‘Why we reject 2017 – 2019 MTEF’ – Lasun

After several weeks of dilly-dallying, the leadership of the House of Representatives has finally disclosed the rationale behind the rejection of the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) transmitted by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Yussuff Lasun, deputy speaker, who gave the position of the National Assembly at the inauguration of the Ad-hoc committee on the investigation of the activities of state-owned Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) including: Bank of Industry (BoI), Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), among others.

He explained that the inability of the cabinet members of the President Muhammadu Buhari team to give accurate foreign exchange rate and other factors was responsible for the decision of the National Assembly to shelve the consideration of the three year budget rolling plan.

President Muhammadu Buhari in the separate letters sent to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara explained that “the MTEF and FSP, which would provide the framework for the development of the 2017 budget, was designed against the backdrop of a generally adverse global economic environment as well as fiscal challenges in the domestic economy.”
According to him, “the 2017-2019 MTEF and FSP articulates the federal government’s economic, social and developmental objectives, as well as the strategies for achieving these defined objectives and priorities.”

Lasun, who described the document as un-implementable, said: “in the last couple of days there have been consistent publications on the fact that the National Assembly is deliberately delaying the presentation of 2017 budget by Mr. President in one of the features read in daily publication.

“A question was asked, are we saying that we are better than all the experts in the MTEF and the drawing plan has been presented through the public. People have forgotten we have 360 representative members and 109 senators. I doubt if 469 people will not have at least 50 that will be experts in human endeavours.

“So, if the National Assembly is not performing its legislative functions or because of their professional callings put to question some of the documents presented by the executive, then people at least should give us the benefit of doubts that all the 469 members of National Assembly are not dullards.”

“In the last three years, we have not done up to 2.2 million barrels and our budget has been consistently premised on at least 2.2 million barrel per day and at best we have achieved is 1.8 million barrels per day and so if National Assembly says please go and look at this, so that you know what to do before you bring your budget, I don’t think that needs an expert advice.

“We are the most criticised because the nature of our job is conducted in the public, the only arm of government whose functions are performed in the open,” the Deputy Speaker said.
While stressing the need to x-ray the activities of the DFIs for better productivity, Lasun expressed optimism that through such investigation, inefficiency could be addressed and such institutions brought back to achieve its mandate and responsibility.

“These institutions if adequately harnessed are enough to propel this country into technological and economic advancement. Unfortunately, despite the huge rsou8ces committed into these institutions, their impacts are yet to be felt by the majority of the masses.”

Also speaking, Chukwuemeka Anohu, chairman of the Ad-hoc committee who described the performance of the DFIs as embarrassingly and tragic, despite several trillions of naira appropriated for their operations over the past decade, vowed that “there will be no sacred cows in the quest to reposition the DFIs.”

“Decades after the institutions were established and despite the huge budgetary provisions made for the agencies over the years, their impact in stimulating economic renaissance was yet to be felt.

“These institutions were charged with the primary mandate of providing long-term financing to the industrial and productive sectors of the economy and were designed to finance the establishment of large, medium and small industries as well as facilitate the expansion, diversification and modernisation of the existing concerns.

“It is, however, embarrassingly tragic that decades after these institutions were established and despite the huge budgetary provisions made for these agencies over the years, their impact in stimulating economic renaissance is yet to be felt.

“More disturbing is the fact that these agencies have seemingly been unable to fulfill their statutory mandates, the resultant effect being the stultification of the nation’s economic growth.

“We are confident that the current economic recession being experienced in the country can be reversed within the shortest possible time if the DFIs are made to live up to their statutory mandates, herein lies the impetus and imperative of our extant assignment,” he said.