TheCable

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has asked the Buhari administration to scrap security votes.

At a press briefing on the performance of the administration on Friday, Idayat Hassan, CDD director, identified security votes as “one of the windows for laundering public funds”.

Security votes are funds disbursed for tackling unforeseen security needs in the country. They are often transacted in cash and used at the discretion of public officials without an independent audit.

Hassan said although the current administration has made some progress with regards to the fight against corruption, it still performs averagely and needs to improve.

“They should submit legislation outlawing security votes at the federal, state and local government levels,” she said.

“A ban on security votes should be accompanied by a transparent and comprehensive budgeting procedure and criteria for security expenditure that meets international best practices.

“There is a need for greater transparency in the holding and management of these recovered assets.”

The CDD director added that Buhari has made several “questionable senior appointments and presently, there are many people of questionable character even in his cabinet.”

She called for prompt release of budgets of the anti-corruption agencies which she added must be monitored to ensure they are not laundered.

“It is important to take concrete steps to improve transparency and accountability surrounding government expenditure, actual expenditure and contract processes especially in the petroleum, power, defense and humanitarian sectors,” she said.

In 2018, Transparency International reported that not less than $670 million is spent on security votes in Nigeria every year, more than usual annual budget of the Nigerian army.

The organisation said most of the funds end up being diverted with little or no evidence for their use.

Amid calls to scrap security votes, Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), once accused governors of promoting insecurity to get such funds.