National Assembly demands probe of top officials over Budget padding
Written by Taiwo Adediran on February 8, 2016
The National Assembly has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to institute a high-powered probe panel t
o investigate the alleged padding of the 2016 budget by some top civil servants.
The Presidency had on Saturday, revealed the attempts by some dubious individuals to scuttle innovations introduced into the budget by inflating figures. According to the Presidency, the mafia was responsible for the controversial provisions in the eventual six point zero-seven trillion naira budget sent to the National Assembly by the Presidency.
Speaking through the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, the House of Representatives said top civil servants responsible for the padding should be prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission.
The Senate, on its part, said besides probing the padding, public officers including the Minister of National Planning and Budget, Udo Udoma, should also be sanctioned because the civil servants could not have perpetrated the embarrassing act alone without the connivance and collaboration of the budget office, supervised by Udoma.
