- By Halimah Olamide
Minister of the FCT Nyesom Wike on Monday requested for permission to spend security votes the same way governors of the 46 states of the Federation do.
Wike spoke on Monday when he appeared before the House of Representatives to defend his ministry’s budget.
His ministry is to spend a sum of N1.1trn.
Wike said he needs to have enough funds to deal with the security situation in Abuja and IT’s satellite towns.
“As a governor, my director of SSS can meet me and say ‘We need to carry out an operation this night’. We need N30 million to carry out that operation. I don’t need to meet the accountant, all I need to say is ‘go and take money there,” Wike told the lawmakers.
NPO Reports that security vote remains shrouded in controversy as many believe that it is a channel through governors siphon public funds.
It is believed that many governors had abused the privilege the spending of the funds called security votes confer on them.