Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said the National Assembly will not rubber stamp the N8.83 trillion 2019 budget.
This comes as the National Assembly
has assured that it would pass the 2019 budget upon resumption from plenary by April 2, 2019, even as it indicted the Executive arm of government over late budget submission.
The Speaker who blamed the delay in passing the budget to late submission of the money bill by the Executive arm of government, expressed regret that previous budgets have not scored up to 45 percent performance.
“We hope to pass the appropriation bill as soon as we reconvene from plenary,” Dogara stated this on Wednesday in Abuja while declaring open the Third Public Hearing on the National Budget.
He also commended Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that have far showed up for their budget defence, even as he urged those yet to do so to hasten up to ensure expeditious approval of the budget upon resumption by next week.
He also commended heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that have so far showed up for their budget defence sessions, even as he urged those yet to do so to hasten up to ensure expeditious approval of the budget upon resumption.
The lawmaker expressed regret that President Muhammadu Buhari withheld his assent to the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (Establishment) Bill into law as well as the constitution amendment bill which seeks to compel the Executive to submit the budget proposal to the National Assembly not later than 90 days to the end of the fiscal year and also to limit the expenditure that can be incurred in the absence of the appropriation act from six to three months.
This, he explained, has stalled the Budget Process Bill in the House of Representatives, which spells out the timeline for every budget activity.
According to him, rather than meet national values and priorities, the budget only ‘reflects the values and priorities of those who help in crafting it’.
“The integrity of the budget selection process had always been the bane of national budget. I regret to say that until we eliminate these problems, we will always have non-implementable national budget, which cannot be relied upon by policy makers in establishing spending priorities. It is very painful that for some years now, our budget process is either or a combination of audacious optimism and hypocrisy in holding key actors working together in a budget that they fully know would at best be implemented at 45 percent, which by all standard, is below average.
“The budget is the most important law that is passed yearly. Consequently, no Parliament anywhere in the world rushes it. Let me reemphasize that this Parliament will never arrive at a point where we will merely rubber stamp the national budget.
“It is unfortunate, however, that many commentators always ignorantly accuse the National Assembly of delaying the appropriation bill, as if we are meant to urgently rubber stamp whatever budget estimates submitted to us by the Executive. If we fail to scrutinise the budget proposal, it will not only amount to abdication of our constitutional responsibilities as Legislatures but a betrayal of the mandate of our constituents.
“Let me also add that it is very unfair for the Executive to consistently blame the National Assembly for delaying passage of the budget while failing to address the issues of late budget submission on its part. The Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 provides that the appropriation bill be submitted not later than September of the preceding year which will give the Legislature ample time to process the document abd pass it in good time. Unfortunately, as we all know, the 2019 appropriation bill was submitted in December 19, 2018, just 12 days to the end of the year,” he added.
It would be recalled that President Buhari had presented the 2019 to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 19, 2018.
In his presentation, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, assured of the readiness of the Executive arm of government to revert to January to December cycle of the national budget, beginning with the 2020 budget.
This, he said, would be achieved by collaborating with the Legislature.
Udoma pointed out that this would not only make planning easier for both the public and private sectors but would ensure proper oversight on the budget.
He attributed delay in submitting and passing the 2019 budget to the fact the both the Executive and Legislative arms of government relegated governance to the back seat, as politics occupied centre stage.
“But I believe that going into 2020, this is a year that we should be able to achieve it. This is year that we should be able to sit down with the National Assembly and achieve it. The President is determined to achieve it. We will be sitting down with the National Assembly so that we can achieve. And we don’t need to do it be legislation. I think it is better to do it by cooperation, working together,” the Minister said.
Also, Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, revealed that government would introduce infrastructure bond to fund infrastructure projects in the country.
While saying that government would work to broaden the tax base to expand and improve Value Added Tax (VAT) performance, she added: “We have identified some new taxes that we will be coming to discuss with the National Assembly”.
In his submission, the Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, Clement Nwankwo, expressed disappointment at the inability of the National Assembly to override the President’s veto on the NABRO Bill and the constitution amendment bill which seeks to compel the Executive to submit the budget proposal to the National Assembly not later than 90 days to the end of the fiscal year.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
