Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, has revealed why padding of budget is possible in the country.
He said the special attention being accorded sectoral allocation in the country’s annual budget, leaving other details in the hands of appropriation committees of the legislature to handle and approve for government agencies and parastatals, was responsible for padding.
His position was contained in his paper presented at Legislative Lawyers Forum, LLF, during the just concluded 2016 Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, a copy of which was obtained by Vanguard, in Abuja.
Enang also faulted the re-drafting of appropriation bills by the legal department of the legislature, insisting that the avenues were giving room for padding of budgets.
His words: “There is the common practice that after bills may have been passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, the legal department now re-drafts the bills, perhaps, changing certain words to give them a presentation in a legal draftsman’s perfect legislative draft. This, in my view, is inconsistent with the provisions of the law.”
According to him, the practice must stop, if padding of budget must be brought to end.
He said the special attention being accorded sectoral allocation in the country’s annual budget, leaving other details in the hands of appropriation committees of the legislature to handle and approve for government agencies and parastatals, was responsible for padding.
His position was contained in his paper presented at Legislative Lawyers Forum, LLF, during the just concluded 2016 Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, a copy of which was obtained by Vanguard, in Abuja.
Enang also faulted the re-drafting of appropriation bills by the legal department of the legislature, insisting that the avenues were giving room for padding of budgets.
His words: “There is the common practice that after bills may have been passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, the legal department now re-drafts the bills, perhaps, changing certain words to give them a presentation in a legal draftsman’s perfect legislative draft. This, in my view, is inconsistent with the provisions of the law.”
According to him, the practice must stop, if padding of budget must be brought to end.
