No Security Vote For Presidency In 2018 Budget – Udoma

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has said that there was no provision for security vote for the presidency in the 2018 budget.

He said this in reaction to claims by Amnesty International that the presidency is not only appropriating, but “has increased the number of security votes tucked into the federal budget in the last two years”.

The report titled “Camouflaged Cash: How ‘Security Votes’ Fuel Corruption in Nigeria”, had defined security votes as “budgeted funds provided to certain federal, state, and local government officials to spend at their discretion… They are budgeted separately from planned security expenditures such as personnel salaries, allowances, equipment, training and operational expenses”.

In his defence, the minister said, “there is no line item as Security Vote in the State House budget.”

According to him, “provisions for security-related matters are contained in the detailed budgets of the Ministry of Defence, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Department of State Security (DSS) etc.

“There are also provisions for military interventions in the North-east (insurgency) – Operation Lafiya Dole, as well as other specific operations of the Armed Forces such as Operation Python Dance, Operation Crocodile Smile and very recently, the Operation Cat Race, etc.”