Senate to amend laws to ensure President signs budget December

The Senate will soon amend the 1999 Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act to ensure that the President presents the budget to a joint session of the National Assembly by the first week of September.

The plan also ensures that the parliament considers and passes the document by 30 November and assented to by the President by the second week of December.

These are some of the key recommendations of the Technical Committee on Budget Reform Process in Nigeria.

Specifically, the committee recommended that Section 81(1) of the 1999 Constitution and Sections 11 and 14 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act be amended to provide for a ‘fixed realistic budget calendar’.

Report of the committee, seen by BDSUNDAY, also called for the amendment of Sections 13 to 18 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act to have a long-term 15-year development plan to be implemented with three-year Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS).

Presenting the report, Senate Leader Ali Ndume, said the report will improve the nation’s budgeting system and harped on the need to repeal and re-enact the Fiscal Responsibility Act “to check the anomalies in relation to the fiscal year”.

The report also called for the alteration of the FRA to enlarge the list of stakeholders to be consulted during the budget preparation process as well as pre-budget consultation between the National Assembly, the executive and the public.

The report equally recommended the strengthening of legislative oversight function in order to minimise the negative perception of the public on oversight performance.

In his remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki said the report will be useful in preparing and considering the 2017 budget.

He said that all the aspects of the Act recommended for review were in dire need of the review.

He pledged the commitment of the National Assembly to be more transparent in budget processes.

Also speaking, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma said that the success of any budget depends of the collaborations between the Executive and the Legislature.

He assured that elements of the proposed reforms that could be immediately implemented would be executed with the 2017 Budget.

The parliament is expected to propose a bill seeking to amend the Constitution and the Act in line with the recommendations of the committee.