The Network for the Actualization of Social Growth and Viable Development (NEFGAD) has called on President Bola Tinubu to sanction Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) exorbitant spending.
NEFGAD alleged that MDAs over time have delivered public funds into private pockets as a result of budgeting and executing projects outside their respective establishment mandates.
This the group said has amounted to a “blatant breach of the Nigerian constitution and the Public Procurement Act”, in a statement sent to the president and signed by its country head of office Mr Akingunola Omoniyi.
Recall that the National Assembly approved N28.7tn as the 2024 Budget titled “Budget of Renewed Hope” with a government projected revenue of N19.59tn.
However in July 2024, the President got the approval of the National Assembly to adjust the 2024 budget upward to N35.05tn,
A breakdown of the additional N6.2tn showed that N3.2tn was for infrastructure projects and N3tn for recurrent expenditure.
The copy made available to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday quoted NEFGAD saying, “As the preparation for the 2025 Budget gears up, a public procurement advocacy group Network for the Actualization of Social Growth and Viable Development has warned procuring entities across the country to desist forthwith from the rampant culture of budgeting and executing projects outside their respective establishment mandates”.
According to the group, “institutions are established with clear objectives, mission and vision statements needed for national growth and development as enshrined in the constitution and the agencies’ respective establishment laws whose violation is not without consequences.
“it is questionable the rate at which Public Procurement in Nigeria assumed a riotous dimension such that Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government throw caution to the wind and now see themselves as supermarkets for the purchase and procurement of all manner of line items without recourse to their establishment mandates.
“As seen in previous Appropriation Acts, it is inexplicable and absurd for Space and or Research Agencies to engage in the procurement of palace building for traditional institutions and or purchasing motorcycles and street lights for communities across the country, or Women Affairs establishments budgeting for highway construction projects.
“Such acts of reckless procurement are not without dire repercussions and chief among them is that it delivers more public funds into private pockets and makes lives of ordinary citizens more unbearable’’.
NEFGAD alleged that the singular unmitigated misprocurement practices of turning procuring entities into procurement dumpsites for all manner of illicit procurement transactions that lack necessary needs and impact assessments was a key driver to the current hardship experienced by Nigerians.
The group further warned that the president’s unambiguous approach to capital formation required for ambitious infrastructural projects needed for accelerated development would be challenged due to ‘Window Shopping’ happening across MDAs, where public procurements are conducted in disregard to agencies’ core mandates.
This if not checked in the 2025 budget, NEFGAD said would bring the envisioned pace of development several steps backwards.
‘The group charged Mr President to investigate and sanction any MDAs found culpable of breaching their establishment mandates during procurement proceed, adding that “It is noteworthy for those that care to listen that no nation develops under this kind of unprincipled and uncoordinated procurement and fiscal environment”.