Following the allegations by Abdulmumin
Jibrin, the former chairman of the House of Representatives appropriation committee, of budget padding by some of the principal officers,
it is sad to note that the menace will continue for some time yet. Herein lays
the reasons for such submission.
Source
of illegal funds for politicians:
Budget padding gives lawmakers the wherewithal to continually keep their
political structures alive without dipping into their salaries and allowances. Quite
important is that such funds are not easily traceable to its source.
Greedy
nature of Nigerian politicians: The average lawmaker
in Nigeria earns well. This is without mentioning bogus allowances on feeding, furniture,
wardrobe, transportation et al and sums set aside for constituency projects. Earning
far more than British MPs, our legislators still ensure they pad to make more
money. What a shame!
It
has been institutionalized: Budget padding does not seem like
a crime to lawmakers again as it has become part of the system. The money
laundering is now seen as the in-house legislative culture bordering on recent spats
between the executive and legislative arms of government at the federal
government over unwarranted sums added to the budget yearly.
if the lawmakers with their salaries and the allowances they always receive still pads budgets it means they are evil, for how long are we going to continue like this?
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