As Nigerians await the details of the N8.7trillion 2019 budget proposals announced by the executive penultimate week, Taiye Odewale examines the delays, passage of such proposals used to encounter at the National Assembly and the usual blame game between the executive and the federal lawmakers over it.
Vicious circle
Though since the beginning of the fourth republic on May 29, 1999, the January to December yearly budgetary circle has in one way or the other, be disrupted due to required legislative inputs that must be impacted on whatever proposals cum estimates the executive presents for approval by the legislature but several months of delays such legislative inputs are causing in the final approval of yearly budget proposals in recent time have completely disrupted the yearly budgetary circle.
The worst of such is the current N9.12trillion 2018 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the joint session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, the 7th of November, 2017.
President Buhari at the presentation tabled a budget profile of N8.612trillion for approval with personate plea for expeditious consideration for the yearly budget circle to return to January to December.
But after the presentation funfare, the legislators at the stage of second reading of the bill at both chambers insisted that the proposal must be thoroughly scrutinized, the process of which took them seven solid months to finish with the passage of the budget in June this year.
Delay plus padding
It would be recalled that aside passing the budget, seven solid months after presentation by the President, the National Assembly in line with its constitutional powers, change the entire face of the proposal by adding a total of 1,403 projects worth N578bn into it which shoot up the budget size to N9.12 trillion as against N8.612trillion originally proposed by the executive.
Expectedly as a result of the insertion, both the Presidency and the National Assembly in July at the point of signing the budget into law, engaged in verbal counter punching over the insertions and workability or implementation of the entire budget profiles.
Buhari’s alarm
Specifically, President Buhari had while signing the budget into law, alleged the National Assembly to have inserted 6,403 fresh projects totalling N578 billion into the budget and cutting off about N347 billion from estimated cost of about 4, 700 critical projects, one of which is the 2nd Niger bridge.
The President in the remarks, said most of the 6, 403 projects inserted into the budgets were of less national priority that are already being handled by local governments councils and state governments.
But the National Assembly in its reaction to the allegations through a joint press briefing by spokesmen of both chambers, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi and Hon Abdulrazak Namdas debunked the president’s allegations.
They said the cuts made in the budget and additional projects added into it were done in the best interest of the country and in collaboration with the executive. According to them, adjustments and reductions in the locations, costs and number of projects approved were made in order to address geo-political imbalances that came with the Executive proposal.
Why new projects
‘The introduction of new projects was done to ensure the promotion of the principles of Federal Character as contained in Section 14, subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended which states that “the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria.
“The number of projects had to be increased in order to give a sense of belonging to every geo-political zone of the country to ensure socio-economic justice, equity, fairness, and to command National loyalty”, they explained.
NASS frustrating executive-Buhari
As controversies over the 2018 budget are fizzling out, a new one that can be said to be heralding the presentation of the N8.7trillion 2019 budget proposal is cropping up going by remarks made by President Muhammadu Buhari last week on budget implementation frustration allegedly caused by the National Assembly on yearly basis through delay in the passage of budget proposals.
President Buhari in making the remarks while playing host to Eminent and Respected Citizens of Niger State led by Lt- Gen Garba Duba ( rtd) at the State House on Friday said: ” I am disappointed in the National Assembly over yearly budget delays.
“Using the 2018 fiscal year as example, If the National Assembly takes seven months to pass the budget, then we should be commended for the much that we have achieved and can still achieve.
“I personally feel very disappointed. I spoke with the leaders of NASS on the issue that seven months is too long a time to work on a budget and hope that similar thing will not happen to the 2019 budget when presented for approval”.
But signs that the same scenario of delay on budget passage will play out on the 2019 proposal are already showing, as required documents like Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) etc, are even yet to be received by both chambers of the National Assembly , let alone , fixing date for budget presentation.
