‘I Don’t Know What It Is,’ Arthur-Worrey Counters Existence Of Security Votes
A former CEO, Lagos State Security Trust Fund, Fola Arthur-Worrey has challenged the notion that state governors are entitled to arbitrarily allocated funds commonly known as “security votes.”
“I don’t know what that is. There is no such thing. Let me say it here – at least, I was in government; I was in cabinet. I don’t know what people refer to when they say security votes,” Arthur-Worrey said during a live appearance on 2022 In Retrospect, Channels Television’s year-end special on Saturday.
The former Lagos State Commissioner for Lands acknowledged that though he hears people refer to security votes “all the time,” during his time as a permanent secretary State until he joined the state government, there was never any reference to a security vote.
“I don’t know what it is. Is it some specific payment – and there is no such thing? If it’s money drawn from the budget, then it’s constrained by the size of the budget.
“Maybe people have the perception that there’s some fund somewhere, maybe at the centre, from which payments are made every month to the governors, but I’m not aware of (this),” he said.
According to the legal expert, put simply, the country has an annual budget containing “heads” that refer to security. He added that strictly speaking, security budgets are federal as it is the Federal Government that controls all the relevant security agencies.
“The states just come in as contingency because of underfunding at the centre. That’s my view; I may be wrong. Somebody might challenge me on that,” he added.
Arthur-Worrey explained that the constitution is the main document for the national affairs. In his view, there is nowhere in the constitution that says that any expenditure of government is free of oversight.
“No! It’s a perception that we carried over from the military. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House, be it the national (assembly) or state (assembly), has the power to inquire into any (expenditure). Any money spent outside of that is an unconstitutional expenditure. So, there is no law that says security funding shall be unaccountable,” he added.
