I want to introduce Adeolu Adekola, he is the Senior Programme Officer of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism … and he’s here to talk to us about the investigation that has been carried out under the auspices of the Centre and others into the huge amount that’s been spent on Nigeria’s electricity over the past 59 years. And for me, there are two aspects to it. One … because in IDEAS we deal with Integrity, Democracy, Ethics and Accountability.

And so, the discussions we will be having today, will be on whether the Budget was made for the rainy day or not. This week it’s been the Budget 20 … for next year, presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to a joint sitting of the National Assembly. And the clock is ticking, because the common saying from the Executive and National Assembly has been that they want to go to a January-December schedule. I don’t know whether that’s possible or not.

We want to look at the issue of the role of the Nigerian Judiciary as regards Integrity and Democracy. And I think it’s important that we try to separate out the difference between what a government wants, and what an independent … an independent judiciary owes in a Democracy. I say that because I often hear people talking about: We should have our judges elected.