2017 budget: Nigerians must know every detail – Ndume tells Senate

Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, on Wednesday advised leadership of the Senate to make public budget of the upper chamber.
Ndume spoke while making his contributions on the general principles of the 2017 budget.

The Borno South lawmaker underscored the need for openness and transparency in the management of the budget at all levels.
Ndume said, “We come here to pass the budget without seeing the details. This is government of change and this must change. The details of the budget report should and as required, must be considered holistically.
“Last year, we had several issues with the budget, in fact to some extent very embarrassing and that is because some of us are even innocent.
“We don’t know what was in the budget because the details of the budget were not provided and this should be done this year.

“The budget of the Senate is not known to the Senators, it should be known this year. This is very important because we cannot be taking blames or hold credit for what we don’t know.
“Mr. President if you look at 2016 budget, yes we have been given the budget performance but what budget 2016 contained in relation to 2017 budget is not available.”