COVID-19: Senate wants 2020 budget slashed as oil price slumps

Nigeria ill-prepared as no testing centres in entire North, S’East – Lawan

.PDP calls for more stringent measures .APC to invite Health minister to explain precautionary measures

To cushion the economic effects of the sharp drop in oil prices and other economic issues caused by the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus disease, the Senate wants the year 2020 budget cut down.

The upper chamber on Tuesday submitted that as an urgent means to curtail the effect of the global duldrum, slashing the 2020 appropriation bill as passed by the National Assembly and assented by President Muhammadu Buhari, is inevitable.

The legislature also recommended to the Federal Government to devalue the naira and to stop with payment of subsidy to marketers of petroleum products.

 These resolutions were consequent upon the presentation of the report of Senate Joint Committees of Finance, Appropriations, National Planning and Petroleum Resources (Upstream) by the Chairman of Senate Finance Committee, Solomon Adeola (Lagos West).

The joint committees were mandated to look into the current economic realities and report back to the Senate on a weekly basis or when the need arises, by interfacing with the relevant stakeholders in the executive and business community with the intention of bringing out suggestions, solutions and way forward out of the present economic reality.

While presenting the report, Adeola said the Joint Committee discussed wide range of issues bordering on the current economic realities which includes the current Appropriation Act 2020 passed by the National Assembly; Cost of production of a barrel of crude oil compared with the other counterparts in the Petroleum Producing Countries and the reality of the current situation of the Government in terms of number of agencies and parastatals of the Government putting into perspective the Oronsanye Panel Report.

He stated further that the committees considered the  need to prioritise both the social and the real sector of the economy looking at their importance to the overall benefit of Nigeria; loss of revenue as a result of gas flaring which runs into several billions of dollars; devaluation of naira and removal of oil subsidy.

Accordingly, Adeola said the Joint Committee based these issues on two broad angles of short and long term solution.

“The short term solution is to address the sharp drop in the crude oil price which is creating difficulties in funding the 2020 Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly.

“The long term solution discussed is the need to consider and pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is yet to be laid before the National Assembly. This will address the issue of cost of production and Gas flaring where the country’s resources is going down the drain and other issues that might affect the petroleum sector”.

Adeola said “the effects of the sharp drop in the crude oil price will be felt with the effect from May, June and July from our findings. In the interim, the Joint Committee, after exhaustive discussion between the Committee and the Honourable Minister of Finance, agreed to; that downsizing the Appropriation Act 2020 as passed by the National Assembly is inevitable.

‘It, however, said the modalities to be adopted in the reduction of the budget must be used as suggested by the Appropriation Chairman and agreed to by the Joint Committee”.

The joint committee also recommended that the revenue generating agencies must be alive to their responsibility in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act passed by the National Assembly and other relevant laws of the National Assembly and that other issues affecting the oil sector such as cost of production of a barrel of crude oil and any other matter taken care off in PIB.

It as well called for continuous engagement with the Joint Committee on a regular basis so as to keep them abreast of the current ongoing in the Executive Arm, in line with the nine-man committee setup by the President Muhammadu Buhari.

In furtherance of its assignment, the Joint Committee will invite other relevant stakeholders to an interactive session.

The stakeholders are Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; and also engage relevant stakeholders in the business community for their own inputs and suggestions on the way forward of the present economic realities.

In her contribution, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) said: “I want to commend the members of this Joint Committee for a job well done.”

“The current global economy has further shown a lot of our weaknesses. It also affords us an opportunity to rethink our economy and restructure it in a way that meet the needs of our people. I think it is an opportunity for us as a country to reset the economy and look at agencies that need to be streamlined”, said Senator Tolu Odebiyi (Ogun West).

“I believe we do not need anybody to come and advise us now on the need to suspend foreign trips by government officials. I believe that without wasting time, part of what we should be recommending is immediate suspension of foreign trips,” said Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central).

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan said the committee report is an interim one and that the recommendations are fine.

Recall that the Senate at its sitting on Tuesday 10th March, 2020, after a point of order by the Leader of the Senate, Sen. Yahaya Abdullahi, harped on the urgent need to monitor and examine the current economic reality which was occasioned as a result of sharp drop in the price of crude oil, the emergence of deadly virus Coronavirus/Convid-19 and the uproar within the OPEC Community.

In another development, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan warned that Nigeria should not overstretched her luck in the midst of fast spreading of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lawan raised the alarm that despite the global ravaging of the virus, there is no single testing centres for the virus in the entire northern part of the country and the south eastern region. 

He lamented the country’s poor preparation for the pandemic while commenting shortly after the debate on a motion on the fear of possible outbreak of coronavirus in the country.

Lawan said: “We are very lucky and fortunate, but we shouldn’t push our luck too far.

“We should be very observant of all those regulations the technical experts give us. There is need for Federal Government to do a little more, especially in the area of testing centres. The entire north and south-east have no testing centres and it shouldn’t be so.

“The Federal Government is supposed to do that, and we are prepared to support the Federal Government’s request for money. Even for those established, we want to suggest that we continue to upgrade the standards.

“Also, for isolation centres the state governments are building, the Ministry of Health should come out with a standard which will be replicated in all the states. So we need to through our committees, ensure we work with the Ministry of Health to work with the states to ensure the isolation centres are standardised”.

Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe (APC, Kwara Central), who rose through Order 43 of Senate rule book to move the motion, told the Senate that there was need to be more serious and roll out more machineries on ground to combat the epidemic.

According to him, “God has been very kind to Nigeria in view of the massive and devastating effects of Coronavirus globally but we don’t need to take anything for granted.

Oloriegbe advised that “Nigerians need to increase the observance of the prevention control practices including avoidance of shaking of hands.

“If it is possible, people should not travel to countries with high risk of the cases especially in Europe where many countries are affected, unless such trips are very important”.

He suggested that “Nigeria should also consider disallowing non-Nigerians from countries of high risk from entering the country.”

He said: “Government should also increase capacity about checking airports.

“Currently we have only five centres where testing can be done, the government has to step up the testing capacity, and provide support for state governments.”

He added that the virus spreads easily with not only body contacts, but shaking of hands, the very reason, he suggested, hands shaking should stop for now.

He therefore advised everyone to always wash their hands for at least 20 seconds at regular intervals.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Federal Government to step up its actions, move beyond rudimentary interventions and adopt more stringent measures to further safeguard the nation from the Covid-19 pandemic.

While noting the steps so far being taken, the PDP is however worried that the current approach still falls short of the required pre-emptive measures, thereby leaving gaps that expose the nation to avoidable risks.

The PDP observed that Nigeria is a strategic international hub. As such, the Federal Government should adopt stringent pre-emptive measures by radically stepping up her international ports and border screening as well as quickly improving internal surveillance and hygiene monitoring system.

“Our party holds that the Federal Government should also go beyond its proposed secondary screening of travellers from certain countries and extend the measure to all international flights coming into the country, given the prevalence of connecting flights and land border crossing by international air travellers.

“Also, the Federal Government should ensure that domestic airlines undertake proper screening of passengers as well as fumigation of their aircrafts to guarantee the safety of air travellers within Nigeria”, said the party in a statement Tuesday by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

The PDP urged the Federal Government to take immediate steps to create more screening centres and lead in providing more screening equipment in all  airports, seaports, land borders as well as crowded places such as schools, market places, commercial vehicle terminals, public work places, and religious gatherings, among others.

The party also counselled the authorities to mobilise a more concerted effort against the pandemic, remain open, resist the temptation of false performance claims and keep Nigerians adequately informed on the true position of issues at all times.

The PDP called on Nigerians to remain vigilant, ensure their personal hygiene and follow directives issued by the authorities in the collective effort to safeguard our nation from the scourge and stay safe.

Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is also set to invite the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehinare, to explain the country’s level of preparedness in curtailing the coronavirus.

Party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, while addressing journalists after the National Working Committee meeting of APC on Tuesday, said Nigerians need to know Nigeria’s level of compliance with international regulations in containing the spread of the virus.

Oshiomhole was not happy with government’s unrestricted travel policy while other countries of the world including African nations are closing their air and seaport borders to foreign travellers.

Presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, also advised the Buhari administration to take decisive economic actions to save the country from the effect of the ravaging virus.

He said every action that can be taken to ease the cost of doing business in Nigeria and reduce the cost of living, should be taken while promoting consumer confidence must be implemented.

“As such, I recommend that policies like the Stamp Duty on all types of accounts be temporarily suspended, until such a time as the nation’s economy has turned the tide in the fight against this virulent scourge.

“Furthermore, as the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, has reduced significantly, it is strongly recommended that the government should not absorb the savings, but should pass it on to the Nigerian people by way of reducing the pump price of PMS to reflect the current prevailing market costs.

“In addition to these measures, the government is urged to request large scale industrialists and employers of labour not to disengage workers. Definitely, this scourge will affect their production and profitability. However, if they know that the government is behind them and will do all to support them, they are less likely to disengage workers.

“These are extraordinary times, and we as a nation must take extraordinary measures to protect the entire nation. Nigeria is our collective home, as such, we must suppress every partisan disagreement and think and work patriotically to ensure our national survival in the midst of global uncertainty”, said the former vice president.