From right, President Goodluck Jonathan; the National Security Adviser, Alh. Seriki Mukhtar while the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Danbazau (l) watched at security meeting., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Budget 2013: Why Feud Persists
SUNDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2013 00:00 FROM AZIMAZI MOMOH JIMOH, ABUJA
Nigerian Guardian
IN the over 14-year history of Nigeria’s return to democracy, no single Appropriation Act had gone without generating crisis between the executive and legislative arms of the Federal Government.
It was the thinking of many that the budget crisis in the first three to four years was part of the country’s “learning period”; but when it persisted beyond 10 years, it became obvious that their is a major problem waiting to be addressed before the perennial budget faceoff would go.
Several retreats and workshops have been organised locally and internationally in the two arms of government on the issues involved in budgeting but the particular issues of budget politics, budget corruption as well as the conflicting interests either personal or group that have characterised the processing of budgets in the two arms of government remained to be addressed.
Moreover, there is a deep-seated suspicion between National Assembly members and officials of government in the executive arm with respect to the allocation of funds to particular projects in the budget.
A principal officer of the National Assembly, who had been in the legislature for over 10 years said the recent dimensions to the crisis were offshoots of the unresolved aspects of the matter.
“Until we in the National assembly have a functional budget processing department equipped with materials to investigate and all aspects of the country’s revenue profile, we may still have a long way to go.”
Comments allegedly made by Finance Minister of State, Dr. Yerima Ngama, about difficulties in implementing the 2013 budget, which sparked fresh round of altercations between the two arms of government were not unusual.
President of the Senate, David Mark, hit the nail on the head when he remarked that the failure of relevant committees of the National assembly to monitor effectively the implementation of budgets by Ministries, departments and Agencies (MDA’s) was at the root of the annual ritual of budget faceoff.
Not even the investigations being conducted by the senate into the level of implementation of the current budget at the moment would help because what will come out is similar to findings already established by previous investigations.
The Senate had, on Thursday, directed its committees on Finance and Appropriation to investigate the level of implementation of the 2013 budget.
The committees were also asked to invite the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, to provide information on the causes of fallen revenue that made 2013 budget not implementable.
Adopting a motion sponsored by the Senate Deputy Leader, Abdul Ningi, the Upper Legislative Chamber asked the committee to ascertain the truth or otherwise of report credited to Ngama to the effect that the National Assemby bloated the revenue estimate of the 2013 budget.
While moving the motion, Ningi observed with dismay the utterances of Minister Ngama that 2013 Budget is not implementabl, which he said was targeted to blackmail the National Assembly
Ningi had, in the motion, drawn the attention of Senators to a clause in the 2013 Appropriation Act, which states that “the Minister of Finance shall ensure that funds appropriated under this Act are released to the appropriate agencies or organs of government as and when due, provided that no funds for any quarter of the fiscal year shall be differed without prior waiver from the National Assembly.”
Ningi informed his colleagues that, of the total amount of N1.591 trillion budgeted for capital development in the 2013 fiscal year, only N855.141 billion has been released so far leaving a balance of N736.466 billion yet to be released.
He said the Minister’s comments had sent serious negative signals to Nigerians and the international community about the National Assembly.
Senate President, David Mark, in a remark at the end of the debate on the motion said: “if we don’t discuss it now somewhere along the line we will discuss it. A letter just came to my table this morning from the minister denying that he said so.
“The matter has been in the media…, why has it not been refuted? It is a wake up call on our various committees that should have found out releases made to MDAs.
“If committees don’t perform their oversight function, a day will come when budget will be implemented 20 percent. If the level of production is low due to oil theft, there is a committee that oversees NNPC.
“Every revenue generating agency has a committee overseeing them. They should bring these things before us,” he stated.
The present face-off dates back to the controversies that arose shortly after the National Assembly, on December 20, 2012, passed the N4.987 trillion 2013 appropriation bill presented by President Goodluck Jonathan in September last year.
Jonathan had proposed N4.92 trillion but the legislature jacked up the figure to N N4.987 trillion. Both the early presentation and attendant passage were hailed by the general public, which looked up to a robust and more beneficial fiscal year.
But hopes soon dimmed when it became public knowledge that the President would not assent to the bill because the National Assembly had allegedly introduced some N100 billion into the budget.
This discovery did not go down well with the executive, which felt the huge sum would not make the budget implementable. But when confronted with the question on the additional budget, the lawmakers denied it and described those who raised the alarm as mere attention seekers.
There was a claim at the time that the National Assembly opted to raise the budget following the executive’s decision not to include constituency projects in the budget, as had been the case in the past.
After weeks of media war, negotiations and horse-trading, the President assented to the Bill with an understanding that the aspects that were contentious would be repackaged and sent back to NASS for passage.
Indeed, on March 14, Jonathan submitted the 2013 budget amendment proposal to the National Assembly and urged the lawmakers to treat the proposal with urgency.
In the amendment bill, the executive made slight addition to the earlier budget passed by the National Assembly last year. It replaced the earlier N4,987,220,425,601 contained in 2013 Appropriation Act with N4,987,382,196,690 in the (Amendment) Bill 2013. Jonathan also sought to appropriate a total sum of N2.4trillion as recurrent expenditure as against the N2.3trillion passed on December 20, 2012. The President further sought approval for N1.588 trillion as capital expenditure, as against the N1.6 trillion approved by the parliament last year.
Of the total N4.987 trillion in the new proposal, N388 billion was earmarked for statutory transfers while N591.7 billion was meant for debt servicing. Jonathan also made references to certain clauses inserted into the budget by the National Assembly which in his own opinion transferred the powers of the executive to the legislature and therefore sought correction to them.
Among his concerns in the amendment was the zero appropriation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as a clause in the Act that prohibits the commission from spending any revenue it generates. He described the move as dangerous and capable of crippling the operations of SEC. He also rejected clauses in the budget, which ordered the executive to brief the legislature every quarterly on the budget performance.
For weeks, the National Assembly refused to touch the document insisting that there was already a budget in place for the President to implement. They said that until the President began to implement the existing Appropriation Act, the amendment Bill Would not be considered.
President Jonathan followed the amendment with a letter version of the amendment Bill in which he then took his time to list some specific projects which funds had been tampered with by the National Assembly, an action which some law makers claimed was targeted at blackmailing the National Assembly.
Following further consultations, I am forwarding a new version of the categorised 2013 Amendment Budget proposal indicating changes proposed across the expenditure categories. The capital projects have now been designated as follows: ‘critical’ is designated as (i); ‘important’ is designated as (ii) and ‘others’ designated as (iii).”
The president then proceeded to list some capital projects whose allocations, he said, were reduced by the lawmakers and therefore appealed to them to restore the original appropriations “so as to promote national development.”
Such projects included major roads such as the Lokoja - Abuja highway for instance, whose appropriation, he said, was reduced by N4 billion, thus implying that unless such money is restored, the Abuja -Lokoja highway, which often records fatal accidents resulting in loss of many lives, will remain a death trap for a long while.
In the same vein, Jonathan listed Kano-Maiduguri Road whose appropriation he said was reduced by the National Assembly by N3.5 billion; dualisation of Ibadan-Ilorin Section 2 reduced by N5.5 billion; rehabilitation of Jebba bridge reduced by N1.25 billion; rehabilitation of burnt marine bridge and Iddo bridge reduced by N1 billion; special intervention fund for emergency roads and bridges across the country reduced by N6.28 billion as well as the dualisation of Obajana junction to Benin reduced by N4 billion, among others.
Also listed by the President was millennium development goals/ Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) ARV drugs allocation reduced by N1 billion; routine immunisation vaccines reduced by N1.75 billion; malaria programme procurement and distribution of insecticides reduced by N0.8b; payment of pledge for onchocerciasis recertification cut by N0.12b; National Trauma Centre, Abuja reduced by N0.1 billion.
On power, Jonathan also disclosed that the National Assembly cut N16.3 billion from the votes earmarked for various power projects, including the 215 mega watts gas-fired plant, which he said was reduced by N2.25 billion. Other cuts he mentioned were second Kaduna-Kano 33kv DC lines reduced by N1.5 billion; Gombe-Yola-Jalingo 330KV SC line reduced by N0.6b; Maiduguri 330/132 KV sub-station reduced by N0.3b; Kaduna-Jos 330 KV DC reduced by N0.5 billion and Omotsho-Epe-Ajah 330 KV DC line reduced by N0.8 billion.
On rail transportation, Jonathan informed the legislature of the reduction by N1.4 billion construction of Abuja-Kaduna rail; Jebba-Kano rail line rehabilitation by N0.5b; procurement and rehabilitation of wagons/locomotives reduced by N1 billion and insurance of locomotives reduced by N0.2b.
On education, he said allocations to various projects were reduced to the tune of N5.64, including allocations to national library project, which was cut by N2 billion, while on Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), Jonathan said: “We all appreciate the fact that unemployment is one of our major concerns in this country today. Considering the gravity of the situation, I would like to bring up the issue of the budgetary allocation to the community services, women and youth employment programme under the SURE-P.
“Against our proposal of N27 billion, the National Assembly allocated N9 billion. This cut will have adverse effect of severely undermining our capacity to create the jobs needed for our teeming unemployed youths, women and physically challenged citizens. In this regard, I crave your co-operation to restore the SURE-P budget.
“You will further recall that the personnel cost was cut across all MDAS, which will make it difficult to meet government’s obligations to its workers. I, therefore, seek your kind understanding for the restoration of the said cuts in order to maintain industrial harmony. It is my hope that this submission will help the work of the Senate to consider and pass 2013 amendment budget proposal expeditiously,” Jonathan pleaded.
This amendment suffered some set backs until the two chambers suddenly and suspiciously changed their minds and passed it in April 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment