NASS may have passed the Budget to shift public wrath to the Presidency

There are indications that the 2016 budget, passed by the National Assembly may have been dumped on the executives in a bid to avoid public wrath.

Official sources claim that the though the budget has been approved by the legislature, their action may have been in a haste to avoid the wrath of the public as the work is yet to be completed.

The National Assembly assented to the record budget of N6.060trillion last week Wednesday, after working on the document for three months and subsequently transmitted only the highlights to President Muhammadu Buhari. The President is said to be anxiously waiting to sign the budget but is handicapped by the lack of full details.

The passage of the budget may now be extended to next week as President Buhari leaves to attend the Nuclear Summit in Washington DC, today (Wednesday).

“This development confirms speculations that the National Assembly either did not complete work on the budget or are playing politics with the documents which affect the life of both the country and its citizens.

“The National Assembly may just have passed the bill to pass the buck to the executive and escape the wrath of the public which was gradually suspecting it of sabotage” a Presidential source who preferred not to be named, said on Tuesday.

Confirming that the President has received the transmitted highlight of the Appropriation Bill (2016 Budget) from the National Assembly, the senior official who is in a well-informed position noted that it was sent without the accompanying details.

“As a result, the President has been handicapped in signing the Bill because he does not know what is contained in the details and what adjustments the National Assembly must have made to the proposal sent to them.

“Although he is anxious to sign the document so that implementation of the provisions could start immediately and ease the tension in the economy and polity, he is afraid he may later discover when the details are sent, the what is contained therein is not implementable.

He wishes the National Assembly could send in the details speedily so that it could be considered for assent” he said.

Ministers, on the other hand, are also eager for the budget be signed so they could commence the implementation of their programmes, “but they are unable to push the President to sign what has been transmitted because they also do not know what is contained in the details.

“They are particularly worried that the year is gradually ageing and the provision of the law in respect of spending the previous year’s budget is not helping matters because of the low Capital provision for 2015”.

According to our source, as it stands, the Budget Office cannot also work on the Budget for implementation because it is the details, and not the highlights, that they convert into implementable templates for the respective Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Elizabeth Archibong