National Assembly slashes ONSA vote to N56.791b

• Decision on padded items still unclear
• Lawmakers return constituency projects vote to N100b

The National Assembly has slashed the allocation to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) from N88.702 billion as proposed last year to N56.791 billion. It was not clear last night if the reduction followed proposal by the President or it was the National Assembly’s decision.

Also, the approved spending plan has shown that the National Assembly has returned the portion for constituency projects to N100 billion from the N60 billion proposal sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The reduction came as the ONSA remains in the news over allegations and on-going investigation and trial of a former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and a number of his subordinates over budgetary allocation to the office which had become slush funds for political activities other than security which the office was created for.

Agencies captured under the ONSA budget, apart from the National Security Adviser, include the Nigerian Intelligence Agency ( NIA) and the Presidential Air Fleet (State House).

It was gathered that N1 billion has been set aside for effective monitoring of projects for which funds are to be released to Ministries Departments and Agencies ( MDAs) to ensure faithful implementation.