Mess in the Budget: Buhari Is Angry, To Sack Some Big Men

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered full scale investigation to determine the level of complicity of heads of some government’s parastatals and agencies in the “mutilated” 2016 budget sent back to the presidency by the National Assembly, with several irregularities.

Buhari has refused to sign the document, beause the federal lawmakers had doctored the fiscal bill.

A very top government official revealed that the probe had become imperative because some top shots were suspected to have colluded with some "fraudulent" lawmakers to produce a fraud budget.

“The executive is investigating the level of complicity of heads of parastatals, who are suspected to have colluded with the National Assembly. Heads may roll because we see it as sabotage,” he said.

The source told Punch that the Presidency believes the budget passed by the National Assembly was meant to frustrate Buhari for his decision to be neutral in the current trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false declaration of assets.

Giving an insight into the suspicion of underhand dealings by heads of parastatals with some members of the National Assembly, the Presidency source cited an example of the Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited in the Ministry of Communications.

He said it was surprising that out of the N5bn proposed for 36 capital projects in the ministry in the original budget presented by Buhari, the National Assembly decided to move N3.6bn to NIGCOMSAT.

The N3.6bn to NIGCOMSAT was not even for projects but mere training for the planned NIGCOMSAT-2.

Describing the allocation as ridiculous and suspicious, the source said up until now, the Federal Government was still negotiating for funds for the NIGCOMSAT-2.

Presidency needed to know what informed such decision; whether the management of NIGCOMSAT actually demanded such funds from the National Assembly outside the budget the President presented.

The source added that investigations had revealed that many of the federal lawmakers were not involved in the production of the budget details presented to Buhari.

On why Buhari would not sign 'fraud' budget, the source said, “It is dangerous for the President to sign now and negotiate later. The lawmakers may turn round later to accuse him of non-implementation of the budget...”

But in a statement on Monday, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, confirmed that his committee supported the inclusion of the Lagos-Calabar rail project in the budget when Minister Rotimi Amaechi defended his ministry’s budget before the Senate panel.

Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator John Enoh, confirmed to journalists on Monday that the project was included in the budget.