A leading civil society organisation, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), has demanded for a breakdown of the lump sums of money earmarked in the 2012 Budget as Statutory Transfers.
They include the N150 billion for the National Assembly and N85 billion for the National Judicial Council (NJC),Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Universal Basic Education (UBE), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which have allocations of N54 billion, N68 billion, and N40 billion respectively.
CSJ said the details were necessary “for the public to be in a position to determine the propriety or otherwise of some hefty provisions in the budget at a time when we are all called to make sacrifices.”
CSJ, in the letter dated January 18, 2012 addressed to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and signed by its Lead Director, Eze Onyekpere, said it was making the request in line with the Freedom of Information (FoI)Act and the Fiscal Responsibility Act
“We have gone through the details of the 2012 Appropriation Bill and the estimates as detailed in the website of the Budget Office of the Federation and the printed version and discovered that statutory transfers are stated as lump sums without any details or disaggregation. Unlike the estimates of other Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) including the Presidency and the Ministry of Finance, there are no details showing the components of the lump sums and how the Ministry of Finance arrived at these sums stated as statutory transfers.
“Due to the way these statutory transfers are stated as lump sums, Nigerians have been denied the opportunity of making inputs into the approval process of the budgets of these agencies of government. This is not acceptable in a constitutional democracy founded on the rule of law and the sovereignty of the people. Indeed, no agency of government, under any guise, should be allowed to spend public resources in a way and manner and for purposes not known to citizens.
“We are therefore writing under the right to information guaranteed all Nigerians by the Freedom of Information Act and to request for the details of these statutory transfers in the form used to present other MDA expenditures.
“Our request is further strengthened by section 48 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 which requires the Federal Government to ensure that its financial and fiscal affairs are conducted in a transparent manner and accordingly ensure full and timely disclosure and wide publication of all transactions and decisions involving public revenues and expenditures and their implications for its finances.
“We are addressing this request to you considering that the Minister of Finance is the Minister authorised by the Finance (Control and Management) Act to cause to be prepared in each financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditures of the Federation for the next following financial year, which shall be presented to the President for approval and thereafter laid before each House of the National Assembly in accordance with the Constitution.
“We trust that you will use your good office to ensure that the details of the statutory transfers are available to us within the ambit of the aforementioned laws,” the letter, a copy of which was emailed to THISDAY said.