2020 Budget: Ministries, agencies over-pricing projects — Lawan

.Says uniformity will be ensured in prices that will be passed for similar projects of MDAs

.Pledges that 2020 Appropriation Bill will be passed in December

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, on Wednesday, accused Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of over-pricing projects, consequently called for streamlining of the process of allocation and releases of funds to the MDAs.

He said the streamlining of the process of allocation and releases of funds to the MDAs has become important against the backdrop of overpricing of projects proposed in the budget by ministries, and the paucity of revenue.

Lawan, who spoke during the public hearing of the 2020 budget organised by the Senate committee on appropriation, said uniformity will be ensured in the prices that will be passed for similar projects of ministries.

“Our projects are overpriced. What maybe procured in $10,000 in one country maybe you use a hundred thousand (dollars) in Nigeria and knowing fully that we have a paucity of funds and revenues.

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“I think the time has come that we have to do something about it. If 10 agencies of the government need to purchase an item, say item A, they are going to the same market, why should they give us different prices? Why?

“So in this budget, our committees will look into that. If you are buying computers and 10 ministries are buying, you must make sure the price remains the same and it is not overpriced.”

Furthermore, Lawan said: “The Ministry of Finance has an efficiency unit, we have to work on this. We are not after contractors. We need to have some margins forming contractors to their businesses.

“Whether a contractor is Nigerian or a foreigner, that contractor must be concerned with the situation of Nigeria. If you are a Nigerian contractor that even makes it more mandatory that you are patriotic in addition to getting your profit.”

The defence of budgets by MDAs is in its second week and this is expected to end Friday.

In a related development, Sentor Lawan said that the National Assembly would ensure the passage of the 2020 Appropriation Bill of N10.33 trillion in December.

Lawan, who is also the President of the Senate, said this at the two-day Joint National Budget Hearing on the 2020 Appropriation Bill in the National Assembly Complex on Wednesday.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had on October 8, presented the budget proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly with a call on the legislators to change the present budget cycle to January-December.

“We have set between the two chambers; and we have resolved that this time around, we must pass this budget before the end of December.

”We are hopeful that the budget will be passed before we go on Christmas break by God’s grace.

”And of course, I am glad to say that President Buhari had shown commitment to what the National Assembly desires.

“This was seen when the government issued a statement asking ministers and heads of agencies not to travel without defending their budget; that is a total commitment to what we desire in the National Assembly,” Lawan said.

He said that the public hearing on the 2020 appropriation was no doubt a special one because it was another important step in a bid to resolve the undesirable budget cycle.

“This cycle has created problems for planning and for the proper implementation of the nation’s macro-economic framework.

“The macro economic framework needs to be reasonably predictable the way it happens in other climes.

“It is when the framework is predictable that it can positively influence the micro details in the budget proposal.”

He said that the 9th National Assembly was committed to correcting the anomaly in budget cycle.

“We are assured that it is only a wholesome commitment to these mandates that can give us the much needed growth and development,” Lawan said.

The president of the senate said that budget was critical to economic development and it was even more so for a nation like Nigeria where the economy needed continues stimulation.

“The importance of the Budget proposal in national development cannot therefore be over-emphasised. This is the reason why inputs have to be all inclusive as we are now set to do.

“We understand that the budget proposal is about fiscal targets, resource allocation, public expenditure policy, productivity and efficiency.

“We also understand that the process is one of passage, mobilisation and execution.”

He further said that the lawmakers were determined to ensure that when the budget was passed, it would be properly implemented.

In his remark, Speaker House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, called on stakeholders to critically examine the document before the legislature exercised its full authority as provided for by the Constitution.

Gbajabiamila said that the budget of any country represented the blueprint of the direction its economy was going to take adding that it was the basis upon which everything else was built.

He said that the outcome of the hearing should reflect the true federal character of Nigeria.

“No lopsidedness; everybody has a part of what is the national cake. We are all stakeholders,” he said.

Earlier, Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, Jibril Barau, said that the event was to allow the public to be part of the 2020 appropriation process.

He commended the President of the Senate for his uncommon determination exhibited to see to the restoration of the budget cycle of the country to begin from January and end in December of every year.

Barau said that the new cycle would assist the government and the private sector to properly plan their yearly activities and make more reliable predictions.

“We request that this gathering should make inputs that will assist the national assembly to work to achieve its targets for the passage of 2020 appropriation bill in the first week of December 2019,” he added.