Some top officials of the federal government who allegedly attempted to inflate the 2016 budget by over N1.7trillion may lose their jobs, The Nation reports.
According to sources of the popular newspaper, the unnamed officials smuggled into the budget proposals items such as vote for Aso Rock Clinic and some communications equipment.
The list of all the culprits was being compiled last night following a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari, reports The Nation.
The newspaper’s sources said last night that the officials decided to jack up the budget proposal by N1.7trillion after learning that the budget for this year would be in the region of N8trillion. They were said to have recommended N3 trillion as overhead costs alone.
Some of the 6,000 items in the 2016 Budget were said to have been smuggled into the proposals by the cartel.
“Some top civil servants sabotaged the presidency by including extraneous items in the 2016 Budget,” a source told The Nation.
“Members of the Budget Mafia are spread across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
“When the budget was being compiled, they frustrated all the deadlines set by the presidency.
“Despite the vigilance of Buhari and his cabinet, it was embarrassing to the government to hear of some smuggled items.
“Bureaucratic resistance and entrenched systemic corrupt practices dogged every move of the presidency to produce proposals reflecting financial prudence and frugality, during the preparation of the 2016 Budget now before the National Assembly.
“For instance, after learning that the presidency was considering a large budget of possibly N8 trillion in order to significantly increase capital expenditure, bureaucrats brought a proposal of N9.7 trillion for overhead and capital spending even without personnel spending.
“Of the proposed N9.7 trillion, the bureaucrats planned to spend an alarming N3 trillion on overhead alone but the presidency eventually slashed this to N163b lower by 8% than 2015 budget which was N177billion, indicating massive cut of some of the main provisions by the Buhari presidency.
“These bureaucrats also proposed to spend N2.1 trillion on personnel for the 2016 estimates compared to about N1.8 trillion in the 2015 budget.
“But the presidency also cut this down to N1.7 trillion in the final estimates sent to the legislature,” the source said.
