REVEALED: How Senator Ita Enang Secretly Swapped Nigeria's 2016 Budget

 

An apparent desperation by the executive to cover up the bogus allocations earmarked for the Presidency in the 2016 national budget led to the withdrawal of the original budget, supplanting it with another version without the knowledge of the legislature.

 

Contrary to the earlier speculations that the Presidency ordered the withdrawal of the budget proposal to enable it adjust some of the figures in view of the rapid slide in the price of crude oil, it has now been established that the main reason for the secret withdrawal was to remove some of the provisions made in the budget of the State House.

 

Trouble started when the lawmakers resumed duties after the holidays and were gearing up to commence debate on the budget only to find out that the there were two different versions of the document. Sunday Telegraph learnt that the withdrawal, which was allegedly masterminded by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang, was done in such a manner that those from whom the original budget was ‘stolen’ did not realise it until it was too late.

 

The 2016 Appropriation Bill, which was presented before the joint session of the National Assembly last December, was greeted with a loud applause but little did anyone know that the document would trigger some unpleasant incidents sooner than later.

 

As demanded by the Nigerian Constitution and parliamentary tradition, President Muhammadu Buhari delivered a beautifully- worded speech which gave a background to the economic scenario under which the budget was prepared and captured a summary of the basic parameters and indices of the budget.

 

Thereafter, Buhari laid on the table, a box believed to contain the details of the money bill. He then took a bow as a mark of respect for the parliament as well as a signal that the Executive had done its beat and the Legislature was at liberty to take over the budgeting process. Sunday Telegraph gathered that whereas the box laid on the table was allegedly symbolic and therefore empty, the few copies of the budget brought by the executive were shared and kept in the custody of the Committees on Appropriation in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

 

An insider source said that since the parliamentarians proceeded on their Christmas and New Year holidays a day after the budget was presented, no work was done on the budget. However, while the recess lasted, the Presidency was rattled by media reports on the budget showcasing the humongous amount of money allocated to the State House for various items including food and exotic cars.

 

Sunday Telegraph learnt that President Muhammadu Buhari felt emotionally shattered after his first media chat, where he was asked to justify his change mantra and commitment to prudence in government if he had budgeted so much for his own comfort. It was gathered that Enang, allegedly acting on ‘instruction’, moved into the parliament and retrieved the document with relative ease.

 

He was said to had approached the Clerk of the Senate Committee on Appropriation (names withheld) and requested to see the copies of the budget to enable him crosscheck some items. A source told Sunday Telegraph that when Enang got the documents, he allegedly proceeded with them to his office where he removed some of the pages and replaced them with some new pages containing new figures. Attempts by our correspondents to get Enang to react to these allegations were not successful as his mobile phones were constantly switched off.

 

Even text message, “Distinguished, good afternoon. I had been calling your line since morning and not get-ting through. I wanted to speak with you on the budget saga and what needs to be done.

 

Tnx,” sent to these same lines, were not replied. However, Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator John Enoh said that those who did the budget swap capitalised on either the innocence or ignorance of those in whose custody the document was kept. Asked why such an operation could be carried out without detection in a system manned by enlightened people, Enoh said: “The swap was made simple given the fact that they brought that budget and immediately after it was laid. We adjourned that same day. If it is in your custody and somebody requested for it without you suspecting that that was the intention, it must have been given away out of ignorance.

 

The only thing was that the guys were not smart enough to return it before we resumed.” It was learnt that the Senate decided to raise the alarm about the missing budget to expose the scam and the hypocrisy of the executive.

 

President Muhammadu Buhari had, during his media chat, questioned the rationale behind the purchase of cars by members of the National Assembly and promised to meet with the leadership of the legislature to get them to halt the car purchase.

 

This position taken by the President was in keeping with his austere posture, but it painted the legislators in bad light and portrayed them as extravagant persons who were insensitive to the plight of the people and the challenges of the economy.

 

Meanwhile, the Presidency had denied ever withdrawing or substituting the budget presented to the joint session of the National Assembly.

 

Apparently dissociating Buhari from the purported action of Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said that nobody except the President could withdraw the budget.

 

He also said that so far, the President had not withdrawn the 2016 budget. In a reaction to the saga via his Facebook page, Shehu Garba wrote: “Enquiries about the budget: Nobody except the president can withdraw the budget. As far as we know, he hasn’t done that.

 

The copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the National Assembly. ”By tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property.

 

Enquiries as to where it is, should be directed to the appropriate quarters.” However, Shehu evaded Sunday Telegraph’s enquiries on whether the Presidency would sanction Enang for the role he allegedly played in the missing budget scam.

 

To this text message, “Oga Shehu, good afternoon Sir. We are doing a story on the ‘missing budget’ and we need to confirm from you why FG chose to change the budget in secret.

 

Was Sen. Ita Enang acting on his  own or with the consent of the executive? If he acted alone, would FG sack and prosecute him for this embarrassment? Pls kindly respond. Tnx”, sent by one of our correspondents, Garba replied, “Our statement issued two days ago is final on this issue”.

 

Similarly, Sunday Telegraph contacted the Ministry of Budget and National Pla nning to ascertain if it was aware of the budget swap and what roles its officials might have played.

 

A top official in the ministry, who spoke in confidence with one of our correspondents, said the work of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning ended at the point it submitted the prepared budget to the Presidency and it was adopted by the Federal Executive Council. According to the official, it was not the business of the ministry if the budget presented to the National Assembly was changed, stolen or missing.

 

]]>