Politics
THE National Assembly has explained that the seven month’s delay in the passing of the 2018 budget which President Muhammadu Buhari presented to it in November 2017 was because of the actions of the executive arm of government. According to the National Assembly, the ministries, departments and agencies under the executive delayed the budget passage when they failed to come forward to defend their budget.
Reacting to Buhari’s complaints while signing the 2018 Appropriation Act on Wednesday, June 20, the National Assembly also explained that it is within its constitutional powers to alter the budget.
A statement by Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesperson for the House of Representatives, said the legislatures jacked up the 2018 budget because some of the projects designed by the executive did not meet the needs of the masses.
The statement reads: “The House of Representatives is appreciative of President Muhammadu Buhari in signing the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law and wish to make the following observations:
”That the budget is usually a proposal by the Executive to the National Assembly, which the latter is given the constitutional power of appropriation to alter, make additions, costs or reduce as it may deem necessary. The Legislature is not expected to be a rubber-stamp by simply approving the Executive proposals and returning the budget to Mr. President. Therefore, the additions Mr. President complained of in his speech are justifiable.
”We are on the same page with Mr. President in his desire to return our budget cycle to January-December. By the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, the budget estimates should be with the National Assembly around September of the year. In the case of the 2018 budget, the estimates came behind schedule in November 2017, even though this attempt was seen as one of the earliest in recent years. Going forward, we urge the Executive to speed up the reporting time to the National Assembly by complying fully with the FRA.
”Besides, there were delays that should be blamed on the heads of MDAs. Mr. President will recall that he had to direct ministers and heads of agencies to go to the National Assembly to defend their proposals. This came after the National Assembly had persistently raised the alarm over the non-cooperative attitudes of these government officials. On this grounds, the delay in passing the budget cannot be blamed on the legislature.
”New projects in budget. On this aspect, we have to remind Mr. President that we are representatives of our people and wish to state that even the common man deserves a mention in the budget by including projects that will directly affect his life positively. Some of the projects designed by the executive, as high-sounding as their names suggest, do not meet the needs of the common man.
“Before 2015, the budget of the National Assembly was N150billion for several years. It was cut down to N120bn in 2015 and further down to N115bn in 2016. In 2017, the budget was N125bn and N139.5bn in 2018. This means that the budget of the National Assembly is still far below the N150bn in the years before 2015.”
– Jun. 21, 2018 @ 18:15 GMT |
Tags: National Assembly explains Why It increased 2018 Budget
