By Ahmed Rahma
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has tasked the government to cut salaries and allowances of its top officials for the funding of the 2021 budget.
The group, in a statement issued on Sunday, argued that this should be more ideal than the proposed sale of national assets for the purpose of financing the budget.
As a result, SERAP has called on the National Assembly under the leadership of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Ahmed Lawan and Mr Femi Gbajabiamila respectively, to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from going ahead with the planned sale.
According to the organisation, the sale of some public properties by the executive arm of government would be vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement.
“The National Assembly has a constitutional and oversight responsibility to protect valuable public properties and to ensure a responsible budget spending.
“Disposing of valuable public properties to fund the budget was not in the public interest and would be counter-productive, as the action would be vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement.
“This would undermine the social contract with Nigerians, leave the government worse off, and hurt the country in the long run,” SERAP said in the letter signed by its Deputy Director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare.
In the statement, the group “called for a freeze on spending in certain areas of the budget such as hardship and furniture allowances, entertainment allowances, international travels, buying of vehicles and utilities for lawmakers’ members and the presidency.”
It further urged the legislative arm of government to work with the presidency to fix the current damaging budgeting process and address the systemic corruption in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
SERAP also appealed to the parliament “to stop approving loan requests by the federal government if it continues to fail to demonstrate transparency and accountability in the spending of the loans so far obtained.”
