Some civic groups, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), have condemned the National Assembly for allegedly inserting projects worth N10.96tn into the national budgets between 2021 and 2025.

The organisations described the development as a clear abuse of legislative powers, calling for immediate investigations into the development by anti-graft agencies.

A civic tech organisation, BudgIT, claimed in a report on Thursday that the National Assembly inserted a total of 30,632 constituency projects into four budget cycles of 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025.

In a post shared via its X (formerly Twitter) handle, BudgIT revealed that 5,601 projects worth N913.15bn were inserted into the 2021 budget; 6,462 projects valued at N910.37bn in 2022; 7,447 projects worth N2.24tn in 2024; and 11,122 projects totalling N6.9tn in the 2025 appropriation.

The group said in the 2025 budget alone, 3,573 projects valued at N653.19bn were located in federal constituencies, while 1,972 projects worth N444.04bn were earmarked for senatorial districts.

Some of the projects inserted in the 2025 budget include streetlights worth N393.29bn, boreholes (N114.53bn), ICT-related projects (N505.79bn), community town hall construction and renovation (N17.23bn), and education-related projects (N179.69bn).

Others include health-related projects valued at N420.09bn, empowerment of traditional rulers (N6.74bn), road construction and rehabilitation (N1.44bn), and purchase of security vehicles (N11.7bn).

BudgIT said, ?A total of 11,122 projects culminating in N6.93tn were inserted in the 2025 budget by the National Assembly, an ugly trend that was accelerated in the 10th Assembly. The additional N3.18tn was added to the capital supplementation which makes up N9.11tn in capital projects.

?238 of the projects worth N2.29tn are in the range of values greater than N5bn. We also noticed that 984 projects worth N1.71tn, and 1,119 projects within the range of N500m?N1bn, worth N641.38bn, were inserted into the budget.

?We contend that the National Assembly has indiscriminately inserted projects into the national budget, many of which appear to serve narrow personal interests and political expediency rather than the broader public good.?

Reacting to the development, SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said lawmakers were elected to make laws and pass budgets, not to allocate or execute projects.

?The legislature has no business executing or allocating projects. This conduct undermines the principles of constructive oversight and compromises accountability,? he said.

Oluwadare called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the inserted projects.

Also speaking, CACOL Executive Director, Debo Adeniran, said the practice of secretly inserting projects without public scrutiny was fraudulent.

?Lawmakers have the constitutional right to amend the budget, but any insertions must be transparent, debated, and subjected to public input.

?Where insertions are secretly made, and execution of such projects is shoddy or inflated, it should not be called padding, but stealing. It is fraud, and those involved must be prosecuted,? he said.

Adeniran also urged the Bureau of Public Procurement, EFCC, and ICPC to investigate all persons linked to questionable insertions and prosecute them where necessary.

According to him, the President has a constitutional responsibility to vet appropriation bills thoroughly before assenting to them, noting that negligence in that regard could amount to an impeachable offence. (Saturday PUNCH)

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