A Senior lawyer in Nigeria, Mr Robert Clark, says 80 per cent of the monies allocated to constituency projects and given to members of the National were never used for the projects.
He told Channels Television on Sunday that almost two trillion Naira had been allocated to constituency projects of the National Assembly between 1999 and 2016, but decried the mismanagement of the funds.
“I have observed and I have done a research. Since 1999 up to date, almost two trillion Naira of Nigerian money has passed through budget for 16 years based on projects allotted to National Assembly members for their constituencies.
“I have also observed that 80 per cent of these projects were never carried out.
“Who approved the project to be done? Who paid out to contractors and which contractors handled it?” he questioned.
The lawyer urged President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to probe how much of the funds allocated to constituency projects were actually used.
He believes the check will help ensure that the monies allocated to projects are properly utilised.
On the criminality of budget padding, the senior lawyer said that padding of budget could happen in the beginning, middle or at the end of the budget process.
“The beginning also contains the padding. The end is when after having been passed as the budget, the monies meant for members of the National Assembly, who have inserted in the budget constituency claims, will now ask the executives to now execute the constituency projects,” he stressed.
According to him, padding creates an offence when it happens after the budget had been agreed on by the committees.
“Padding creates an offence because it happens after the committee has agreed on all insertions.
“It is not criminal yet but it is an unlawful act because it is punishable under the rules of the House.
“It is an infringement of the rules of the National Assembly to make insertions on a document after the committee has passed it,” the senior lawyer explained.
He further opined that the padding allegation by a former Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, was not a matter for anti-graft agencies, insisting that the National Assembly could address the issue.
“This is the discipline which they have to do,” Mr Clark added
