2016 budget padding: Buhari vows to deal with culprits

President Muhammadu Buhari, late Tuesday, in Riyadh, vowed that all those involved in the “padding” of the 2016 budget would face severe punishment.

Buhari described the padding after he had submitted the original copy as embarrassing and disappointing, adding that since his first time as head of state, he had never heard of the word ‘padding.’

The President, who made the declaration, while addressing the Nigerian Community in Saudi Arabia, condemned the distortion of the budget proposals by entrenched interests.

It could be recalled that President Buhari submitted the N6.077 trillion 2016 budget at a joint session of the National Assembly.  There has subsequently been a scandal of a missing budget, with the President writing to National Assembly to make some adjustments in the budget. Subsequently, it was noticed that the budget had been passed with ministers denying their budget during the defence before the committee.

According to a statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, from Riyadh, the President said the unauthorised alterations had completely changed the document, from the one he presented to the National Assembly.

“The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a military governor; petroleum minister; military Head of State and I have headed the Petroleum Trust Fund.

“Never had I heard the words “budget padding”. Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team. The Minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad it.

“What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished,” Buhari said.

Addressing the members of the Nigerian community, he assured them that his administration was working diligently to fulfil its campaign promises, particularly on security, unemployment, and corruption.