Network Against Corruption and Trafficking, NACAT, has warned against any attempt by the National Assembly to secretly pass the 2025 budget of the Nigerian Midstream & Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, into law without public scrutiny.
NACAT Executive Director of Investigation, Fejiro Oliver-Tega, who issued this warning at a world press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, informed President Bola Tinubu that NMDPRA under the leadership of Engr. Farouk A. Ahmed has never made the agency budget available to the public since the inception of NMDPRA in August 27th, 2021.
According to Mr Tega, the 2025 budget is over-inflated and padded with frivolities in the name of both local and foreign training, calling on the budget committee to request the CEO and management staff of the agency to appear before the National Assembly in the full glare of Nigerians, to defend the budget on the floor of the assembly.
He noted: “Nigerians have never been privy to the breakdown of the budget of NMDPRA and how they spend the resources belonging to us as a nation.
“We are saddled with the responsibility of exposing corruption in the country, we feel obligated to report any corrupt activities of individuals or organizations and at this juncture, we are beaming our searchlight on the activities of the NMDPRA, after many years of battle to lay hands on the budget that has been hidden like the COVID-19 palliative, we have successfully laid hands on the 2025 proposed budget and can now understand why the budget is not made public.
“In one word, we dare to say before you that the budget is a budget of fraud, put together by rogues masquerading as civil servants and should not even be looked into in the first place by your esteemed committee, and we will explain the reasons in detail.
“Under travel and transport with code number 22020101, the agency budgeted a staggering sum of N2, 430,240,000 for local travel and transport.
“We wish to bring to your notice that the agency has a staff strength of 1367 as of 2023 nominal roll in our possession and very few persons are selected for training.
“NMDPRA does not need beyond the sum of N200 million for its training locally, which is carried out in Abuja and Lagos.
“In a bizarre way of fleecing the nation, it budgeted another N3, 129,474,483 for the same local travel & transport (other). What is other?
“For international travel and transport, it budgeted N7,105,640,000 which is not only outrageous but very uncharitable to Nigerians who are still suffering from the hardship meted on it by subsidy removal, while few persons waste over N7 billion to fly abroad in the name of training.
“The Chief Executive Authority went further to budget another N3, 892,608,000 for the same international travel & transport. What is N11 billion doing for international trip of less than twenty persons that will likely be sent there?
“The budget for training is not only corrupt, and duplicated but padded. In code number 220205, NMDPRA brazenly budgeted another N1,252,470,000 for local training and N4,889,600,000 for international training which is a total of N6,142,070,000.
“What this means is that a total of N26 billion is what they intend to use for travel & training of its staff in 2025.
“We are offering to handle this training of all their staff locally and internationally in the best schools across the world for a fee of N10 billion and save the nation N16 billion.
“It is ridiculous that software charges/license renewal which is less than N100 million and in some cases N20 million for big agencies, NMDPRA will at this time of our economy propose to spend N2,128,250,000.
*NACAT as an organization is asking the Budget committee to request the CEO and management staff to appear before the National Assembly in the full glare of Nigerians, to defend this budget on the floor of the assembly.
“NACAT proposes to pay for a week-long defense with seven mainstream TV station present, ten print media present and 20 prominent online media present, as well as beam live coverage of it via Channels TV.
“NACAT will not fold its arm and allow this budget to be secretly passed like it was done last year and implemented without Nigerians knowledge and NACAT fully carried along.
“We will have no choice but to organize a townhall hearing in Transcorp Hilton or Ladi Kwali Hall of the defunct Sheraton now Abuja Continental to expose this monumental budget of fraud that took place last year and about to take place in this year budget if this is done.
“And the town hall meeting will be beamed live before Nigerians like it was done during the NDDC forensic audit that led to the then Acting MD, Kemebradikumo Pondei fainting.
“We will also be writing to the EFCC like we did with our petition on former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State which they are facing probe.
“Nigeria belongs to us all and no one is more important or privileged than the others. We will be doing a disservice to the nation as a reputable CSO if we fail to hold public officers accountable and raise issues on how public funds are spent.”
