NASS has powers to tamper with budget – Dogara

* Says we won’t be rubber stamp to executive
*’Refusal to implement budget impeachable offence’

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara has said that the National Assembly has the powers to introduce new projects, add, remove or reduce items in the appropriation bill forwarded to it by President Muhammadu Buhari for consideration and passage.

Dogara stated this on Thursday while reacting to a motion of privilege moved by Hon Lawal Abubakar (APC/Adamawa).

According to the Speaker, the framers of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) have vested the powers of law making in the legislature, execution or implementation on the executive while the judiciary interprets the law so as to ensure checks and balances.

Dogara said , “A declaration as to which of the arms has the power and rights, in as much as it is related to the interpretation of the law, is the function of the judiciary and not of the executive.”

Earlier, in his motion, Hon Abubakar had disclosed that his privilege as a member had been breached based on statements credited to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who was quoted to have said on two occasions that the
National Assembly lacks the powers to introduce new projects into the budget before passing same.

But Dogara has argued that the Appropriation Act is a law enacted by the National Assembly and that public officers from the president down to his ministers have sworn to uphold the constitution, adding that the refusal or failure to implement the budget is a violation of the constitution which has consequences.

The speaker stated that in the event of the executive refusing to assent to any bill passed by the National Assembly, the constitution empowers the National Assembly to override such a veto in the interest of the public.

He said, “We are men of honour whether legislators or executive. We are bound by the oath of office to faithfully execute that law and in the case of the executive, if it is not done, all of us know the very consequences. I don’t want to call it by its name, we know the consequences.”

Drawing a parallel from the United States where Nigeria copied its presidential system of government from, Dogara declared that “any budget proposal sent to Congress is presumed dead on arrival and it only comes alive when passed by both chambers of Congress because the legislature has the powers to tamper with the proposal.”

The speaker assured that the House under his leadership will not be a rubber stamp to the executive as the House will do everything to uphold and protect the independence of the legislature.

“When it comes to the budget, the power of the purse in a presidential system of government rests in the parliament,” he added

Dogara said that the reason why the writers of the constitution made it that way is because the executive is just one man (the president), while every other person in the executive is acting on behalf of the president.

He said, “So the relationship between the president and every other person there, is that of servant and the master. It is only in the parliament where we have representatives of the people that there is equality and you can say your mind on any issue; you can bring matters of priority the way you like.”

He reminded the executive that the parliament has powers to override any veto, saying that the “worst the executive can do is to say they will not sign and after 30 days, if we can muster two-thirds, and it doesn’t have to be two-thirds of the entire membership, once the quorum is formed, two-thirds of the members sitting and voting, we can override the veto of the president and pass it into law.”