CISLAC seeks scrapping of governors’ security vote
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called for the abolition of security votes.
It said in the alternative, there should be provision of a framework to monitor the allocation.
Security vote is a monthly allowance the 36 governors in Nigeria get for funding security services within their States.
CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Rafsanjani told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the payment was not usually accounted for.
Rafsanjani spoke in New York at 77th session of UN General Assembly after a launch of “Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 Shadow Report, 2022.’’
The activist noted that the funds were mostly used for personal interest rather than the purpose they were originally meant for.
“It should be scrapped because it is a money that is not audited, not accounted for. We cannot be spending money running into billions of Naira without accountability.
“Security vote should be abrogated. If not, there must be a framework on how to use the security vote which should be accounted for”, he said.
The SDG report shows that despite $670million on security votes each year, the insecurity situation continues to deteriorate.
It indicated that 5,067 Nigerians were killed due to insecurity in 2021, and an average of 14 Nigerians were killed daily.
On public officials acquiring assets abroad, Rafsanjani said the constitution was clear on the matter, adding that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) is empowered to investigate and prosecute.
Earlier in the year, former Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Chairman, Kayode Fayemi gave a hint of how governors spend the controversial security vote.