2021 Budget: Over 316 Duplicated Projects Worth N39.5bn Discovered

BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation, says its scrutiny of the 2021 budget revealed at least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5 billion.

VAM News reports that this is contained in a statement signed by BudgIT's communications associate, lyanu Fatoba, and released on the organisation's official Twitter handle on Tuesday, May 4.

The organisation which is leading the advocacy for transparency and accountability in public finance in Nigeria added that 115 of those duplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health.

Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT's CEO, was quoted as saying in the statement: "Our investigations into the 2021 budget revealed at least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5bn, with 115 of those duplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health.

"This is very disturbing especially considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging COVID-19 pandemic affecting Nigeria.” In the 2021 budget, the entire security sector's allocation was N1.97tn, representing a 14% increase from the N1.78tn allocated in 2020, Okeowo said.

Security votes BudgIT also noted that various non-security related government agencies now request and receive allocations for "Security Votes".

VAM News gathers that in the 2021 budget, a total of 117 federal agencies received allocations for “Security Votes” worth N24.3 billion, despite many of these agencies already having allocations for “Security Charges” to cover their security needs. BudglT added that it observed the little budgetary allocation provided to other sectors are plagued with various loopholes for leakages and theft of public funds.

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