The Senate on Monday raises concerns about over N2.2 billion placed under the capital budget of the Ministry of Justice 2021 budget.
It also queried the proposed N2 billion the ministry budgeted for trial and prosecutions of Boko Haram, prison decongestion and payment for international legal obligations among others.
These happened at the budget defence of the Ministry of Justice before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters chaired by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Dayo Apata (SAN) had presented N8.24 billion budget to the committee.
The breakdown shows N2.8 billion for personnel, overhead -N996 million, N2billion -legal services and N2.3 billion -capital.
In his opening remarks, Bamidele raised the alarm over the judgement debt profile of the country, saying it had reached an alarming and embarassing state.
To fire the first salvo was the Senator Ajibola Basiru (Osun Central), who pointed out that the budget was clumsy and more clarification needed.
He said, “My observation is that proposing N2 billion and above for just legal services is not definitive enough, clear enough to avail auditors at the committee for the purpose of exercising our oversight functions.
“We need to know how much is being projected for civil litigation, for prison congestion and all other items in that regard.
“Also, there appear to be an overlap with what has been provided for the sum of about N2 billion for generated items under overhead cost and some of the items listed as capital expenditure.
“For instance, there is provision of N350 million for administration of criminal justice in Page 4. What is the relationship between that N350 million budgeted and the projected sum under the heading of legal services in the overhead cost proposal?…
“The same thing with the issue of prison decongestion. If you look at the capital expenditure proposal, the sum of N380 million was highlighted for prosecution of prison inmates and decongestion of correctional centres nationwide.
“How much of that will then not overlap between what has been budgeted for over N2 billion as part of legal services.”
But defending the budget, the Solicitor General said the proposed N2 billion for the ministry’s legal services…we have stated that it will be used for civil litigation.
“Since 2015, the office of the AGF had been doing almost all the cases inside without going out for external solicitors.
“We are also trying to reduce to the barest minimum the amount spent on civil litigations. If we are looking at the N2 billion, cannot be compared with what it is now saving from government.
“Presently, the last performance we had, we saved over N600 billion because we now do cases in-house. So, part of this zn2 billion is essentially to get the lawyers…because all the cases are spread among the 36 states.”
“The trial and prosecution of Boko Haram: you will recall that last year, we had to create a jurisdiction, a division in Kanji Dam in which 3000 inmates were prosecuted. How do you prosecute 3000 inmates in a place? We had to bring four judges from the federal high court, and pay the legal aides.
“When we look at the N2 billion, it’s a tip of the iceberg of what it intends to do. Presently, there is a camp in Maiduguri which we are going for another prosecution. This is what the N2 billion is going to do. So, there is no overlapping. When you now look at the specific activities of the N2 billion, they are separate and distinct from what you think.”
The A-GF while also responding to a question stated that the ministry had been embarking on fund recovery abroad without any budget.
But the Chairman of the committee noted that overhead budgets were repeated under the capital budget.
He listed that to include N380 million for the prosecution of inmates and decongestion of correctional centres, N275 million for prosecution of maritime and offshore offences/and N293 million for document digitization and others.
Bamidele said, “This year’s budget is not going to be garbage in garbage out. The only thing we will ensure is that the ministry’s budget does not go beyond the envelope.
“This committee will sit together with the House of Representatives committee to reorder.”
In his opening remarks, Bamidele raised the alarm over the judgement debt profile of the country, saying it had reached an alarming and embrassing state.
“Before we commence this exercise proper, it is pertinent to also state that the Judgment Debt profile of the Country has reached an alarming and embarrassing state.
“As a result, it is our hope that in this 2021 Budget Estimates for the Ministry, provisions have been made, as a step towards addressing the judgment debt profile of the country before it goes beyond our control. “
