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Reps write CBN on fake ATM currency notes, seek review of envelope budgeting system

By on July 4, 2013

The House of Representatives said on Wednesday that it had written to the Central Bank of Nigeria to explain the source of fake currency naira notes being dispensed by Automated Teller Machines of some banks.

Lawmakers claimed that they had received at least two complaints from members of the public on the fake currency notes.

The Chairman, House Committee on Banking/Currency, Mr. Chukwudi Jones-Onyereri, told members that the committee stepped into the matter immediately it received the reports.

“The Committee on Banking/Currency has directed the Clerk to write the CBN for explanations. We are aware of the problem and the committee is already looking into it,” he said.

Jones-Onyereri briefed the House on the steps taken by the committee following a motion sponsored by a member from Kogi State, Mr. Tajudeen Yusuf.

Yusuf recalled that two months ago, a customer went to an ATM in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, and the machine allegedly dispensed fake notes.

“At the time, they thought it must have been a mistake, but there are more complaints from different ATMs now. In Abuja, a similar case was reported recently,” he said.

According to him, the dispensing of fake currency notes will affect the smooth implementation of the CBN’s cash-less policy should Nigerians lose confidence in the ATMs.

Yusuf alleged that a syndicate involving bank employees might be at work.

“Someone must have put the fake notes in the ATM; the machine can only dispense what was placed inside it,” he added.

The committee will produce a report on its findings to the House after meeting with the CBN.

The Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, presided over Wednesday’s session.

Meanwhile, the House on Wednesday sought to review the current budgeting system in use in the country, otherwise known as the ‘envelope system.’

The envelope system allows the Budget Office of the Federation to define the expenditure of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government by allocating funds to them without consulting with them.

A member from Plateau State, Ms. Beni Lar, who sponsored a motion on the matter, said the system had led to the poor implementation of budgets.

“The current budgeting system has made resources allocated to MDAs to be thinly spread over large number of projects, resulting in non-performance of successive budgets in Nigeria,” she said.

Lar called for a system that would involve wide consultations with the MDAs to determine their budgetary needs before funds were allocated to them.

The lawmaker argued further, “Whereas many countries have discarded the current line item budgeting system practised in Nigeria and have adopted programme-based budgeting, Nigeria still continues to adopt the budgeting practice that has not done much to improve the economy or well-being of the citizenry.

“The current envelope system devoid of programme budgeting, which links a governance activity with an objective and with the inputs necessary to achieve that objective, will not address or reflect the realities on the ground, and as such, fails to deliver democratic dividends to Nigerians.”

The House gave its Joint Committee on Finance/Appropriation four weeks to examine the various budgeting systems and make recommendations on a more appropriate system for the nation.

Lawmakers also endorsed a bill seeking to roll-over unspent funds budgeted for capital projects to the next financial year for second reading.

[Punch]