Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,193,121 members, 7,949,850 topics. Date: Sunday, 15 September 2024 at 08:42 PM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / How David Mark Doubled National Assembly’s Budget And Enthroned Secrec (606 Views)
Saraki Fails To Disclose National Assembly Budget / Arms Billions: Dasuki Reveals How David Mark Got N10.7billion / How David Mark Doubled National Assembly’s Budget And Enthroned Secrecy (2) (3) (4)
(1) (Reply)
How David Mark Doubled National Assembly’s Budget And Enthroned Secrec by piippa(m): 10:49am On Jul 19, 2015 |
By the time the curtain fell on the 7th
session of Nigeria’s National Assembly
in June, one of the most prominent
characters of that era, who retreated
backstage as a member of the 8th
session (after his party became a
minority), is former Senate President,
David Mark.
Mr. Mark, a retired army general,
would be remembered for his ignoble
role in deepening and institutionalising
the culture of secrecy at Nigeria’s
federal legislative body.
In 2003, total National Assembly budget
was about N23.347 billion.
The next year, the figure rose to about
N32.229 billion (2004) and then
N55.422 billion in 2005.
Although the figure dropped to
N39.810 billion in 2006, the allocations
have remained on the upswing ever
after.
Immediately Mr. Mark became Senate
President in 2007, the National
Assembly’s budget rose from N66.488
billion to a shocking N104.825 billion
in 2008, before dropping marginally to
N96.052 billion in 2009.
By 2010, while he was still in charge,
the allocation had a geometric jump,
skyrocketing to unprecedented levels to
a peak of about N154.2 billion.
With the Nigerian public increasingly
scrutinizing the spiraling annual
allocations to the National Assembly,
questions about why the lawmakers
got so much, amid rising overheads in
the national budget, became inevitable.
To block Nigerians from knowing
details of how the National Assembly’s
jumbo allocations are spent, and how
much lawmaker’s earn in allowances,
Mr. Mark’s leadership wrapped up the
federal legislator’s finances in utmost
secrecy.
In one master stroke of legislative
brinkmanship, the National Assembly
budget, hitherto open to public
scrutiny, like those of all ministries,
departments and agencies, suddenly
became secret.
Details of the allocation were never
made known, and Mr. Mark and his
team resisted all efforts to pry it open.
By 2010, the National Assembly
legislated to make itself member of an
exclusive club of agencies whose budget details are
never disclosed but whose finances are deducted en-
bloc (first-line charge) via statutory transfers.
This group includes the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Judicial
Council (NJC), the Niger-Delta Development
Commission (NDDC) and the Public Complaints
Commission (PCC).
Agencies in this group receive their annual budgetary
allocations in bulk without providing breakdown of
expenditure details.
Under Mr. Mark’s leadership, details of the National
Assembly’s N150 billion allocations remained secret,
despite public outcry against it.
For the first time in several years, the federal
lawmakers agreed to cut their jumbo allocation by
23.3 percent to N115 billion in 2015.
Yet, details of how the fund would be spent
remained secret.
Disturbed by the trend, the Lead Director, Centre for
Social Justice (CENSOJ), Eze Onyekpere, citing the
Freedom of Information Act and Section 48 of the
Fiscal Responsibility Act, demanded budgetary and
expenditure details from both the National Assembly
and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
When Mr. Mark failed to grant the request, Mr.
Onyekpere went to court.
After several adjournments, the court, on February
25, 2014, ordered the Minister of Finance to oblige
the civil society group with details of all statutory
transfers.
But Mr. Mark and the finance ministry ignored the
order.
The closest anyone got to knowing how lawmakers
spend Nigeria’s hard-earned money was the
indication given by Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) and current Emir of Kano, Lamido
Sanusi.
Mr. Sanusi had said expenses by the National
Assembly accounted for about 25 percent of the total
overhead cost by the federal government.
Apart from allocations for salaries and allowances,
Mr. Sanusi said all other items packed under
different sub-heads in the appropriation bill consist
mainly of expenses on the personal benefits of
lawmakers.
According to the former CBN boss, the National
Assembly under Mr. Mark perfected a curious system
of “retiring” the huge allocation.
“There is an entire structure within the National
Assembly whose job is to prepare different receipts
and vouchers to cover every item in the budget,” Mr.
Sanusi had said.
A review of the details of the National Assembly
budget for 2009 highlights some items the lawmakers
spend their huge annual budget on.
Out of a total appropriation of N106.64 billion for
that year, recurrent expenditure was N101.39 billion,
or 95 percent, allowing just N5.25 billion for capital
projects.
Under the recurrent, overheads accounted for
N87.69 billion, or 86.48 percent, with personnel cost
allocated N13.69 billion, or 13.52 percent.
Apart from payment of salaries and other fringe
benefits, which takes an average of about N10
billion, Mr. Sanusi said the bulk of the allocations
were shared among members according to pre-
agreed formula after allocations for such items as
constituency projects, budget tracking, software,
hardware, implementation and monitoring; NASS
equipment; judgment debt; renovation projects;
general goods and non-personal services; general
travels and transport (local and international) as
well as general training.
Other provisions include general utilities; general
materials and supplies; general maintenance services;
security vote, consultancy and professional services;
insurance premium charges; fuel and lubricants;
contingency; NASS programmed activities, NASS law
magazine; media and Public Relations as well as
miscellaneous expenses.
Mr. Mark stepped down from the leadership of the
National Assembly in June. He would most likely be
remembered more for the lack of accountability
under his watch. |
Re: How David Mark Doubled National Assembly’s Budget And Enthroned Secrec by Balkan(m): 11:14am On Jul 19, 2015 |
I weep for Nigeria. It's obvious that nobody believes in this country. All our leaders are working hard to bleed this country dead. If we have our own country like ODUA, Biafra and Northern Nigeria we will not think of destroying it the way our leaders are doing today. I weep for Nigeria. Why can't we broke up this union instead of deceiving ourselves. I know that no group would want destroy the future of their children and people. How can we allow northerners or minority Fulanis to be messing the whole of southern Nigeria up because we are not united in the south. If only the south west can see what SS and SE are seeing, they will wake up from their slumber and liberate the S,/? Nigeria |
Re: How David Mark Doubled National Assembly’s Budget And Enthroned Secrec by Nobody: 11:18am On Jul 19, 2015 |
post=36031620: |
(1) (Reply)
Buhari First Nigerian President To Stay At US President's Offical Guest House / How Nass Clerk Stalled Plot To Stop Saraki’s Emergence As Senate President / We Will Make Boko Haram Beg For Peace – Nigeria’s Army Chief
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 20 |