INTERVIEW: Budget padding by national assembly isn’t illegal, says Bwala

Daniel Bwala, a legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, served as spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign council in the 2023 general election. In this interview with TheCable’s TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, he shares his thoughts on the budget padding scandal rocking the national assembly and other issues of national interest.

TheCable: The national assembly is currently enmeshed in a budget padding scandal. Abdul Ningi, the lawmaker who raised the alarm, alleged that the N28.7 trillion 2024 budget being implemented by President Bola Tinubu was done underground, with an added sum of N3 trillion. What do you make of this at a time when Nigerians are going through tough times?

BWALA: Budget padding means altering the budget, either by adding or subtracting. Doing that is not illegal. If you look at the United States of America, when George W. Bush, in the wake of 9/11, came to Congress with a request of $48 billion to execute the war on terrorism, Congress multiplied it and gave him $80 billion. That is an alteration of the budget or padding because what the president asked for was $40 billion, but he got $80 billion.

Aside from lawmaking and oversight, the national assembly also has the power to make approvals because the law says that they have the power of the purse. In US politics, it indicates the authority of Congress to control public spending. They are the ones that approve and make appropriations for the executive.

If you remember, when the president presented the budget, they added N1.2 trillion to it. They have the power to do that if they realise that the work needed to be done requires more funding. In terms of subtracting from the budget, if they feel that the budget is overblown based on their findings, they can subtract. For example, if you put the price of a product at N100 and they find out that it is N50, they can reduce the amount from N100 to N50. So, they have the power to add or subtract from the budget.

They also have the power to add for themselves because their budget is done by the executive. If they feel the amount budgeted for them is not sufficient, they can add to it. It has always been a cooperation from both arms of government. Where the problem comes is if, for example, there is underlying money kept somewhere but does not have a definition of the intended project or location.

TheCable: The ACF, SERAP and some other Nigerians have condemned Ningi’s suspension, describing it as illegal. What is your perspective on this?

BWALA: I didn’t really follow the details of the allegations of budget padding by Ningi. However, from what I saw, when he raised the concern, he was asked to bring documents. He promised he was going to bring the documents to show them; but at the end of the day, rather than bring the documents, he went to the press.

Then, under powers of immunity for lawmakers, if what he did outside with the press was done within the plenary, even if he throws a chair, they can’t do anything to him because he is covered by legislative immunity. However, if you abuse someone outside the plenary, the lawmakers can come together and interpret that as misconduct. In this case, he (Ningi) raised a concern and met with the senate president, who asked him to show him, but he said he had engaged consultants and would show him. The senate president said that up until that moment, the man had not come to show him. They now took that advantage to punish him. Somebody can commit the same offence and they will decide to forgive the person. These are things that are within their privileges and power.

If Ningi made those arguments while he was in the national assembly plenary session, he is covered by immunity. So, generally, the issue with budget padding is that you have to define what padding is. If it is a padded budget that is hidden and you cannot peg it to a project or location, that is where it raises concern because it means somebody is trying to steal the money. But if the budget is attached to a project and a location, even if they tripled the money that was allocated to them by the executive, you cannot hold it against the national assembly because they have the powers of appropriation.

TheCable: There is also controversy over the constituency projects. Some senators have claimed they got N200 million, while others got N500 million. A senator said he got N1 billion. Don’t you think this negates the spirit of equity and fairness?

BWALA: Under a general rule, the national assembly is supposed to be equitable in the distribution of projects because once you are elected as a lawmaker, maybe a senator, you are a senator of the federal republic, not a senator of your senatorial district or constituency. You may have come in through your constituency, but while in the national assembly, you legislate for the republic. That is why somebody from Borno state can bring a bill for the establishment of a project in Lagos. On account of that, lawmakers can determine how much they need to spend on projects.

The problem is that if they come to the house and ask them to share the money, you will hear some saying ranking senators will get a certain amount and newcomers will get a lower amount. The distribution is according to either privileges, responsibilities, or position. It is normal in life. So, what happened is that the principal officers gave themselves like N500 million, and the newcomers got N200 million. Somebody said N200 million was given across the board but some senators got more. Some got N500 million; others got N1 billion. There was even this allegation that the senate president got N3 billion. If there is any objection, let it be that a member of the national assembly who comes from your constituency as a Nigerian citizen ought to raise the point and fight for you. If he fails to raise that point and, at the end of the day, the budget is passed, you cannot hold it against the national assembly. That is what true representation is all about.

At the time the budget was passed, the naira-to-dollar rate was far lower. What that means is that the value of the budget has now been reduced by inflation. The person to whom you allocated N500 million at the time you passed the budget, right now, may just get a value of N300 million from the money because the value of money has dropped. With all this ‘big money’ you are hearing, you will discover that it is nothing to write home about at the time of execution.

TheCable: How can these monies allocated for constituency projects be monitored to ensure that the senators use them for the purpose for which they were given?

BWALA: Usually, when the national assembly passes a budget for their projects, the MDAs are to execute it. The constituency projects need to be monitored. I remember Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, when he was ICPC chairman, that was what he was doing. He was monitoring projects across Nigeria. So, if you are allocated money and you have not done any projects in your state, you already have a case with the ICPC. At the end of the day, they made a presentation to President Buhari at that time. If national assembly members fail to do projects in their constituencies, the people to be held responsible are agencies of government. Why do they exist if they cannot monitor? This is the time to hold institutions of government accountable so that we don’t overburden the populace.

TheCable: There were reports that you recently made a tweet urging President Bola Tinubu to sack the CBN governor. Don’t you think this sends a negative signal and will further negatively impact the economy?

BWALA: I never said President Tinubu should fire the CBN governor. I was quite surprised when I heard reports that I said he should be fired. My tweet is still on my X page. I said President Tinubu has a reform agenda and that the CBN governor should carry it out to the letter. The CBN governor has done a substantial part by revoking the licenses of BDCs and charging the Binance operators. I said the next focus should be financial institution executives because it is reported that most of them are the ones that own the BDCs outside. There is a report that the CBN itself says about $7 billion is lying in banks. So, searchlights should be beamed on the bank executives.

I said that, just like in the US, if you tax them and they don’t respond, then you can fire all of them and replace them. I now say that if the CBN governor is not prepared to carry out the reforms to the letter, he can be replaced with another person who does not have a commercial banking background. That was what I proposed, but people started circulating breaking news that I said President Tinubu should sack the CBN governor, which is very untrue.

As a matter of fact, the CBN governor is one of the few persons in this cabinet who is working hard. He really did well on the issue of the Binance operators. It takes great guts for you to arrest people who are doing terrorism financing and all kinds of illicit money transactions. Before, they were like cabals. They were untouchable. If you try anything, they will crash your money. But right now, the CBN governor was able to get them arrested, and they are cooperating and confessing. So, Cardoso is one of the few people who are working hard in this government. If not for the way he stamped his foot on the ground, by now, the dollar to naira rate would have been N1,900. So, he is doing well.

What we are encouraging him to do is to look at bank executives and begin to place demands on them. These bank executives are the ones who collect the dollars from the CBN, but when customers need the dollars for travel, medical, or business issues, it is difficult to get them. Also, the CBN should look at the idea of ransom being paid to kidnappers through banks. If you look at the Terrorism Prevention Act, if a bank transfers money to a kidnapper or a withdrawal is made on behalf of a kidnapper, that bank has committed an act of terrorism. So, I believe that a good look at the operations of our financial institutions will help in addressing this menace of kidnapping too.

TheCable: The ruling party needs a viable opposition to keep it on its toes. Do you think the Labour Party, Peter Obi, its presidential candidate, and his supporters are playing that role?

BWALA: No, they are not. Peter Obi does not have a history of political culture like a traditional Nigerian politician. Also, he does not have a track record of political mentorship to help people rise in politics. Obi also doesn’t have an interest in the well-being of the members of the Labour Party other than himself. That is why he never participated in all the states where the party members were running for office. As far as he and the Obidients are concerned, it is Peter Obi or nobody else. Peter Obi is not a political leader; he is just an opportunist. He has not identified his identity in politics.

He keeps saying he is the new opposition leader in Nigeria. He thinks opposition is trolling, and that is why people call him the social media president. Trolling is not opposition. While he is trying to copy the model of Donald Trump, he falls short of even the extremist policies of Trump. While Trump controls his base, Obi is controlled by Obidients. If Trump asks his supporters to move, they move. But here, if Peter Obi wants to say anything and the Obidients ask him not to talk, he will be quiet. That is not the sign of a political leader.

The opposition is providing better policies. When something positive happens, a good opposition will say they agree with the government. For Peter Obi, the day something positive happens, he will disappear from social media. The day he wants to make noise, he will appear. He said he has a philosophy of not paying ransom for anybody. When President Tinubu said he would not pay ransom to kidnappers, we expected him to come out and say he agreed with the notion. Rather, he tweeted as if the federal government should do everything possible, including giving out money. He is self-contradicting and only craves power.

Giving power to such an individual will mean we will turn Nigeria into a pariah state. His supporters, the majority of whom are outside Nigeria, are disgruntled and they think their problems are caused by the establishment. They are behaving like political extremists. They keep talking about taking back the country, but they won’t discuss policies on how they want to achieve that. They are behaving like political bandits, attacking anyone who doesn’t share their views. That is not how to be a responsible opposition.