Hours after the presentation of N16.39trillion 2022 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, Hon Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure, declared that the budget and previous ones over the years , are more beneficial to the elites in implementation than the masses.
In stopping the ugly trend , he called for proactive war against corruption in the country and posited that with empowerment of local hunters , insurgency and banditry , will be things of the past in the country within two weeks .
Hon Kazaure who represents the people of Kazaure / Roni/ Gwiwa / Yankwashi federal Constituency from Jigawa State , stated this in an explosive interview with select journalists in his office .
While many federal lawmakers from both the Senate and the House of Representatives after the budget presentation , expressed hope that its projections and proposals if well implemented , will be beneficial to Nigerians and Nigeria , Kazaure said the elites as experienced in the past will benefit from whatever gains or benefits packaged in the proposals .
” The N16.39trillion 2022 budget as far as I am concerned and based on outcomes of previous ones over the years , is for the elites and not the masses who constitute the largest percentage of the country’s population.
“President Buhari like his predecessors may in their own intensions , want provisions of such budgetary proposals , beneficial to all, but implementations of such budgets over the years clearly show that the elites and not the masses are largely the beneficiaries .
“This is so singularly because of malignant or systemic corruption in the public or civil service used as machinery for implementation of the budgets,” he said.
According to him, in stopping the yearly financial ritual from being largely pocketed by the elites in particular, the civil or public servants , the war on corruption should be aggressively fought proactively and not just by mouthing or media trials.
He pointedly declared that for the war to be potent and effective , all the bodies set up for it like the Economic and Financial Crimes ( EFCC) , Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) , the Code of Conduct Bureau ( CCB), The Nigeria Police etc , should be proactive in their operations and not reactive.
Being proactive he explained , requires investigation of the wealth of those occupying public offices either or elective or appointive templates.
“There are a lot of Directors in government offices having estates in high brow areas across the important cities in the country and living in Mansions that totality of their salaries and emoluments for 35 years can not built .
“These are properties that should be investigated first as regards ownership for the required identities of those in the system conerring monies meant for the general good of Nigerians.
“If these corrupt and fraudulently minded people within the system are exposed and dealt with , there will be more than enough money for government to implement the yearly Budgets without resorting to borrowings in anyway.
“The most worrisome of it all, is that even the chunk of monies being borrowed to finance our deficit budgeting , are being stolen by those saddled with budget implementation at different levels through fraudulent ways contracts biddings , awards and splitting.
“We should have no business with borrowings if all the loop holes within the system are blocked and tightened,”, he said.
On the unending war against insurgency and banditry in the land , the lawmaker said since the criminals carrying out the crimes , reside in the jungles or forests , the best form of attack against them should be from hunters within who are more even familiar with the terrains than them .
” What the hunters require is sophisticated weapeans . There is no way government will collaborate with the hunters at various affected areas by way of mixing them with the military or police and not get rid of the insurgents or bandits within two weeks ” , he posited .
He however added that vigilance by people residing in various communities is very important to prevent and by extension fight crime and Criminalities .
” In Jigawa State for example , banditry or insurgency are not there because people residing in various communities are very vigilant as regards strange faces or suspicious movements which are monitored from time to time and reported to appropriate authorities “, he said .
