President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed in the United States of America yesterday that bureaucrats tampered with the 2016 Appropriation Bill submitted to the National Assembly for consideration.
The president also said he will critically review the Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly line by line before assenting to it.
This was even as the president said repatriated funds from abroad will greatly help to boost Nigeria’s economy.
He stated this yesterday in Washington DC at a meeting with the United States of America Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry.
President Buhari had, on Tuesday, received highlights of the 2016 budget without a detailed breakdown of sectoral allocations from the National Assembly.
The National Assembly passed the 2016 Appropriation Bill last week.
The Presidency had said though Buhari was eager to sign the budget into law, he won’t do so without the details so as not to fall into booby traps contained therein.
In the US, the president told Kerry that, in view of the controversial alteration and padding of the budget proposals, he would need to review the Appropriation Bill to be certain that its contents tallied with the authentic budget proposal presented to the National Assembly.
“Some bureaucrats removed what we put in the proposal and replaced it with what they wanted. I have to look at the Bill that has been passed by the National Assembly, ministry by ministry, to be sure that what has been brought back for me to sign is in line with our original submission,” he said.
The president equally reiterated his fight against corruption and assured that his administration will continue to vigorously prosecute its anti-graft war.
Buhari, who got the assurance of the United States Government that it will facilitate the repatriation of all stolen Nigerian funds found within the American banking system said, “it will greatly help our country if you assist us to recover all our stolen funds which we can establish to be within your financial system.”
Acknowledging that the US has been of great help to his administration in the retraining and re-equipping of the Nigerian Armed Forces which has resulted in the significant success already achieved against Boko Haram, the president said that the Federal Government was now working very hard to restore normalcy in the North Eastern states.
“Boko Haram no longer holds any local government area. We are reconstructing damaged facilities and preparing the police to take over and reassert civilian control over areas affected by the insurgency,” the president told Kerry.
In his response, the Secretary of State said he has been told that stolen Nigerian funds were in “billions of dollars.
“It’s not easy to hide that amount of money and, we are pretty good in tracing them.”
Kerry assured Buhari that relevant United States Government officials will meet with the chairman of Nigeria’s EFCC to discuss further cooperation in that regard.
He also spoke on insurgency in Nigeria and commended Buhari’s administration for successfully rolling back Boko Haram’s activities.
Kerry praised Buhari’s clear order to the Nigerian Armed Forces to show greater regard for the human rights in the theatre of operations against Boko Haram.
