EFCC and probe of NASS Budgets

The news report that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has demanded from the Clerk of the National Assembly details of its budgets for 2014 and 2015 totaling N300billion must be the greatest joke of the century. Pray; where did the EFCC and the Presidency get the funny idea that the executive arm of […]

The news report that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has demanded from the Clerk of the National Assembly details of its budgets for 2014 and 2015 totaling N300billion must be the greatest joke of the century. Pray; where did the EFCC and the Presidency get the funny idea that the executive arm of government can enquire into the finances of the Legislature? How on earth can the Presidency, through the EFCC, wallow in the illusion that it has the powers to initiate investigations into the expenditure of public funds in Nigeria whether of the legislature or the executive or even the judiciary? Wonders shall really never end in Nigeria.
Let me from the onset state the obvious, and that is that the EFCC does not have the powers to initiate investigations into the management or mismanagement of the public funds of any arm of government in Nigeria, be it federal or state or local. The responsibility to carry out such an assignment is indisputably that of the National Assembly and the 36 State Houses of Assembly. Even the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004 did not indicate anywhere in its provisions that the anti-graft agency has the kind of powers it is pretending to wield over the financial affairs of the National Assembly. As far as the constitution is concerned, the Police can only begin to embark on the criminal investigation of the mismanagement of the public funds of any arm of government after the National Assembly or any of the 36 State Houses of Assembly had invited it on the basis of a motion passed on the floor of each house, to do so.
As an instance, Section 88(1)(bii) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) says: “Subject to the provisions of this constitution, each house of the National Assembly shall have powers… to direct or cause to be directed an investigation into the conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charged, …, with the duty of or responsibility for … disbursing or administering moneys appropriated … by the National Assembly”. The same constitution goes ahead in Section 88(2)(b) to say that “the powers conferred on the National Assembly under the provisions of this section are exercisable only for the purpose of enabling it to… expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the ….disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it”. Nigerians, the question is; when did the EFCC transform into a legislative house to begin to demand details of the budgetary expenditures of the National Assembly?
Even the EFCC Act which impudently undermines and arrogantly breaches the provisions of section 214 of the constitution did not grant the anti-graft agency the powers to initiate investigations into the public accounts of institutions and governments. The special powers unconstitutionally granted the EFCC in section 7(1) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004 to “cause investigations to be conducted as to whether any person, corporate body or organization has committed any offence under this Act or other laws relating to economic and financial crimes”, does not give the anti-graft agency the power to demand the implementation details of the 2014 and 2015 budgets of the National Assembly from its Clerk. This has to do with the fact that the National Assembly is not a person or corporate body or organization. A corporate body or organization comes into existence when registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) while the National Assembly, being a creation of the constitution, does not need a “Certificate of Incorporation” to exist.
From the foregoing, it is clear that what the EFCC is trying to do by asking the Clerk of the National Assembly to release details of the implementation of the 2014 and 2015 budgets of the federal house is to usurp the constitutional powers of the Auditor-General of the Federation. Section 85(2) of the constitution says; “The public accounts of the Federation and all offices and courts of the Federation shall be audited by the Auditor-General who shall submit his reports to the National Assembly; and for that purpose, the Auditor-General or any person authorized by him in that behalf shall have access to all the books, records, returns and other documents relating to those accounts”. Of course, I am forced to ask again; when did the EFCC transform into the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation? Where is the evidence that the Auditor-General of the Federation asked the EFCC to audit the financial records of the National Assembly on its behalf?
No one is saying that the expenditure of the finances of the Legislature cannot be probed or investigated. The point is that until the Senate or the House of Representatives or a State House of Assembly passes a motion calling on the police or an anti-graft agency to commence criminal investigations into its own affairs or that of institutions in the other arms of government, no such investigations can legally take place. What this means is that until the Bukola Saraki-led Senate and the Yakubu Dogara-led House of Representatives invites the police or the unconstitutionally non-existent EFCC to inquire into the financial records of the National Assembly, neither the police nor the EFCC has the powers to demand the details of the income and expenditure profiles of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 budgets of the National Assembly.
Nkemjika, an author and public affairs analyst, wrote this piece from Abuja. He can be reached at [email protected]