El-Rufai Dares Dogara, Publishes Security Votes

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, has made public details of his state’s expenditure, including security vote.

TheCable report continues:

The governor made this public less than four days after Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, publicly challenged governors to release their expenditure.

The nation’s number four citizen said this in response to el-Rufai’s demand of accountability in the national assembly.

He spoke at a retreat which the management of the national assembly organised in Kaduna.

In a statement on Monday, the governor said he had nothing to hide about the expenses of his state.

“Our attention has been drawn to a challenge by Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, calling on Kaduna State to make public its security votes and local government expenditure,” read a statement issued on el-Rufai’s behalf by Samuel Aruwan, his spokesman.

“This challenge was thrown as a response to Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s request to the National Assembly (NASS) to provide further details on the opaque ₦115 billion 2016 NASS budget. Malam Nasir El-Rufai welcomes this challenge as a necessary step to improve and strengthen our democracy and would like to respond as follows:

“The budgets of all state governments in Nigeria are detailed out and presented at least under the headings of:

a. personnel cost
b. overhead, and
c. capital expenditure

“This is unlike the budget of the national assembly which is a single line item of over ₦100 billion that divulges zero information or details. NASS can at least break down its own single line budget into the hundreds of line items that are detailed in every state government budget in Nigeria. It is disingenuous to respond to every request for transparency by casting aspersions.”

The governor added that Dogara would not have asked him to publish security votes if he had done his search “very well”.

He said last year his government published not just its own budget but those of all the 23 local governments in the state.

“On our part, the Kaduna state government has consistently made public all its budget details. In 2016, in an unprecedented step, the state published not only its own budget, but also that of all the 23 local government councils online on the the www.openkaduna.com.ng website,” he said.

“The local government budgets provide details of the recurrent and capital spending of every single LG in a transparent manner. The proposed 2017 LG budgets, currently before the state assembly, are also already online on the same website, and on www.kdsg.gov.ng. Approved state budgets 2016-2017 can be found on openkaduna.com.ng/Budget/approved-budget. We invite the right honourable speaker to download and peruse at his pleasure.

“As regards Kaduna state security votes, once again, if the honourable speaker had run an online search he would have discovered the details of our spending priorities on security as a state government. As our Kaduna Comprehensive Security Architecture (KADCoSA) outlines, the state is directing security spending on four pillars; justice, technology, community engagement and support to security agencies.”

El-Rufai gave a breakdown of the money allocated for security.

“The 2017 budget details specific amounts:

“a. ₦1.5bn (one and half billion naira) for the procurement & installation of CCTV cameras for monitoring and surveillance towards Reducing Criminal Activities within the Metropolis.

“b. ₦193m (one hundred and ninety-three million naira) for Procurement of Geo-position Interceptor and location of GSM UMTS System to Check the Trends and Intercept/locate kidnappers’ GSM calls.

“c. ₦265m (two hundred and sixty-five million naira) for the Procurement of Drones/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to identify locations of armed bandits in our Forest Reserves across the state and the Establishment of a Forensic Laboratory to assist in determining substantial evidence in cases that otherwise proved difficult in the past.

“d. In addition, ₦2.6bn (two billion and six hundred million naira) is allocated in 2017 to support the network of federal Security Agencies in Kaduna with communications, logistics and materiel.

“Details of actual spending in 2015 for security and indeed every line item in the state budgets are also publicly available via the annual report of the accountant-general accessible on www.kdsg.gov.ng.

“The 2015 accounts of the Kaduna State Government have been audited, and the audit summary published in major newspapers and on the state website on 21st June 2016. The Accountant-General’s report for 2016 has been finalized and its audit is ongoing and will be published as usual. The audited state government accounts can also be found on http://openkaduna.com.ng/Budget/audited.

“The Kaduna state government will continue to remain transparent and open in all its finances. That is what we have promised to all our people and that is what our party, the APC and our president stand for.”

He also made his pay slip public and challenged the national assembly to be transparent with its budget.

“Malam Nasir El-Rufai is today making publicly available his pay-slip as Governor of Kaduna State. In February 2017, the Kaduna State Government paid the Governor a net salary of ₦470,521.74, with the following details:

Income
Deductions
Basic Salary
₦185,308.75

Hardship Allowance
₦370,617.50

Gross Pay
₦555,926.25

PAYE

₦85,404.51
Total Deduction

₦85,401.51
Net Pay
₦470,521.74

“The amount may appear puny but it reflects what the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved as the salary and allowances of every state governor adjusted to reflect provision in-kind of accommodation and transportation.

“Governor Nasir El-Rufai would like to reiterate his call for the NASS leadership to do the same and disclose the details of the National Assembly budget, and the salaries and allowances of its leadership.

“The call to #OpenNASS is not a personal one. It is one which the leadership of the national assembly owes to all Nigerians. It is therefore disingenuous for the speaker to use state government budgets as the excuse for the opacity of the NASS budget. There is no state government in Nigeria with a budget nearly as opaque as that of NASS. In March 2016, this national assembly, led by its chairman, promised to provide a detailed breakdown of the national assembly budget. Nigerians are waiting.”