The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime to scrap the $670 million allegedly spent on security votes each year by governors.

Security vote in Nigeria is a monthly allowance allocated to the 36 governors for the sole purpose of funding security services.

CISLAC executive director Auwal Rafsanjani stated this on the sideline of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly after the launch of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 Shadow Report, 2022.

“It should be scrapped because it is money that is not audited for, is money that is not accounted for. We cannot be spending (money) running to billions of naira without accountability. So, the security vote should be abrogated. If not, there must be a framework on how to use the security vote, which should be accounted for,” said Mr Rafsanjani.

He added, “This is the condition we are giving. If you don’t want to scrap the security vote, there must be a legal framework for ensuring accountability on the spending of the allocation. It must serve the purpose which is basically for enhancing security and safety.”

According to the report, the insecurity situation continues to deteriorate despite spending $670 million on security votes each year. It noted that 5,067 Nigerians were killed due to insecurity in 2021, and an average of 14 Nigerians were killed daily.

The report also captured the looming debt crisis, quoting official data that showed that Nigeria had revenue of N1.63 trillion in the first quarter of 2022.

It noted that the generated amount is not even enough to service (not pay) the country’s debt for that quarter which was at N1.94 trillion, and also expressed the captured prevalence of vote trading in the country’s electoral process.

Speaking on buying assets abroad, Mr Rafsanjani said a recent report showed three major scandals, Pandora, Panama and Paradise, where public officials, both serving and retired, bought huge properties abroad.

“Our Constitution is very clear; it has empowered the Code of Conduct Bureau to ensure that it investigates claims of public officials, so the government needed to strengthen the bureau to investigate and verify assets declared by the public officials,” explained the CISLAC boss.

“Lastly, you cannot be a public official and then be acquiring assets abroad,” he added. “It is illegal and against our law, and therefore the assets of those found guilty should be confiscated.” 

(NAN)