By Ayomide Oriade
In what could be another chapter in the chaos that is rocking the 2014 budget, the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to immediately make public details of all appropriations and statutory transfers in the 2014 budget, in the public interest.
Justice Abubakar Abdu-Kafarati who gave the order following the legal application filed by the Centre for Social Justice asked the minister to release to the group and the general public, details of releases in the budget to some key government agencies.
The agencies highlighted are: the National Assembly, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC; National Judicial Council, NJC; Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC; Universal Basic Education, UBE and National Human Rights Commission, NHRC.
Under the amended Nigerian constitution, the listed offices are considered statutory bodies, whose funding are drawn directly from government treasury, to foster their independence. Their budget details have also not been made public since 2011.
