By Abdulwahab Abdulah

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to request for the report of investigations on alleged budget padding in  2016 budget by some principal officers of the National Assembly.

In a statement by SERAP Deputy Director, Timothy Adewale, the organisation pleaded with the president to “direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami,  and/or appropriate anti-corruption agencies to without delay commence prosecution of indicted officers; and to urgently halt alleged ongoing attempts by some principal officers of the National Assembly to divert N40 billion of the N100 billion allocated by your government as ‘zonal intervention’ in the 2017 budget.

SERAP

SERAP therefore gave a 14-day ultimatum to the authorities concerned to take necessary action, failing which it will institute legal action to compel  the government to discharge its responsibilities.

According to the organization; “Unless the principal officers indicted in the alleged padding of the 2016 budget are promptly prosecuted and any stolen public funds recovered, your government will not be able to stop the alleged ongoing attempts to steal from the 2017 budget.

“Alleged corruption in the budget process will not just melt away or simply evaporate without addressing the fundamental issue of impunity of perpetrators.”