BEVERLY HILLS, February 07, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari is said to be furious with a group of top civil servants called ‘Budget Mafia’ for allegedly attempting to inflate the 2016 budget by over N1.7trillion.
According to sources in the presidency, the mafia decided to jack up the budget proposal by N1.7trillion by adding proposal items such as vote for Aso Rock Clinic and some communication equipment and was partly responsible for the ‘missing budget’ fiasco which embarrassed the president.
When the budget was being compiled, they frustrated all the deadlines set by the presidency and were shocked when Buhari opted for the N6.08trillion budget, which was presented to the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.
The padding of the 2016 Appropriation by the affected top civil servants almost marred the presentation of the estimates to the National Assembly as some of the 6,000 items in the 2016 Budget were said to have been smuggled into the proposals by the cartel.
According to the source, members of the Budget Mafia are spread across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies but the list of all the culprits was being compiled following a directive by the president.
Story by David Oputah
