Despite Laundering $4bn Of Abacha’s Loot, Budget Minister Bagudu Assures Nigerians Of Prudent Spending Of N6.2trn Budget Proposal

The Federal Government, through the Minister of Budget and Planning, Atiku Bagudu, who helped former Nigerian maximum ruler Gneeral Sani Abacha to loot $4 billion of public funds, has assured Nigerians of prudent spending of the proposed extra budget of N6.2 trillion.

The Minister disclosed this on Monday while addressing the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation chaired by Abubakar Bichi, who represents the Bichi Federal Constituency in Kano State.

Bagudu’s statement was after President Bola Tinubu, who had, last week, forwarded the request for an additional N6.2 trillion extra budgetary provision to both chambers of parliament.

The request contains a N3.2 trillion capital expenditure and N3 trillion recurrent expenditure for Nigerian workers’ newly proposed national minimum wage.

Bagudu said the proposed N3.2 trillion (capital expenditure)  was “intended to provide equity contributions to federal government projects. He said,

The proposed N3.2 trillion (capital expenditure) was the Renewed Hope Infrastructural Fund intended to provide equity contributions to federal government projects designated as priority projects and critical projects which needed more appropriation so that the projects wouldn’t suffer neglect.”

It is worth noting that the N6.2 trillion proposed is in addition to the N28.7 trillion Appropriation Act, which has already been approved for the 2024 fiscal year.

The primary focus of the proposed extra spending is for the security of lives and property as it is paramount.”

He further listed some of the projects which he said needed more appropriation, including the Lagos-Calabar 1,000km road project, the Sokoto-Badagry road projects, the Badagry-Tin Can Port and Lekki Port, Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge.

Also, the Kano-Maradi standard gauge and a rail project for which the Chinese government provided 85 per cent of funding, as the federal government is expected to provide 15 per cent of counterpart funding.

So, to help Nigerian citizens with this, we need more finance. The other investments in agriculture and food security and the additional water resources support ongoing projects for which the funding commitments are inadequate. But they are critical to delivering our agriculture and food security objectives.”

While Bagudu assured Nigerians of prudency, his complicit history of helping the former Head of State, Sani Abacha, to launder nearly $5 billion of Nigeria’s public funds in the 1990s remains unsolved.

Meanwhile, Bagudu’s crime, as documented in the Pandora Papers, was ignored by President Tinubu, who also assumed office in 2023 through a widely disputed election. Tinubu has since appointed Bagudu as Minister of Budget electoral promise of ending corruption.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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