Tag Archives: BudgIT

Supreme court has opened up its spendings, NASS must do same – BudgIT

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BudgIT, a civic organisation for good governance, says the Supreme Court of Nigeria has opened up its budgetary spendings for 2015 and 2016, and the national assembly must do the same.

Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE) to the Supreme Court to disclose its financial details, the apex court provided details of its actual expenditure against the budgeted figures for the years 2015 and 2016.

“This is a welcome development towards achieving a proactive information disclosure culture. In a letter dated February 14, 2017, the Supreme Court acknowledged that it spent a capital vote of N2.265bn out of an appropriated sum of N2.3bn as at December 2016,” Seun Onigbinde, the BudgIT lead, said via a statement.

“The Supreme Court also acknowledged that N2.86bn was spent as overhead out of an appropriated sum of N2.88bn, representing 99.42%.”

Onigbinde said statutory allocation to public institutions between 2013 and 2016 have gulped a total of N1.523 trillion with little or no information about how the funds were utilised each year.

“N535bn was allocated for the National Assembly within this period and legislators have failed to open up their books to the public. Other agencies such as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Judicial Council (NJC), collecting the statutory allocations are identified with similar cases of opacity except the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which recently published its budget online.

“While the Supreme Court has responded to the call for transparency on actual spending, the National Assembly has refused access to such information despite multiple assurances from the leadership of the National Assembly.

“The National Assembly’s refusal to be transparent is particularly disturbing because members are elected by citizens and are to represent their interests. Furthermore, the National Assembly, as the legislative arm of government, is supposed to provide oversight function over the executive and this will be very difficult to do when it continues to refuse to be accountable.

“We expect the National Judiciary Council, Public Complaints Commission, and other agencies under the statutory allocation agencies to cultivate a transmittable, and functioning system of openness, accountability and public inclusion in their activities.”

BudgIT and EiE Nigeria have called for transparency in the national assembly since 2013 with little  or no  results.

“The National Assembly, a helm of law and order and the supposed symbol of governance, is yet to provide details of its annual budget in 2016,” the statement read.

“Advocacy to ensure the public knowledge of how the National Assembly spends tax payers funds will not cease. We believe that a functional society is one which takes into highest regard citizen engagement and participation in all areas.

“We also believe that information dissemination is paramount and crucial to sustainable development and democracy. We implore the citizens to also continually demand accountability from those in charge of their funds and keep them on their toes to ensure that governance works for all Nigerians, not a few.”

 

Source: The Cable

BudgIT tasks Fashola on transparency in power, works ministry.

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A Nigerian civil society organisation, Budgit, has called on the Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to uphold transparency and ensure detailed disclosure of utilisation of funds released to his ministry for capital projects in 2016.

In a statement two weeks ago, Mr. Fashola’s office declared that “no new contracts have been awarded to date based on 2016 Appropriation and; as such no single kobo has been paid.”

But Budgit in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES by its head, Olusegun Onigbinde, expressed worry at the minister’s declaration, asking him to disclose how funds released to his ministry under the 2016 budget was used.

The financial document released by the Office of the Accountant General revealed a sum of N170,425,193,94 was released to the Ministry as at October 2016 from a total capital budget of N353 billion.

“If the funds released to the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing are meant for old projects, what projects did the Ministry spend N170 billion on?” Mr. Onigbinde wrote.

“The Ministry of Works, Power and Housing should provide information on the projects currently being implemented, the actual cost released for each project, name of the contractors and the locations of the projects.

“This is a basic requirement to measure the judicious utilisation of public funds by any public office.”

The organisation said its previous demand for detailed information on the utilisation of funds released for federal capital projects had not been honoured since December 2016.

The Ministry of Finance said N753 billion had been released to fund capital projects as at October 2016.

“But it was without comprehensive details of projects the fund was released for,” Budgit said.

“We did not request for nuclear codes nor details that could be dubbed as ‘threats to National Security’; we have only requested that governance functions the way it ought to.

“It is a common knowledge that government fails when citizens do not hold trust in the dealings of an administration hence the necessity to ensure there is mutual trust between government and the citizens through transparency.

“We have chewed this on many occasions that there is a deliberate attempt to keep citizens out of loop with respect to information. The lack of responsible public information breeds bad perception. The implication of this singular act could be measured on investment and investors who struggle to trust an opaque system with funds.

“The Federal Government’s anti-graft war needs more openness to work efficiently.”

NEITI, BudgITng releases report on NNPC’s monthly financial and operational reports

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As part of efforts to present its independent Audit reports in a simple, concise and correct format, NEITI has elicited the support of BudgIT a Non- Governmental Organization known for expertise in open data analysis and communication.

 

The partnership and cooperation follows series of meetings between the Executive Secretary, Waziri Adio and the organization.

 

As the wind of openness and transparency continues to blow through the extractive industry, the walls of secrecy are tumbling. NEITI in conjunction with BudgIT has release its report on NNPC’s monthly financial and operational reports.

 

Click here to VIEW the Report.

NPA, BudgIT sign deal on budget implementation.

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The Nigerian Ports Authority has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BudgIT Information Technology Network to open up its budget for the public.

The General Manager, Public Affairs, Chief Michael Ajayi, in a statement on Monday in Lagos, said the MoU would promote transparency and accountability.

The Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Usman, said the partnership became necessary for the development of an open budget system platform and implementation of a public data dissemination programme.

She said that this would help the organisation in blocking revenue leakages.

Usman said the MoU would provide Nigerians with all the necessary information during implementation of the NPA’s budget.

She said BudgIT had achieved feats in socio-technological advocacy toward opening up of public budgets for citizens’ comprehension.

Usman said with the MoU, NPA would be able to deliver its mandate and create more wealth for Nigerians.

She said that the MoU would also assist NPA as a critical organ in the economic artery of the nation to promote effective and efficient management of all its terminals across the country.

The managing director said the partnership, apart from promoting transparency in public expenditure, would also instil a framework for transparent budget provisions for the authority.

She said the MoU would allow stakeholders to add their inputs, “encourage participatory governance by way of feedback and creates an enabling environment to encourage foreign investment’’.

She added, “The collaboration will ensure that key research, industry policies and innovations are effectively communicated.

“It will also ensure that critical data are generated and made accessible for policy makers, private sector actors, stakeholders and the general public.”

The Lead Partner of BudgIT, Mr. Oluseun Onigbinde, said NPA was the first revenue generating government agency to make its budget public.

He said the Management of the NPA would not regret keying into the programme.

Onigbinde said the collaboration, apart from promoting probity, transparency and accountability, would also restore government and public confidence in the Management of NPA.