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Tag: budget

  • 2018 budget goes to NASS this month – budget minister

    2018 budget goes to NASS this month – budget minister

    The Executive has concluded plans to submit the 2018 budget to the National Assembly before the end of this month.

    This disclosure was made by the minister of state for Budget and National Planning Hajia Zainab Mohammed at a press briefing to mark the end of the 23rd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Thursday.

    Hajia Mohammed said the prepared 2018 budget will be presented to President Muhammadu Buhari shortly for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval before the budget is finally transmitted to the National Assembly.

    “We are working closely with the legislature. We want to ensure the budget is passed in December so that it start to work from January 2018” she said.

    Zainab Mohammed who was silent on when the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) will be presented to the National Assembly said she was optimistic that the 2018 budget will passed in time to meet the January commencement of the fiscal year as planned.

    The MTEF is supposed to be submitted to the legislature months before the budget but with the minister’s revelation that the budget will be submitted this month, it is unclear if the budgeting process will not be thrown into another controversy.

    The MTEF is supposed to guide the legislators in passing the main budget and pointing them in the general direction of government’s fiscal activities for the coming three years.

    Speaking on the power sector tariff crisis, Zainab Mohammed stated that “it is clear no new investor will come without tidying the issue tariff adjustment. They insist the current tariff is not sustainable but the new tariff will be a joint agreement with all stakeholders.”

    The Federal Government she said: “will carry out another privatisation exercise for the power sector because what we sought to achieve by the previous privatisation has not been achieved. It has not worked well.”
    According to her, “government is still a shareholder in the current arrangement and so we want to call all existing stakeholders to the table and agree on way forward. We will agree on the level of shareholding and other issues so that this power issue can be addressed once and for all.”

    Power she said “is key to economic development and it is something the government is determined to ensure it works.”

    On private sector players’ worry that government heavy local borrowing has crippled banks’ ability to lend to them, the Minister said “the government will reduce local borrowing for private sector to get adequate credit to operate.”
    Regarding recommendations aggregated for the successful execution of the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), she said: “We will review them and we have said the functional economic laboratories will be set up across the country in two weeks from now. We are not waiting for months. It is part of the recommendations.”An issue that generated a lot talk at the summit was the multitude of bills pending before the National Assembly which if passed will accelerate economic growth. Zainab Mohammed on her part said “there are pending bills and we always try to carry out economic impact on them. For instance, the Competition Bill has the capacity to create 381,000 jobs annually, generate revenue of N148.3 billion yearly. It will also lead to a 10 per cent reduction in price of goods.”

    “For the National Transportation Commission Bill, it will also boost job creation and government revenue”.

    Despite these positive outlook, the bills have been pending in both chambers of the National Assembly for years.

  • Saraki: budget 2018 may surpass N10trillion

    Saraki: budget 2018 may surpass N10trillion

    •Buhari has no loan request before Senate

    Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has said the failure of the Federal Government to implement over 50 per cent of the 2017 budget may jerk the 2018 budget up to about N10 trillion.

    He stated this yesterday during debate on the implementation of the 2017 budget on the floor of the Senate.

    Saraki said: “If the implementation of the 2017 budget is going to be 50 per cent, it means we should expect to have a budget of N10 trillion in 2018. I hope the executive takes note of that.”

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had, during an interactive session with senators earlier in the week, disclosed that 60 percent of the 2017 budget would be rolled over to  2018 budget.

    Saraki also refuted a statement by Mrs. Adeosun during Tuesday session that the Senate has refused to approve a request from the President for a loan to fund the budget.

    According to him, all loan requests from President Muhammadu Buhari were approved before the National Assembly embarked on its annual recess in July 2017.

    “There is no request before us about borrowing that we have not approved. We approved all the requests before we went on break.

    “I needed to make this explanation because of what the Minister of Finance said that the National Assembly is holding on to borrowing requests sent by the executive.”

    Mrs Adeosun had claimed that the Federal Government would not be able to fund capital projects because the National Assembly was yet to approve loan requests from the President.

    At the plenary, the Senate accused some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of failing to remit revenues into the Federation Account.

    The accusation was contained in a report, presented by the chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje, on the extent of implementation of the 2017 budget.

  • 2018 budget to be ready in January- Udoma

    2018 budget to be ready in January- Udoma

    Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, says the ministry is working hard to ensure that the 2018 budget proposal will be sent to the National Assembly in January.

    Udoma, represented by Mr Aso Vakporoye, Deputy Director, Economic Growth in the ministry, spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during the public presentation and capacity building on 2017 agriculture budget.

    “For 2018, the Federal Government part of it has been concluded with hope that it will be submitted to the National Assembly in January.

    “Government is putting more effort to address the issue of dry season farming because when the budget is passed on time, it will enable it provide funds for farmers promptly,’’ he said.

    Udoma said with the effort of relevant stakeholders, the issue of late passage of budget would be addressed.

    Mr Ken Ukaoha, President, National Association of Nigeria Traders (NANTS), said that the agricultural sector presently contributed more than 22 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

    Ukaoha, represented by Mr Nwalabu Legborsi, Head of Legal of NANTS, said investment in the agricultural sector had the greatest potential to move a good number of people from poverty compared to other sectors.

    “In the recent times, emphasis has been laid on the diversification of the economy, especially the agricultural sector, which employs a greater number of the country’s population.

    “Some initiatives, such as consuming `Made in Nigeria’ products, have also been promoted as way to encourage domestic production of agricultural goods for the country,’’ he said.

    Ukaoha said the association would engage government to improve the quantity and quality of investment in the agriculture sector through the instrumentality of the budget.

    According to him, stakeholders input have somewhat changed the pattern of cut and paste budgeting in the country.

    “Through analysis of the Federal Agricultural budgets, especially with Ministry of Agriculture as the major focus, obvious savings have been made through the slashing of frivolous budgeted funds when the previous and preceding years appropriations are compared,’’ he said.

    Ukaoha said that the agricultural sector was underfunded when compared with other countries of similar socioeconomic status.

    He said the meeting would x-ray the 2017 agricultural budget and how it affected the rural small scale framers who were the major producers of the food products.

    Mr Tunde Jimoh, the Budget Research Consultant of the association, said Nigeria was a net importer of foods and its farmers could not compete with their counterparts elsewhere in the world.

    Jimoh said agriculture was the least funded when compared with other sectors.

    He said the country needed to adopt new technologies  to produce more food and review the funding for agriculture.

    Jimoh said that most states had not embraced the idea of open budget system.

    According to him, Open Budget Initiative is a global research and advocacy programme to promote public access to budget information and the adoption of accountable budget systems. (NAN)

  • ‘Fed Govt to present budget next month’

    Submission of 2018 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly in October will be sacrosanct, Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang has said.

    Enang, who gave the assurance when he appeared at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said the Federal Government was committed to the deadline.

    According to the presidential aide, the government was working assiduously to ensure that the deadline was complied with to take the country back to the annual budget cycle of January to December.

    Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have made their budget inputs and submissions to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, he said.

    His words: “The ministers are already appearing before the ministry and defending their submissions.

    “It is intended that in the next few days they would have completed the exercise and have the total of the budget as well as get ready with the final draft.

    “Everything is being done to ensure that we keep to the date.’’

    He added that in presenting the 2018 proposal in October, “the National Assembly will consider it between October and November and by December, it would have been passed.

    “The current budget will end in 12 months and having been signed on June 12, 2016, the budget is legally to run between June 12, 2017 and June 12, 2018.

    “But the intention of the government is to make sure that the implementation date and assent will be for January 1, 2018 so that we will return the budget to the conventional January.’’

    He said the National Assembly was committed to doing its bit to ensure that the budget is passed in time after presentation by the Executive.

  • BudgIT: only 40 per cent of 2016 constituency projects completed in 20 states

    BudgIT: only 40 per cent of 2016 constituency projects completed in 20 states

    •Schemes labelled donations by lawmakers

    ONLY 40.3 per cent of constituency projects were completed in 2016 in 20 states, a civil organisation, BudgIT Nigeria has said.

    The organisation, which is interested in ensuring transparency and accountability in government budgets, said it tracked 852 projects across 20 states between June 2016 and June 2017.

    The states are: Kogi, Ogun, Oyo, Kano, Edo, Delta, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger, Gombe, Lagos, Ondo, Imo, Cross River, Ekiti, Osun, Kwara, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi and Enugu.

    BudgIT, in its latest Tracka Report, said of the 852 projects tracked, 343 projects remained unexecuted, 118 are ongoing and only 350 reached completion.

    The Federal Government last year released N100 billion to the National Assembly for constituency projects after it failed to consider President Muhammadu Buhari’s N180 billion virement request.

    However, BudgIT’s Co-founder and Team Lead, Seun Onigbinde, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, insisted that the projects, which many Nigerians have kicked, against remained largely unexecuted and with little impact on Nigerians.

    According to him, the organisation’s Project Tracking Officers in 20 states discovered that most of the projects were signed off and contractors paid most of their fees by government authorities without most of the projects been executed.

    He said: “These statistics show that 40.3 per cent of the projects were implemented, 13.8 per cent are ongoing, 41.1 per cent are uncompleted, while the locations of 4.8 per cent are unspecified.

    “In a number of cases across focus states, we noticed that 343 of the 852 projects identified in the 2016 budget remain willfully unexecuted. Our research from Tracka’s Project Tracking Officers (PTOs) across the 20 states discovered that these projects were signed off and contractors got paid most of their fees by government authorities.

    “This situation is to the detriment of citizens, who are often restricted from asking questions, due to a lack of information on project allocation and implementation status.

    “This has been the situation since the inception of Tracka. For effective project tracking, it is imperative that project locations are clearly defined in the budget and made available to the public.

    “Failure to do this is harmful to democracy, depriving communities and civil society organisations the opportunity to monitor and ensure proper implementation of government’s obligations to the people.”

    Onigbinde said it discovered that the locations of 41 projects contained in 2016 budget remained unspecified.

    He said the organisation discovered that 2016 federal constituency projects within the National Assembly were labelled “donations”.

    “We reiterate that constituency projects should not be labelled donations by their representatives in the National Assembly, as this comes off as a malicious attempt at deliberately misinforming the public for selfish political interests.

    “We demand that contract details be prioritised to ensure citizen participation in contract awards via the provision of accurate details of all contract`s (contractors’ names, government budget benchmark, terms of the agreement, bill of quantity, etc), placed in the public domain.

    “Representatives should routinely engage their constituents in the budget-making process to ensure their needs are captured in every annual fiscal plan.  Project locations should be spelt out, for easy access by citizens and organisations.

    “As noted, in several cases, budget line items identified project titles, specifications and monetary amounts, but failed to establish the actual project location. Unclear locations and other such details mean certain projects are extremely prone to misappropriation of funds and corruption,” he added.

  • Reps to Fashola: your budget proposal was sectional

    Reps to Fashola: your budget proposal was sectional

    The House of Representatives has said it will not allow the nation’s resources to be unfairly distributed to the detriment of any section of the country.

    According to the lawmakers, the National Assembly was forced to tinker with the 2017 bAudget document because the proposal presented by the President Muhammadu Buhari for the Ministry of Works,  Power and Housing failed integrity test as it was skewed to favour a section of the country.

    House Spokesman Abdulrazaq Namdas, in a statement yesterday, said it was time for the Minister, Babatunde Fashola, to be reminded that it was the duty of the National Assembly to ensure fairness in the distribution of the nation’s patrimony.

    He said: “We need to remind Mr. Fashola that the National Assembly is a national institution made up of members from all geo-political zones. They represent all tendencies, interests and ethnic nationalities.

  • Workers welfare not properly captured in budget, says NLC

    Workers welfare not properly captured in budget, says NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has alleged that workers’ welfare is not properly captured in the 2017 national budget.

    Its President Ayuba Wabba spoke with reporters yesterday in Abuja.

    “Our budget system is not transparent enough, if you look at the estimate of this year budget, a lot of issues have arisen, especially the allocations for capital and current expenditure.

    “But importantly, the fact also is that a lot of issues pertaining to the welfare of workers have not been properly captured.

    “On the issue of pension, we are very certain and convinced because there is a liability presently of over N300 billion that is supposed to be accommodated in the budget for the payment of pensions.

    “Especially the contributory pension scheme which actually we have interfaced with the leadership of the National Assembly to try to see how this can be accommodated.

    “And we are all aware that this has not been captured adequately. There are also some earned allowances which also have not being earned but a portion of it has being provided in the budget.

    “So, in terms of how the budget directly affects the workers, I think some of the issues certainly have not being captured very effectively,” he said.

    On the overall performance of the 2017 budget, Wabba noted that time was of essence.

    He, however, decried the late implementation of the budget, saying that substantial time has been lost in the preparation that ought to have taken effect.

    “Therefore our position is whatever needs to be done, needs to be done properly.

    “Especially, the capital projects that have to do with putting in place our very importantly critical infrastructure need to receive the most desired attention.

    “So that those issues can then kick start the economy and then stimulate the economy and create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country.

    “Because, one, we are not producing and ones those critical sectors are not working then we will remain in pathetic situation that we will not be able to get out of it,” the NLC president said.

    Wabba added that the process and the manner of implementation of the national budget has certainly not being encouraging to Nigerians.

    He noted that a study of the figures in the budget shows that, major priorities were given to areas that do not address the fundamental issues that Nigerians are passing through.

    “I think there is a need for a transparent budget process where it would start very early and it will be open for public scrutiny and also the input can be made into the process.

    “This will be able to address the very critical issues of our development, because if you look at some aspects of the budget, the overhead seems to be much more than the capital budget.

    “I think that is not good for us, that is not good for our system and that is why we are in this situation,’’ according to Wabba.

  • The unending executive, legislature rift over budget

    The unending executive, legislature rift over budget

    Power, Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola (SAN) said nothing new when he accused the National Assembly of altering his ministry’s budget. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo earlier spoke in the same vein when he signed the 2017 Appropriation Bill. But, the lawmakers insist that they broke no law. How far can they go while working on the Appropriation Bill? Did they act within their powers when they hiked the budget from N7.28 trillion to N7.44 trillion? ROBERT EGBE writes.

    It has become a yearly feud. Since the return to democracy in 1999, the executive and legislature have been quarrelling over the passage of the budget. The quarrel always borders on what the executive calls the legislature’s illegal insertion into or modification of the budget. The case was not different this year. While signing the Appropriation Bill on June 12, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo strirred the hornets’ rest once again. The legislature, he said, tinkered with the budget despite not having such powers.

    Taking a cue from Prof Osinbajo, Power, Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola, lashed out at the lawmakers for inserting “illegal projects”into the budget. To him, some of the projects, including 100 new roads, neither belong to the Federal Government, nor are they priority projects.

    “The roads are not federal roads and some of them do not have designs. How do we award roads that were not designed, irrespective of the power you have? It is unconstitutional for the National Assembly to legislate on state roads,” he said.

    Fashola said the funds for the projects were taken off the votes for expressways, bridges and power projects, among others. ”What I have in my budget now is primary healthcare centres, boreholes,”he said.

    He argued that each level of government, federal, state and local, has its responsibilities adding that the Federal Government should be building federal roads, not state roads.

    “A Federal legislator’s constituency project,” he added, “must be a Federal matter, otherwise the lawmakers would encroach on the territory of the state legislator.”

    “I am not saying that the legislature cannot contribute to the budget, but I hold the view that it cannot increase the budget because the lawmakers do not collect the revenue with which to run or implement the budget,” he said.

    Prof Osinbajo spoke in the same vein last June 12, saying: “The first is about who can do what. When you present a budget to the National Assembly, it is presented as a bill, an appropriation bill. And secondly, do not introduce entirely new projects and all of that or modify projects. This is something that we experienced last year and this year again. It now leaves the question about who is supposed to do what.”

     

    Lawmakers’ argument

    The lawmakers, however, have asserted their right to alter bills sent to them. They rejected the executive’s argument that their power to contribute to the budget excludes the right to include new projects, or modify existing ones.

    At plenary in both chambers last June 16, Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara said the lawmakers did not overreach themselves by jacking up the budget.

    Dogara said the lawmakers have “absolute constitutional powers” to make changes to the budget. He admonished the Acting President to seek a judicial interpretation if he sees any ambiguities.

    In separate statements, last Friday, the Senate and House of Representatives responded to Fashola’s comments and justified their input into the budget.

    The minister, they said, misrepresented what they did, adding that their actions, apart from being lawful, were also done “to achieve equity”.

    They explained that the National Assembly had powers in Sections, 4, 59, 80 and 81 of the 1999 Constitution (Amended) to amend the budget estimates submitted by the executive.

    The Senate, through its spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi, said it ensured that all sections of the country had representation in the national budget as guaranteed by the Constitution.

    Similarly, the lower legislative chamber, through its spokesperson Abdulrazak Namdas, explained that it reduced the budgetary allocations of some projects for the sake of prudence.

    Namdas said the decision to redistribute the projects proposed by the ministry was in order to ensure even spread of projects across geo-political zones, which the proposal of the executive failed to do

    “The national assembly had to intervene to fund some other critical roads that were totally neglected in the executive budget proposal. Example is the Abuja- Kaduna – Zaria – Kano Road that had zero allocation from the president’s proposal and no contract even in spite of due process certification. N5 billion was provided in the 2016 budget. It was not utilised.

    “In 2017 budget, the national assembly again provided N3 billion for this very critical road that connects many states and where incidents of kidnapping are rife because of bad roads, as we believe that all parts of Nigeria deserve attention or would the minister also claim that this road has no design?

    “On the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, leadership meetings of both the executive and legislature were held where it was clarified that alternative funding exists for the road through Private Public Partnership arrangement and the concessionaires had enough money to fund the project.

    “That informed the decision to move some funds to other areas of need and the minister of power, works and housing is fully aware of this but chose to ignore it. Why spend government money if there is a clear existing funding framework in place and so many ongoing road projects are unfunded?”

     

    What the Constitution says

    Several sections, including 80, 81, 82 and 83 of the 1999 Constitution, govern the roles of the Executive and the Legislature in making an Appropriation Act.

    Section 80, for instance, prevents the Executive from withdrawing or spending from any public fund or Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless with the authorisation and in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.

    Section 81(1) authorises only the President to present an appropriation bill before the National Assembly.

     

    Section 81(4) states:

    “If in respect of any financial year it is found that:

    (a) the amount appropriated by the Appropriation Act for any purpose is insufficient; or

     

    (b) a need has arisen for expenditure for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by the Act, a supplementary estimate showing the sums required, shall be laid before each House of the National Assembly and the heads of any such expenditure shall be included in a Supplementary Appropriation Bill.

     

    ‘National Assembly can’t appropriate for state, local govt projects’

     

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Chairman, Professor Itse Sagay, Abiodun Owonikoko SAN, Special Assistant to the President on Prosecutions, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla and Lagos lawyer, Shina Fashugba, believe the National Assembly cannot tamper with an appropriation bill at will.

    Sagay said when a budget bill is presented to the National Assembly or state House of Assembly its duty is merely “to approve or disapprove”.

    He said:“What we are now having is a National Assembly that is considering itself as co-executive. So, as the executive is proposing and laying down the expenditure they need, the legislature/co-executive is also proposing and then diverting funds for projects to their own proposals, which is totally an abuse of power. They are not supposed to be proposing things to be done.”

    Owonikoko argued that appropriation by the National Assembly in execution of state and local government functions is unconstitutional and defeats the separation of powers among the three tiers of government.

    He said: “It also undermines the revenue allocation formula, governing allocation of revenue accruing into the federation account under Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC) Act.

    “It is an indirect way of adjusting revenue apportioned to the federal executive and appropriating it to the use of state and local governments arbitrarily.

    “It is further objectionable as arbitrary and inequitable to states and local governments short-changed thereby.”

    He asked: “Can the Minister of Finance release funding for state and local government projects simply because it was appropriated by National Assembly?”

    Owonikoko urged the lawmakers not to confuse the power to prescribe formula for revenue allocation from the federation account with power of appropriation.

    He said: “For the former, it’s the remit of RMFAC, leaving the National Assembly with the enactment of the formula into law. Once so enacted it stays inviolate until reviewed by RAMFAC. National Assembly cannot anticipate or usurp that power.

    “It is a violation of the constitutional appropriation powers of the National Assembly.

    “It’s also a violation of the budgetary and expenditure prioritisation powers of state and local government.”

    He urged the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to seek judicial resolutions of the issues “thrown up by this confounding overreach of power of the purse by the National Assembly.

    “It’s a matter that could be easily placed within the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under the Supreme Court Act (as amended) to adjudicate with some deliberate despatch.”

    Obono-Obla said the lawmakers have “no modicum or shred of power” to include projects or appropriate money for projects not included in the appropriation bill by the executive.

    “Conversely,” he argued, “the National Assembly cannot remove an item the executive has allocated to one ministry to another ministry or agency.

    “Clearly the responsibility for the preparation of budget estimate or the appropriation bill lies squarely or wholly on the executive branch of government.

    “The National Assembly, principally, is empowered by Section 4(2) and (3) of the Constitution to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the federation with respect to any matter in the exclusive legislative list set out in part 1 of the second schedule to the Constitution to the exclusion of the state Houses of Assembly.

    “On the other hand, the executive branch of government is vested by Section 5 subsections 1 (a) and (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the execution and maintenance of the Constitution and all laws made by the National Assembly and to all matters with respect to which the National Assembly has for the time being, power to make laws.”

    Obono-Obla added: “It goes without saying that the National Assembly has no power and therefore, acted ultra vires its constitutional powers when it purported to include or insert in the Appropriations Act new projects the executive did not include in the budget estimates or appropriations bill laid before it.”

    Fashugba expressed similar sentiments, saying: “Unilateral insertion of non-federal projects by the law makers is not only wrongful and extra-legal, it has done violence to the yearning and expectation of Nigerians.”

     

    A contrary view

     

    But Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) does not see anything unlawful in it. To him, it is lawful for the National Assembly to increase or decrease the amount allocated to a project or even cancel such project.

    In an article titled: “Powers, limits, extent of appropriation in budget matters by the National Assembly vis-a-vis the role of the president”, Ozekhome explained the roles of the Executive and Legislature in Sections 59, 80, 81 of the Constitution.

    He stated that although the budget bill, must originate from the Executive and not the Legislature, it is the lawmakers that have the last say, as to whether or not funds should be allocated to a particular project, or whether such estimates are sufficient or not.

    He added: “At the time appropriations are being made by the Legislature, the rough estimates may need adjustments or re-adjustments, where it is discovered that the initial estimates by the Executive, regarding approval of funds is realistically inadequate.

    “Where, for instance, the National Assembly has cause to believe that a particular estimate falls short of what is required in the budget, or that a particular head has been over-bloated by estimates, it may, suo motu, increase or decrease such amount, as initially proposed by the president. It may even altogether cancel and refuse to allocate any fund to such if it believes that such project is a white elephant or is not of priority.

    “Where any of the scenarios painted above occurs, the president is helpless about it. Even  where  the  president believes  that  the National Assembly has  hurt him by  failing to  provide  funds for  a particular  project dear to his heart, he has  no  constitutional  power to unilaterally draw  funds  from  the Consolidated Revenue Fund  to  finance the said project without NASS approval.”

    The National Assembly, Ozekhome said, “is not a mere robotic, rubber-stamping, but a vibrant, interrogative legislature”.

    “Since the Legislature has the capacity to amend, or even wholly reject budget proposals of the Executive and substitute one of its own, it means that it is only the NASS that can actually make such appropriation.

    “Any plan or estimates tabled by the Executive, but without such appropriation, will be tantamount to misappropriation in the eye of the law,”he said.

     

    Where Judicial pendulum may swing

    Osinbajo, while signing the budget, reportedly observed that the National Assembly also altered some items in last year’s budget.

    The Nation reported that the Executive was considering judicial interpretation of the matter. Owonikoko and Fashugba urged the Executive to do so.

    However, judicial pronouncement on part of the issue already exists

    On March 16, last year, Justice Gabriel Kolawole interpreted Sections 81 of the Constitution in a suit filed by Lagos lawyer Femi Falana.

    The plaintiff had asked the court to determine four questions, one of which was whether;

    “By Section 81 of the Constitution, the National Assembly can increase or review upward any aspect of the estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next financial year prepared and laid before it by the Executive.”

    Falana also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the parliament from increasing budget estimates laid before it by the Executive.

    Denying Falana’s request, Justice Kolawole said the essence of the suit was the claim that NASS, under the guise of exercising oversight functions, usurped executive powers.

    The judge ruled that the whole purpose of Sections 81, 85, 88 and 89 is to ensure that Executive and agencies under its control are subjected to some form of oversight by Parliament.

    He said since the National Assembly is constitutionally empowered to appropriate funds to be expended for the running of government, it, therefore, has powers of oversight to ensure those appropriated funds are properly administered.

    Justice Kolawole said: “The National Assemby was not created by drafters of the Constitution and imbued with the powers to receive ‘budget estimates’, which the first defendant is constitutionally empowered to prepare and lay before it, as a rubber-stamp parliament.

    “The whole essence of the budget estimates, being required to be laid before Parliament, is to enable it, being the Assembly of the representatives of the people, to debate the said budget proposals and to make its own well informed legislative inputs into it.”

    The case, with number FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2014, was not appealed by any of the parties.

  • A budget and its controversies

    A budget and its controversies

    Although Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has signed the budget, he perhaps fired the first salvo when he said the National Assembly went beyond its brief, Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, looks at the controversy around the budget.

    The 2017 budget and the many controversies surrounding it are the obvious issues of the moment in the last one week. Of course, following the long wait for the fiscal document before it was eventually signed into law last week by the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, whatever concerns it must interest all.

    Unfortunately, the recent tunes emanating from the two arms of government saddled with getting the budget ready, namely the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the national assembly, are at best combative. Before, during and after the signing of the budget into law last week, the two arms of government have constantly disagreed over both the process and the product of the appropriation bill submitted before the national assembly last October.

    The original story behind the latest wave of controversy was that acting President Osinbajo last week said the National Assembly has no right to introduce new projects or modify those contained in an appropriation bill. According to reports, Osinbajo said the Executive was disappointed in the legislature for tampering with the 2017 Appropriation Bill which he signed last week.

    Co-incidentally, he was speaking at the Old Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja while flagging off the 2018 budget preparation process. The acting president had reportedly said of the budget process, “I am sure that we understand not just how to do it right, but to get it done in good time.

    “This last budget, the president presented it last December. Despite the assurances that it will be passed by February, it was not until May. As it turned out, we were quite disappointed that it spent a bit of time before it was approved. And thereafter, we had to go into negotiations with the National Assembly in order to get it right.

    There are issues about who can do what. The first report is about who can do what. When you present budget to the National Assembly, it is presented as a bill, an appropriation bill. And secondly, do not introduce entirely new projects and all of that or modify projects. This is something that we experienced last year and this year again. It now leaves the question about who is supposed to do what.”

    Hardly had the acting President finished talking before Nigerians from all walks of life started commenting on his argument. While many aligned with his grouse over the alteration of the bill presented to the national assembly as the 2017 budget proposal, there were those who had different opinion from his over the matter.

    One of those who agreed with Osinbajo is the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), who insisted that the National Assembly has no power to introduce any project into the budget. He specifically warned the upper and the lower chambers of the national assembly not to cross their bounds in the discharge of their legislative duties.

    But the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, submitted that the controversies over the actions of the national assembly on the budget were uncalled for. According to the lawmaker, the power to decide what should be spent and how it should be spent in a presidential system, is that of the legislature.

    Raging controversy

    And just as Nigerians were thinking the dust raised by Osinbajo’s comments will pass away unnoticed by the national assembly, senators and members of the House of Representatives took it upon themselves to condemn, albeit in strong terms, what they regard as the attempt by the acting President to downplay their power to tinker with the budget.

    “The Acting President’s statements after signing the budget are mere afterthoughts probably designed as usual to incite members of the public against the legislature. But this time, the presidency got it pretty wrong. It is unfortunate that in spite of telling the world a day before that the national assembly displayed maturity in handling this year’s budget, Osinbajo went to town with another story a day after,” a member of the House of Representatives said.

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, while reacting to Osinbajo’s comment, insisted that the National Assembly has powers to introduce new projects into the federal budget, or remove proposed items. He argued that the framers of the Constitution vested the powers of law making in the legislature, implementation in the executive, and interpretation in the judiciary.

    “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. The Appropriation Act is a law enacted by the parliament and public officers including the president and his ministers, had sworn to uphold the Constitution,” he said.

    “The refusal or failure to implement the budget is a violation of the Constitution which has consequences. 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,” he said.

    The Speaker also stated that in the event of refusal to assent to any bill by the Executive, the constitution empowers the National Assembly to override such veto in the interest of the public. Dogara added that the House under his leadership would not be a rubber stamp to the Executive as it would do everything to uphold and protect the independence of the legislature.

    But Babatunde Fashola, minster of power, works and housing, says there are aspects of the 2017 appropriation act that violate the constitution, suggesting that the judiciary may have to explain how far lawmakers can go in altering the budget. The former Lagos State governor pointed out that some of the projects included in the budget of his own ministry were a violation of the constitution.

    He said, “There may be need for judicial interpretation to lay the controversy to rest. It is the law that affects our day-to-day developmental expectations. In a federal example like ours, nobody should be scared to have a judicial interpretation of the limits of the power the parliament can exercise during appropriation.”

    The former governor, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the issue of separation of power should not be taken out of context, maintaining that the three arms of government are “inter-dependent” and no arm can be absolutely independent, if not, the business of government will never be carried out.

    “My view is that I don’t think parliament has the power to increase the budget because parliament does not collect taxes. Budget has expenditure as it has revenues, and if executive has formed the view about earning and borrowing subject to the approval of the parliament, I think it is only fair to say we won’t push you beyond what is reasonable. If executive says it is unreasonable, there is room for consultation but to unilaterally increase the budget is not something that lies in the power of the parliament, although they can reduce it,” Fashola argued.

    But the House spokesperson, Namdas, would have none of Fashola’s arguments. “We gave our position on this matter already and keep repeating it. The power of the purse, in a presidential democracy, resides with the legislature and Nigeria will not be different,” the federal legislator insisted.

    “The Acting President signed this same budget into law after studying it for several days. He knew there were additional projects and he signed. We have a law in place. Is it after the law has come into effect that they turn around to question the powers of the National Assembly over the same budget he willingly signed?”

    Commenting on Fashola’s suggestion that the judiciary may have to be called upon to interpret the constitutional provisions regarding the budget, Namdas advised the executive to approach the judiciary for the interpretation of the 1999 Constitution if it was in doubt over any of its provisions. “They are the ones asking questions. Let them go to court,” he added.

    For Prof. Sagay, it is amusing that the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House are saying that the Acting President had no right to comment on the matter. He, however, laments that the legislature wants to alter the budget for its own benefits.  “They said they have all the powers. The National Assembly has no power to create projects; it approves budgets.”

    It is the government, the executive, that takes proposals for projects but this National Assembly does not get the message; it wants to be both legislature and executive at the same time. “The National Assembly itself sees the Nigerian national budget as its personal budget, its money to tinker with at will and then to leave something to the rest of us. It is no surprise that Nigeria’s development remains stunted and misery and poverty remain overwhelming,” Sagay added.

    Professor Epiphany Azinge, a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Advance Legal Studies, while reacting to the development, submitted that the national assembly has the assignment to ensure good governance in all facet of governance in the country. He insisted that if tampering with the budget will enhance good governance, the legislators are in order by doing so.

    “The national assembly has the assignment to ensure good governance in all facet of governance in the country. And constitutionally, they should work for the good of the people. The national assembly makes the law, the executive implements the law. The controversies over who did what to the budget is needless in my opinion.

    “The executive should allow the lawmakers to go on a wild goose chase while making the law, and the executive should implement the budget the way they want as prescribed by section five of the constitutional provision. It is unacceptable to say the national assembly lacks the power to appropriate. No matter the insight of the executive, the NASS should be allowed to make the law as appropriate.”

    He added, “Don’t expect the federal legislators to fold their arms and not inject the need of their various constituents into the budget. The executive can push aside what they feel is un-implementable. That way, we will avoid controversy. Each arm of the government must be allowed to exercise its powers. The controversy is needless I insist.

    “We should appeal to the national assembly for reasonability in the exercise of the powers. The power belongs to the people. So they must be circumspect in what they do with the mandate reposed in them by the people. We must urge them to be reasonable. But the constitution is very clear that they have the power to appropriate. All forms of alterations, be it the funds or in projects, falls within appropriation.

    The alterations

    Explaining his position on the actions of the national assembly concerning the 2017 budget and the process that led to it, Osinbajo, had cited the federal lawmaker’s decision to increase the budget from N7.29 trillion to N7.43 trillion, as one of the various alterations that ought not to have been carried out by the legislature.

    Aside from his stand that such increase remains unconstitutional and outside the purview of the national assembly, the vice President lamented that the increase would make the implementation of the budget difficult. He said the increase would have adverse effects on the planned implementation of some projects captured in the budget would be affected.

    He listed these executive projects as the railway standard gauge projects, the Mambilla power project, the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, among others were affected by the alterations as funds allocated to them by the executive were reduced to fund some of the new projects they introduced.

    Similarly, Fashola observed, “In my budget, you will find things like motorised boreholes, primary health care centres. That is a violation of the Constitution; it shouldn’t be in the appropriation law of the federal government. If the judiciary decides that it is the national assembly that should make the budget and hand it over to the executive to implement, so be it.

    “When I was defending my budget, we didn’t discuss boreholes or primary health care centres, now I have hundreds of them in my budget. I have new roads that are state roads, I inherited over 200 roads when I became minister that we are trying to complete and even the right to add something must be in a context of our national development.

    “I don’t think that they can sit down and legislate projects that are not federal projects that would be doing violence to the constitution because there are three levels of government. The local and state governments have their responsibilities and the federal government should be building federal roads not state roads,” the former Lagos governor added.

    The Nation also gathered that several billions were injected into the budget by the national assembly to take care of what they termed as constituency projects. A senator who pleaded anonymity told The Nation, “It is not new; you people are just making an issue out of a practice that has been on since 1999. Or are you not aware there were constituency projects during Obasanjo’s regime? So, there is no issue.”

    Shedding more light on how the federal lawmakers are working against norms in their handling of the budget, Fashola, said “a federal legislator’s constituency project must be a federal matter otherwise you’ll be encroaching into the territory of the state legislator, that is my argument.” While he wouldn’t want to say expressly that a legislator has no input to make into the budget, he says the question is how and when.

    “I had cause to appear before the committee of the House and I even presented a paper at their invitation because they were planning to pass a constituency project law and they were doing a hearing on the bill and they were planning to create constituency offices and I said they shouldn’t do it, it’s not necessary because there are institutional capacities within our national framework for this kind of thing,” he said.

    “When the president submits the budget and these committees’ hearings start everyone is excited and we are going from one committee room to the other, you’ll wonder what we were doing then. That is the place I expect that issues about projects that affect constituencies to be brought up but the issues to be taken on must be federal issues,” Fashola said.

    Once a legal tango

    Meanwhile, checks by The Nation revealed that the current face-off between the executive and the legislature was once the subject of litigation following a suit by renowned rights activist, Femi Falana, with the President, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Assembly and the Auditor-General of the Federation, all listed as respondents.

    The Plaintiff (Falana) had asked the Court to determine four questions whether:

    1)  By Section 81 of the Constitution, the National Assembly can increase or review upward any aspect of the estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next financial year prepared and laid before it by the Executive;

    2) By Section 85 of the Constitution, the National Assembly can audit public accounts of the Federation, appoint auditors for statutory bodies or conduct periodic checks of all government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly in any manner whatsoever and howsoever;

    3) By virtue of sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution, the National Assembly can summon corporate bodies and private individuals while conducting an investigation into any matter, and;

    4) By virtue of section 214 of the Constitution, NASS can probe or investigate the allegations of corrupt practices, fraud, murder and other criminal offences committed in statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly in any matter howsoever.

    Falana prayed the court to declare unequivocally that by virtue of the stated sections, the legislative arm cannot increase budget estimates, or audit accounts of the Federation (or appoint auditors to do same), summon corporate bodies and private individuals while conducting an investigation into any matter, or probe/investigate allegations of corruption, fraud,

     

  • ‘Niger Delta peace critical to delivering budget 2017’

    The sustenance of the relative peace in the oil-rich Niger Delta is critical to the achievement and delivery of the 2017 budget.

    The Federal Government must therefore, take the current peace in the restive region seriously by ensuring that the promises it made to the people are kept particularly with regards to fulfilling its side of the agreement on modular refineries.

    The Chairman, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (PENGASSAN & NUPENG) Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) Committee, Comrade Hyginus Onuegbu, said this was necessary to avoid any disruption in oil and gas operations.

    Speaking with The Nation, at the weekend, he noted that there was nothing in the 2017 budget that inspired hope that Nigeria will pull out of recession, adding that what will pull the country out of recession are basically happenings in the oil and gas industry where there is need to sustain the current relative peace in the Niger Delta to ensure continued oil production.

    Acting President Osinbajo had on Monday last week, signed the N7.44 trillion 2017 budget, which he said was designed to bring the Nigerian economy out of recession onto a path of sustainable and inclusive growth.

    Osinbajo said the budget has a revenue projection of N5.08 trillion and an aggregate expenditure of N7.44 trillion, and that the projected fiscal deficit of N2.36 trillion is to be financed largely by borrowing.

    But Onuegbu said the budget was merely an estimate, and that its revenue targets are based on assumptions hence, “if there is crisis in the Niger Delta, the nation’s oil production target will not be met, and of course, its revenue target will not be met, forcing the nation to resort to borrowing.”

    Onuegbu, who was immediate past Chairman, Rivers State chapter, Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, expressed regrets that Nigeria’s debt service obligation was too high.  “It’s a big challenge. One third of the budget is to be financed by borrowing.

    “And when you borrow, the reason for which you borrow the money must be economically viable to be able to repay the loan otherwise that loan will become a big burden on you,” he noted.

    The PIB Committee Chairman, therefore, said for Nigeria to avoid the debilitating effects of plunging into another debt trap, the government must take the current relative peace in the Niger Delta seriously by ensuring that promises it earlier made to the people of the region are honoured.

    He argued sustaining the peace in the region was necessary to wad off disruption in oil and gas operations.

    “Oil production is up now, getting to 1.8 million barrels per day; it was very low last year because of militant attacks. Besides, oil price is better this year than last year. The Federal Government should understand that critical to the achievement and delivery of the 2017 budget is the maintenance and sustenance of the peace in the Niger Delta so as to engender increase in oil & gas production that we are witnessing now,” he said.

    Onuegbu noted that a combination of the agreement signed on the December 16 last year between the oil companies and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on existing cash call and funding of more oil and gas projects will lead to increased production, if there is continued peace in the Niger Delta.

    He also said there is need for oil price to rally round $60 per barrel before Nigeria’s hope of coming out of recession can materialise, not necessarily because of any special aspect of the 2017 budget.

    “As a matter of fact, the 2017 budget should not be celebrated. This is a budget that was signed in the middle of the year,” Onuegbu argued.