As political campaigns enter the last leg nationwide, lawmakers in the House of Representatives have elected to conduct the defence of the 2015 budget secretly.

Certain organisations, THISDAY gathered, might have been targeted to mobilise funds for those currently engaged in electioneering and their colleagues who lost out during the party primaries. The latter, it was learnt, were seeking their severance packages from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

None of the budget defence meetings held this week had the media in attendance, a clear departure from the past when journalists were allowed to cover such activities.

For instance, journalists were excused on Tuesday when the House Committee on Information held its budget defence, where all the heads of government media organisations such as the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Voice of Nigeria (VON) as well as the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), among others, were present.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Buba Jibrin (APC, Kogi), had at the beginning of the hearing said: “One of the issues we have identified as challenging in this budget defence is the fact that there is no provision for capital allocation.

“The issue of zero capital allocation is quite worrisome such that we have to ask journalists to please wait outside as we interacted with the agencies on why that is the case. When we have established the problems we can then call on you to join us.”

Afterwards, he asked journalists to leave the conference hall and await further information.  At the end of the budget defence that lasted for more than four hours, the committee ended the hearing without calling journalists back in.

Similarly, a fortnight ago, the Nnenna Elendu Ukeje-led House Committee on Foreign Affairs also held its budget defence behind closed doors to the exclusion of journalists.
Another of such clandestine budget defence hearings was the one chaired by an outgoing lawmaker from Edo State, Hon Patrick Ikhariale. Ikhariale who chairs the House Committee on Power lost his bid to win a return ticket on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his state.

Initially, the lawmaker invited a handful of reporters to the budget defence by the Ministry of Power and agencies under it, but later changed his mind and asked journalists to stay out and wait for further directives as there were issues to be ironed out before the committee could allow coverage of the proceedings.

After the four-hour meeting with the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Ambassador Godknows Igali, and his delegation, Ikhariale avoided the expectant reporters and took the back door out of the venue, pretending to be busy with his mobile phone as he walked hurriedly to his office.