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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into alleged discrepancies in the country’s 2016 budget, ordering that all errors be resolved promptly.
Following shortly after the suspension of deliberations around the budget ordered by the National Assembly on Tuesday, the Nigerian government has been on a scramble to try and clean up embarrassing allocations within the document.
According to Premium Times, a top administration official revealed that both the ministry of finance and the ministry of financial planning were determined to effect necessary changes to the document in order to turn in a clean document to the National Assembly for approval.
News24 previously reported that a state governor, Ayodele Fayose, had urged Buhari to withdraw the budget due to the embarrassment it had already caused the government.
The presidency had more back-peddling to do, with reports indicating that criminal elements within the civil service, referred to as the “budget mafia”, had “smuggled” frivolous allocations into the budget.
It remained unclear what sanctions the government would impose on those found guilty of padding the document.
Meanwhile, the government is alleged to have sought assistance from China to finance the country’s budget.
According to a local publication Naij, officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as the ministry of finance would pay China a visit soon into order to secure a $2bn loan.
The loan seeks to make up a record N2.2 trillion deficit within the budget.
