At plenary, the lawmaker accused the Nigeria Police of truncating the budget passage by ‘stealing’ 18 documents and a laptop relevant to the passage of the appropriation bill and some cash.
This followed police raid on the Asokoro residence of the senator, where security men reportedly carted away 18 budget ‘documents’ relevant to the passage of this year’s appropriation bill.
Raising a Point of Order, Goje said the budget would have been presented on Tuesday last week, passed Wednesday and presented to President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.
However, the police confirmed the return of all documents to the lawmaker, insisting that no budget document was among the seized items.
A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, listed items found in Goje’s house to include cash sums of N18,056,000, $19,850, SR9, 400.
Similarly, Moshood listed documents recovered at the senator’s house to include file on funds spent on security administration and information gathering– a-g – 2009; release of funds for special operations a- f – 2009; Gombe State Government of Nigeria Cash inflow 2005; Project 2007 – Executive Briefs on how to fight opposition in Gombe State – Strategies and Tactics; envelopes containing permit to operate as an Oil Industry Service Company (special categories) 2011; a file containing write-ups on how Governor Shekarau plotted the assassination of Sheikh Jafaru and letters from Mohammed Danjuma Goje (Sarkin Yakin Gombe) to the MD LUBELL Nigeria Limited of proposed residential Development at Kashere Phase II dated 16/01/2007 and 19/11/2010.
Political commentators have expressed concern over the penchant of the Eight National Assembly for blaming others for its inability to pass the yearly budget. They cite the 2016 budget which the legislative body accused the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang of stealing as well as this year’s budget estimates documents which it accused the police of carting away.
Unlike the 2016 budget which President Muhammadu Buhari presented to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 21, 2015, passed on March 23 and assented to by the President on May 6, 2016, the 2017 budget has crept into May with no signs of passage from the legislature.
Indications also emerged that it was not feasible for the 2017 budget to be passed last week, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Kabiru Gaya informed BDSUNDAY that some projects recently approved by the Federal Executive Council were still being included in the 2016 budget proposal.
“From the Works Committee where I am the chairman, the Federal Government is still awarding contracts of 2016, and those projects of 2016 were not reflected in the 2017 budget. So, we had to wait to get as many projects as possible being approved or awarded by the Executive Council and then we can find funds or deductions from some areas to fund those new projects that are about 34 in number. They were in the 2016 budget but were never reflected in the 2017 budget now being considered,” he said.
Experts have warned that delay in the passage of the 2017 budget will hinder Nigeria’s chances of getting out of economic recession.
This implies that Nigeria’s Economic Growth and Recovery Plan, which has several critical implementation components, contained in the 2017 budget will be delayed. For instance, the National Collateral Registry Bill and the Credit Bureau Services Bill which the National Assembly had promised will be passed by the end of April to ease access to credit are yet to be passed. They are part of 60-day ease of doing business initiative of the Federal Government.
The Federal Government has also expressed concern that delays in the passage of the 2017 Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly may stall the implementation of its recently-launched Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP), even as it attempts to tie exiting recession by end of the year to early passage of the budget as well as the full implementation of the ERGP.
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said: “The 2017 budget is structured to get the economy out of recession before the end of this year. So, that is why we are anxious to get the budget passed so that we can begin the implementation and begin to take all the steps we need to get the economy out of recession”.
Observers also point out that delayed passage of the budget means that businesses waiting on the 2017 budget to rev up their operations for the year would now have to wait much longer. In the same token, the delayed budget would stall the floating of Nigeria’s $20billion Sovereign Green Bond.
Out-gone Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, had on her last day at the Federal Executive Council meeting said issuance of the first $20 billion out of the $100billion would commence at the beginning of the second quarter of the year, specifically at the beginning of April.
However, the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin, hinged the issuance of the bond on the passage of the 2017 budget.
While consultations to fine-tune the technical details of the bond have commenced, the minister said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has already opened an account domiciled in the apex bank for the bond.
The green bond, the first of its kind in Nigeria, will be the first sovereign issuance from an African nation.
Officials say it will be used to fund a range of climate-related initiatives including mass transit, land re-afforestation, remediation and solar projects.
“We said it is a sovereign green bond and that means it has to go through the national budget. We are working in active collaboration with the federal ministry of finance as well as the debt management office.
“We have gotten Central Bank to open an account with the proceeds, but since it is sovereign the National Assembly will have to pass the budget first before we can do the launch and that is what is holding us,” Jibrin said.
He also explained that three pipeline projects will benefit from the green bond once established. The projects which include the financing of renewal energy and afforestation will also see to the reduction of carbon emissions through the provision of extra transportation for citizens
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