Buhari signs N8.9tr budget, faults NASS over new projects

…Says ERGP implementation may be difficult

…We can’t be rubber stamp to executive – Dogara

Mathew Dadiya & Ukpono Ukpong, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed theN8.92 trillion 2019 Appropriation Bill into law less than 48 hours to start his second term inauguration.

The President appended his signature to budget on Monday in his office in Abuja. He, however, expressed his dissatisfaction at the effrontery of the National Assembly to doctor the appropriation bill, which he said may slightly alter the implementation process, especially the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

The Daily Times recalls that President Buhari had in December 2018, submitted a budget estimate of N8.83 trillion but the National Assembly leadership in its wisdom increased it by N90.33 billion, making the total estimates to amount to N8.92 trillion.

The President however said that he will continue to engage the leadership of the National Assembly, assuring that his administration will make effort to speed up budget preparation, presentation and process.

He said: “You will all recall that in December 2018, I presented our 2019 budget proposal with the theme “Budget of Continuity”. Our goal was to use this budget to move the economy further on the path of inclusive, diversified and sustainable growth.

“Back then, I proposed a total expenditure of N8.83 trillion to the National Assembly for appropriation targeting strategic and impactful projects and initiatives.

“However, the 2019 Budget I will be signing into law today provides for aggregate expenditure of N8.92 trillion. This is an increase of N90.33 billion over our submission.

“This increase reflects changes introduced by the National Assembly. In some areas, expenses we proposed were reduced while in other areas they were increased.

There were also certain areas where new additions were introduced into the budget. More details of the approved budget will be provided by the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning.

“Of course, some of these changes will adversely impact our programmes making it difficult for us to achieve the objectives of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

“Although I will be signing this bill, it is my intention to continue to engage the National Assembly to ensure we deliver on our promises. I will therefore be engaging with the leadership of the ninth National Assembly, as soon as they emerge, to address some of our concerns with this Budget.

“We will also look at how to improve the budget process so that, amongst other things, we can speed up budget consideration processes and return the country to the January to December fiscal year timetable.

“I wish to acknowledge the efforts of the Minister of Budget and National Planning, the Minister of Finance, the Budget Office of the Federation, and everyone who collaborated and worked painstakingly, to produce the 2019 Appropriation Bill I am signing today”.

Reacting to the President’s comments, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who spoke on behalf of the National Assembly members, when he spoke to State House correspondents, said that the legislature cannot be a rubber stamp to the executive.

Dogara said that discrepancies in some subheads necessitated the increase to N8.92trn and that it was a normal trend globally.

He also faulted delays associated with transmitting the appropriation bill to National Assembly for passage, insisting that the painstaking effort in vetting it calls for a review of the submission time-frame.

“The issues he was raising concerning certain reductions that were made in the budget and some subheads increases were made and that such reductions made it a bit difficult for some of those projects to be implemented.

“But he said it is an ongoing process and will have discussion with the leadership the National Assembly to see what they will be able to do to in other to put that behind them and then execute whatever critical projects that suffered some form of hurt in the process of passing the project in the National Assembly.

“Above all, what I heard him say is the issue of aligning the appropriation from January to December just like the case in the private sector.

I think that can really be achieved but it must start with the early and timely submission of the budget to the National Assembly from the executive.

“A situation where the budget is submitted in December, even if you shut down the entire National Assembly, we will not be able to achieve the January deadline.

“So going forward, this is a collective exercise and the legislature. The budget is a law and being a law it falls within the purview by constitution and design of the National Assembly to make the law.

In most cases, it is the National Assembly that decides how federally generated receipts should be expended and the National Assembly took that decision and we are glad that the President has signed it into law”.

Asked why it has become a regular occurrence for the National Assembly to doctor the annual budget, Dogara said: “Well, I have told you that the job of the National Assembly is not to agree with the executive, I don’t think any congress in the world does that.

“By the constitution and design, the executive informs us what they intend to do and the representatives of the people in National Assembly decide what is priority since they represent the people.

“It is going to be a nutty area but we will continue to define the relationship between the executive and the legislature.

Whether it is Britain or US, wherever it is, there is always a strained this issue of budget because it deals with high stakes distributional issues as to who get what, which part of Nigeria gets this and that, so it will continually be an issue.

“We should not be defined by those issues rather we should define those issues by forming consensus, that is the part to progress and we will continue to do that”.

Present at the signing ceremony at the Presidential Villa included the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje;

the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma; the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly matters, Ita Enang.

Others were Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefile, Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, among other presidential staff.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Monday, took a swipe on the National Assembly lawmakers for conniving with some parastatals to slash main ministry’s budget and insert new budget lines that has nothing to do in the ministry in the budget.

Ngige stated this at a Valedictory session in Abuja, noting that it was constitutionally wrong for legislators to temper with the budget of a ministry as such can hinder the Ministry from realising the programmes and projects for which the resources was made available.

Ngige, who previously served as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, said it was wrong for a parastatal to go to defend her budget alone without the company of either the Minister or the Permanent Secretary in her ministry.

He complained that as part of his regret as a minister was when about 45 percent of his Ministry’s budget was slashed and inserted with projects that had no bearing with the mandate of the ministry or a parastatal under his supervision.

“My regrets are enumerated in my encounter with budgets, it doesn’t call for cheers. Budget distortions after it have been submitted by the executives.

I didn’t like it and as well, I want it stopped, and the area of caution is the parastatals to submit themselves to the authority of the Federal Ministry especially in budgetary matters.

“The situation where parastatals go through the backdoor to go and meet the legislators and connive with them to insert some things into the budget.

For example, the 2019 budget, where about 45per cent of our main Ministry’s budget capital vote was slashed and spread out for parastatals project that has no bearing with the mandate of my ministry.

“There were some insertions in the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) budget for the construction of a health centre. Of course, we don’t deal with projects in health as we are not health ministry but it’s there.

Construction of bridges and culvert, installations of solar lights and many more are in the NDE.

“I find such insertion as cankerous. It’s not in accordance with the intension of the authors of Nigerian Constitution 1999 section 80.

That section was for legislators to interrogate the budget with the Executive and agree on the areas of critical needs, areas of moderate needs and the areas of extended needs that can be done as a futuristic thing. That was the intention.

“I was in the Senate and I was also in the Ministry of Health as Deputy Director in-charge of budget, so I know that such tampering can distort and make people not realise the programmes and projects for which the resources was made available.”

He called on the 9th Assembly to sit up and correct the wrongs committed by the previous Assembly as it would be a credit to them.