Seen as an important part of its fight against corruption, graft, and kleptomania in government circles, the increase was contained in the recent budget. Nigeria's currently has nine anti-corruption agencies that include the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Others are the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives, the Public Complaint Commission (PCC), the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation. Under the new arrangement, the EFCC will receive a hefty N11.2bn (£37.5m), which represents 40.5% of the total, compared with the N10.4bn it got in 2015.
Under President Jonathan, the 2015 anti-corruption budget actually fell in 2015 as in 2014, it stood at N12.2bn but this was attributed to a drop in the revenue from crude oil exports. Despite crude oil prices dropping further, the present regime is increasing the anti-graft budget because fighting corruoption was a keop plank of its election manifesto.
President Buhari said: “I am sure you will agree that the sheer scale of corruption and impunity of the past explains in part, the economic challenges we now face. We will pursue the recovery of everything that belongs to the people of Nigeria, no matter where it is hidden and no matter how long it will take.”
Under President Buhari's plans, the FRC has been allocated N494m, which is N157m higher than the N336m appropriated for it in the 2015 budget. Also, the BPP's proposed budget in 2016 is N1.4bn, compared with N1bn in 2015, while the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives is expected to get N1.4bn, compared with N1bn last year.
However, the ICPC will see its budget slashed by N292.5m to N4.6bn from the N4.9bn it got in 2015, just as the CCB and the CCT's budgets for 2016 have also been slashed by N98.6m and N22.6m respectively. In the 2016 budget, the CCB and CCT have been allocated N2.2bn and N784.3m respectively compared with the N2.3bn and N806.9m they got in 2015.
Nigeria's PCC will also see a decrease its budget in 2016 as it has been allocated N2bn compared with the N2.5bn it got in 2015. Also, the office of the Auditor General of the Federation, has seen its budgetary allocation for 2016 reduced by government to N2.9bn in 2016, compared with the N3.2bn that was allocated to it in 2015.
Since assuming office on May 29, the Buhari administration has made the fight against corruption one of its main priorities. At the moment, the government is currently investigating how billions of naira meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition for the war against Boko Haram was diverted into personal bank accounts of politicians.
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