The Senate on Wednesday resolved to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on his rejection of a constitutional amendment bill that seeks to make it mandatory for the president and governor of a state to lay the annual budget estimates before parliament three months to the end of a financial year.
The Senate also said it would override the president’s veto on the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill.
Similarly, the Senate said it would reconsider and pass the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill and nine other bills earlier rejected by the president and transmit same for presidential assent.
The upper legislative chamber also resolved to withdraw four other bills rejected by the president and discontinue further legislative work on them.
This comes as the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) 2019-2021 with a benchmark of 2.3 million barrels per day crude oil production target. This followed the adoption of the report of joint Committees on Finance, Appropriations, Aids, Loans and Debt Management, Legislative Budget and Research and National Planning and Economic Development on the MTEF and FSP documents. The House also adopted other benchmarks that include $60 per barrel of crude oil, N305 to $1 as official exchange rate, while a new borrowing to fund budget deficit for 2019 was fixed for N1.6 trillion.
The House passage of the MTEF/FSP 2019-2021 followed the Senate’s earlier approval of the document on Tuesday after it had spent 155 days with the legislature.
The Senate resolution to override President Buhari’s veto followed the adoption of the report of the Technical Committee on Declined Assent to Bills by the President.
David Umaru (APC, Niger), chairman of the panel, while presenting the panel’s report, submitted that out of the 17 rejected bills it scrutinised, 11 of them should be reconsidered and passed by the National Assembly, four others should be withdrawn, while the President’s veto on two bills should be overridden.
The two bills include the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 28) Bill, 2018 and the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill.
The president had in 2018 declined assent to the Constitution (Fourth Alteration, No. 28) Bill on the grounds that Section 2 (b) and 3 (b) of the proposal “appear not to take full cognisance of the provisions of Section 58 (4) of the 1999 constitution”.
But in a 34-page report, the panel submitted that the bill is not in conflict with the 1999 Constitution, as claimed by the President.
The purpose of the bill, the committee explained, is to ensure that Nigeria reverts to the January to December budget cycle.
“It should be understood that this Bill seeks to make it mandatory for Mr. President and Governor of a State to cause to be prepared and laid before parliament, estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next following financial year, not later than ninety (90) days to the end of a financial year. And for the parliament to pass the Appropriation Bill before the commencement of the next financial year,” the report partly reads.
The committee also rejected the President’s decision to decline assent to the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill. According to the committee chairman, the President’s rejection of the bill on the grounds that there are ongoing consultations to propose a new bill does not hold water.
BusinessDay reports that bills to be reconsidered, passed and transmitted to the President’s assent include Constitution (Fourth Alteration, Numbers 8, 15, 20, 22 and 24 as well as Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill, Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) and National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (Est.) Bill.
In the same token, other bills include the National Research and Innovation Council (Est.) Bill, National Agricultural Seeds Council Bill and Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill.
Although Section 58 (5) of the 1999 Constitution provides that two-third of both legislative chambers of the National Assembly (73 senators and 240 members of House of Representatives) are required to override the President’s veto, political commentators say this would be a tall order considering the fact that both chambers are polarised along party lines.
At the House of Reps plenary, Babangida Ibrahim, chairman of the House Committee on Finance, in his presentation said the joint committee recommended that the government increase the tempo of collectable revenues in all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with a view to reducing budget deficit.
On the N305 to $1 exchange rate, he said, “The CBN should be encouraged to vigorously develop strategies that would strengthen the naira and bridge the gap between the official and parallel market rates.”
On debt management/new borrowing, he said the joint committee adopted the recommendation of N1.64 trillion as new borrowing to fund the budget deficit and advice relevant agencies to continue exploring ways of generating additional revenues for government to bring down the fiscal deficit.
“Also, the Federal Government should harness the full optimal potential of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in terms of revenue generation to minimise the level of new borrowing.
In his remarks, Speaker yakubu Dogara said the government should rather consider lowering tax on SMEs to boost the economy.
According to him, increasing tax on SMEs would lead to unemployment as the sector has the capacity to create more employment if the economic environment is conducive.
He noted that lowering tax would lead to more employment that will translate to more taxable people for the government, thereby boosting government revenue and economic activities.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE & JAMES KWEN, Abuja
