Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) says ex-president of the Senate, David Mark; former Speaker of the House of Representatives and now governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal; and other members of National Assembly added several controversial projects, as well as increased the 2015 budget by N17bn.
Okonjo-Iweala made the revelation in her book: “Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines” which was leaked to the public in 2018.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
According to the former minister, the money, which was added into the budget was N20 billion initially, but was reduced to N17 billion.
She said, “By the time we presented budget on December 16, 2014, the oil prices has further fallen down to $58 per barrel. We were prepared and knew we had to trigger the additional expenditure and revenue measure in 2015 to make the budget work. This would be tough, given that we had entered election year.
“Indeed, legislators initially refused to accept pay cuts to their regular N150 billion budget, despite dwindling revenues. But, eventually agreed to 13 percent cut against backdrop of Ministers accepting voluntary 50 percent to their basic salaries.
“In a tough session with the National Assembly ad-hoc committee on budget (made up chairs of Finance committee and Appropriation Committee of both chambers and other leaders of National Assembly), an additional N20 billion was reintroduced as election expenses for the National Assembly members.
“We insisted that the amount should be dropped because it nullified the 13 percent cut to their statutory budget, but managed to reduce the N20 billion figure by only N3 billion to N17. This became the price to have 2015 budget passed.”
Speaking further on the accusation on her verified Twitter handle a few days after the revelation went viral, she said, “One more time, it is important that people read the book for themselves. In the case of the N17bn, the book does not talk of bribe.
“It indicates that lawmakers increased the budget by N17bn and we had to accept that to move on; hence, the term ‘price to pay’.
“The reason for discussing what happened is that this approach needs to change. The country must clear up and clarify its budget process for the future to improve.”
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