“Gross Falsehood And Total Mischief” House Of Reps Committee On Anti- Corruption Downs Allegations Of Budget Padding For Code Of Conduct Bureau

Information filtering in have it

As the budget showdown between the Presidency and the National Assembly rages on, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Anti-Corruption has refuted reports that the National Assembly padded the 2016 Budget estimates of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

The Committee Chairman, Hon. Babajide Akinloye who made this known in a statement in Abuja said the media reports which was published by the
Tuesday Guardian with the headlines
“National Assembly pads CCB’s budget by over N4 Billion Naira” were gross falsehood and total mischief by those who never meant well for Nigeria.

The Legislator while shedding light on the issue said his committee only rearranged the order and priority of the Code of Conduct Bureau which was at the request of the organization.

Hon. Akinloye remarked CCB had during the budget defense informed the committee that the working environment for its staff was not conducive at it has five different offices scattered around Abuja and this is an impediment towards optimizing its operations as well as efficiency.

He added CCB had after the 2015 budget, returned over 230 Million naira to Government coffers which was earmarked for the building of its head office which would have made its operations seamless and after due engagement with the CCB management, it was agreed that the Bureau could either continue with the Head office project or buy a building that will accommodate their operations for optimum service delivery in its anti-corruption drive.

This he said, led to the inclusion 4 Billion Naira for the Head-Office project in the budget sent to the President.

“Linking the approval of the CCB Head office project in the Budget passed by the National Assembly to ongoing court case of the Senate President is the highest act of blackmail and sheer falsehood against the National Assembly in whole and the House Committee on Anti-Corruption in particular”. He remarked.He added the that House committee in its oversight responsibilities’ had engaged in robust interaction with other agencies such as the ICPC and the Code of Conduct Tribunal towards ensuring that the anti corruption war is supported with resources to achieve their statutory duties and wondered why only that of the CCB is raining dusts

The lawmaker who represents Eti-Osa Federal Constituency of Lagos State said while the Executive is mandated to prepare and lay before the National Assembly a proposed budget detailing projects to be executed, it should be made clear that the responsibility and power of appropriation rests with the National Assembly.“In sound democracies, the Executive do not expect the Legislature to return the budget proposal, hook, line and sinker the way it was presented to the Assembly to it without any adjustments.” Hon. Akinloye added.

The wishes of my people back home and several millions of Nigerians is the accelerated implementation of the budget which should fastrack the needed developments and reduce the untold hardships and not all these baseless allegations which are indeed, uncalled for.