A CALL FOR THE PRESIDENT AND 36 STATES GOVERNORS TO ACCOUNT FOR EVERY MONEY SPENT ON SECURITY VOTES AND ALSO DISCLOSE PROPOSED SPENDING ON SECURITY
December 29, 2020 | News
I have often wondered how the President and State Governors, in a supposed democratic environment like Nigeria, would justify the practice of setting aside a huge sum of money, ostensibly for disbursement on “security matters”, which they have tagged ‘Security Votes, but for which ACCOUNTABILITY is neither demanded nor given at all.
A CALL FOR THE PRESIDENT AND 36 STATES GOVERNORS TO ACCOUNT FOR EVERY MONEY SPENT ON SECURITY VOTES AND ALSO DISCLOSE PROPOSED SPENDING ON SECURITY
I have often wondered how the President and State Governors, in a supposed democratic environment like Nigeria, would justify the practice of setting aside a huge sum of money, ostensibly for disbursement on “security matters”, which they have tagged ‘Security Votes, but for which ACCOUNTABILITY is neither demanded nor given at all. For the simple reason that the President and Governors are not required to account for how the Security Votes are disbursed, many Governors have turned such money into personal slush funds. And in the midst of all of this, the insecurity in the country has gone from bad to worse. So, if the current President Muhammadu Buhari administration wants to really make tremendous progress in its fight against corruption, address leakages and block loopholes where public funds are misappropriated/mismanaged, and also be seen to be responsible and accountable in the use of public funds for security assurance in the country; then it must find ways to either completely stop the issue of Security Votes to State Governors, or come up with stringent modalities for its accountability.
Aside that, I believe there is the urgent need for the President and State Governors across the nation to account for every Naira and Kobo they must have expended in the name of Security Votes since they came into Office, as well as disclose in full, all proposed spending they have planned for Security across the country and within their States.
In other words, the President Buhari-led Federal Government and all the State Governors, especially that of Delta State led by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, should tell Nigerians and Deltans respectively, how much they have collected and expended as Security Votes money since they came into power till date. And also disclose in full details, every dime they have planned to spend on Security in the months and years ahead. Nigerians have the constitutional right to know how its public office holders in the Executive Government are spending our collective wealth in the name of Security assurance. So, this is not a request, but a demand.
I am also glad that other relevant stakeholders are making the same demands as well. Foremost Nigerian advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), recently demanded a full disclosure of proposed spending on security by the Federal Government and the 36 States’ Governors of the federation.
This was disclosed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, who said that the request is to forestall possible misappropriation of such funds. SERAP actually sent Freedom of Information requests to President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 States’ Governors, urging them to “disclose details of proposed ‘security votes’ spending in their 2021 Appropriation Bills, to ensure the security and welfare of Nigerians, and to explain the measures the governments are putting in place to prevent the misuse and embezzlement of public funds in the name of Security Votes.”
SERAP expressed “concerns that the intense secrecy and lack of meaningful oversight of the government’s spending of security votes have for many years contributed to mismanagement and large-scale corruption in the sector, as well as limited the ability of the people to hold high-ranking public officials to account for their constitutional responsibility to ensure the security and welfare of the people.” SERAP went on to note that: “Your government’s responsibility to guarantee and ensure the security and welfare of the Nigerian people is closely interlinked with your responsibility under Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of office. This imposes a fundamental obligation to promote transparency and accountability in security votes spending, and to remove opportunities for corruption.”
The bottom line is that President Buhari and the 36 State Governors should account for how they spend the Security Votes in this country because it has become an avenue for wastage of public resources meant for the infrastructural development of Nigeria. It is high time to end this carelessness in the management of our collective wealth.
We cannot have insecurity increasing at a high speed, and yet they keep collecting more public funds in the name of Security Votes, which are never accounted for. What are they spending these monies on all of this while, when people are being killed and kidnapped here and there? Or robbed and maimed by criminal elements. It simply does not make sense. Every day, if it is not news on one kidnap/abduction or the other, it will be one armed robbery incident/shootout with Security operatives, or unexplained killings by armed gangsters/ruffians/hooligans/goons and terrorism acts or the other. No where seems to be safe anymore, and no one seems to be protected either as they go about their daily businesses. Yet, billions/trillions of ‘unaccounted public funds’ have found their way out of the Federal and State Governments’ treasuries in the name of Security Votes annually.
It is pertinent to state that Security Votes are not included in the Appropriation/Spending bill, whether at the Federal or State level. By standard practice, the funds are unaudited and unaccounted for. The exact amount budgeted as Security Votes each year by State Governments are unknown and how they are spent is nobody’s business. The malaise has thus become one of the easiest ways State Governors misappropriate funds in their respective States with reckless abandon and impunity. At the federal level, funds are annually allocated to the Ministry of Defense and the Nigeria Police for the upkeep and welfare of the armed forces and the police, yet billions are still voted for, as security votes, which nobody knows about.
What is even more appalling about the issue of Security Votes is that it is not in the Nigerian Constitution. Yet, it has remained one of the greatest spendings, if not the greatest loophole of public funds wastage in the country. The only thing we have in the Constitution is Contingency funds, but nobody knows how Security Vote got into the Country’s political lexicon. Section 14(b) of the 1999 Constitution states that: “It is hereby accordingly declared that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” No where did the section or any other part of the statue book states that there shall be a pool of fund called “Security Votes.” Some schools of thought believe that Security Vote had its origin in United States of America (USA) particularly under President Richard Nixon. But the question is, how has that helped the Nigerian Security situation? We can’t go on copying things in other developed societies where they have systems and institutions that work, whereas such practices here in Nigeria have become avenues of enrichment. This has to stop!
Zik Gbemre.
December 29, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
I have often wondered how the President and State Governors, in a supposed democratic environment like Nigeria, would justify the practice of setting aside a huge sum of money, ostensibly for disbursement on “security matters”, which they have tagged ‘Security Votes, but for which ACCOUNTABILITY is neither demanded nor given at all. For the simple reason that the President and Governors are not required to account for how the Security Votes are disbursed, many Governors have turned such money into personal slush funds. And in the midst of all of this, the insecurity in the country has gone from bad to worse. So, if the current President Muhammadu Buhari administration wants to really make tremendous progress in its fight against corruption, address leakages and block loopholes where public funds are misappropriated/mismanaged, and also be seen to be responsible and accountable in the use of public funds for security assurance in the country; then it must find ways to either completely stop the issue of Security Votes to State Governors, or come up with stringent modalities for its accountability.
Aside that, I believe there is the urgent need for the President and State Governors across the nation to account for every Naira and Kobo they must have expended in the name of Security Votes since they came into Office, as well as disclose in full, all proposed spending they have planned for Security across the country and within their States.
In other words, the President Buhari-led Federal Government and all the State Governors, especially that of Delta State led by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, should tell Nigerians and Deltans respectively, how much they have collected and expended as Security Votes money since they came into power till date. And also disclose in full details, every dime they have planned to spend on Security in the months and years ahead. Nigerians have the constitutional right to know how its public office holders in the Executive Government are spending our collective wealth in the name of Security assurance. So, this is not a request, but a demand.
I am also glad that other relevant stakeholders are making the same demands as well. Foremost Nigerian advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), recently demanded a full disclosure of proposed spending on security by the Federal Government and the 36 States’ Governors of the federation.
This was disclosed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, who said that the request is to forestall possible misappropriation of such funds. SERAP actually sent Freedom of Information requests to President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 States’ Governors, urging them to “disclose details of proposed ‘security votes’ spending in their 2021 Appropriation Bills, to ensure the security and welfare of Nigerians, and to explain the measures the governments are putting in place to prevent the misuse and embezzlement of public funds in the name of Security Votes.”
SERAP expressed “concerns that the intense secrecy and lack of meaningful oversight of the government’s spending of security votes have for many years contributed to mismanagement and large-scale corruption in the sector, as well as limited the ability of the people to hold high-ranking public officials to account for their constitutional responsibility to ensure the security and welfare of the people.” SERAP went on to note that: “Your government’s responsibility to guarantee and ensure the security and welfare of the Nigerian people is closely interlinked with your responsibility under Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of office. This imposes a fundamental obligation to promote transparency and accountability in security votes spending, and to remove opportunities for corruption.”
The bottom line is that President Buhari and the 36 State Governors should account for how they spend the Security Votes in this country because it has become an avenue for wastage of public resources meant for the infrastructural development of Nigeria. It is high time to end this carelessness in the management of our collective wealth.
We cannot have insecurity increasing at a high speed, and yet they keep collecting more public funds in the name of Security Votes, which are never accounted for. What are they spending these monies on all of this while, when people are being killed and kidnapped here and there? Or robbed and maimed by criminal elements. It simply does not make sense. Every day, if it is not news on one kidnap/abduction or the other, it will be one armed robbery incident/shootout with Security operatives, or unexplained killings by armed gangsters/ruffians/hooligans/goons and terrorism acts or the other. No where seems to be safe anymore, and no one seems to be protected either as they go about their daily businesses. Yet, billions/trillions of ‘unaccounted public funds’ have found their way out of the Federal and State Governments’ treasuries in the name of Security Votes annually.
It is pertinent to state that Security Votes are not included in the Appropriation/Spending bill, whether at the Federal or State level. By standard practice, the funds are unaudited and unaccounted for. The exact amount budgeted as Security Votes each year by State Governments are unknown and how they are spent is nobody’s business. The malaise has thus become one of the easiest ways State Governors misappropriate funds in their respective States with reckless abandon and impunity. At the federal level, funds are annually allocated to the Ministry of Defense and the Nigeria Police for the upkeep and welfare of the armed forces and the police, yet billions are still voted for, as security votes, which nobody knows about.
What is even more appalling about the issue of Security Votes is that it is not in the Nigerian Constitution. Yet, it has remained one of the greatest spendings, if not the greatest loophole of public funds wastage in the country. The only thing we have in the Constitution is Contingency funds, but nobody knows how Security Vote got into the Country’s political lexicon. Section 14(b) of the 1999 Constitution states that: “It is hereby accordingly declared that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” No where did the section or any other part of the statue book states that there shall be a pool of fund called “Security Votes.” Some schools of thought believe that Security Vote had its origin in United States of America (USA) particularly under President Richard Nixon. But the question is, how has that helped the Nigerian Security situation? We can’t go on copying things in other developed societies where they have systems and institutions that work, whereas such practices here in Nigeria have become avenues of enrichment. This has to stop!
Zik Gbemre.
December 29, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes