HURIWA calls for arrests over alleged N206b budget padding

HUMAN Rights Writers Association of Nigeria ( HURIWA), has asked Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) to arrest or invite for interrogation the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, over alleged insertion of N206,242,395,000 into the 2023 budget of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management. HURIWA also cautioned the anti- graft body to avoid naming serving government officials as EFCC ambassadors, since the agency is not a chieftaincy institution but a serious government establishment, set up to wage war against economic. National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, rejected the explanation of the finance ministry that the bogus amount was wrongly captured in the budget estimates submitted to the National Assembly, just as it insisted that those in charge must be arrested and made to give proper statements under oath.