordingly in line with the law and the constitution which
remains the pillar from which this government gets its powers.
The National Assembly is
a critical institution in our democracy and we will ensure that it is
repurposed to serve all Nigerians, not just a few. Now that the National Assembly
is in session, we urge them to take appropriate action to put their house in
order before the year ends.
God bless the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
Signed
‘Yemi Adamolekun,
Executive Director, EiE Nigeria
David Anyaele, Executive
Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD)
Lanre Arogundade,
Executive Director, International Press Centre (IPC)
Funke Baruwa, CEO,
Women’s Trust Fund
Jaye Gaskia, Protest to
Power Movement
Idayat Hassan, Executive
Director, Center for Democracy & Development (CDD)
Jibrin Ibrahim, Senior
Fellow, Centre for Democracy & Development (CDD)
Otive Igbuzor, Executive
Director, Centre LSD
Ngozi Iwere, Executive
Director, Reclaim Naija (Community Life Project)
Tunji Lardner, Executive
Director, WANGONet
Adetokunbo Mumuni,
Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP)
Ezenwa Nwagu, Say No
Campaign
Edetaen Ojo, Executive
Director, Media Rights Agenda
‘Kemi Okenyodo,
Executive Director, Partners West Africa
Seun Onigbinde, Team Lead,
Budgit
Anwal Rafsanjani,
Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
Lanre Suraj, Chairman,
Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC)
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