Reps, executive and the spat over power ministry’s budget
Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel x-ray the controversy between the National Assembly and the executive over the 2017 budget as it relates to power of appropriation.
The legislative arm of government, comprising the Senate and the House of Representatives, has, over the years, been involved in endless tango with the executive branch over who controls the power of the purse, otherwise called the budget of the federation. The question from the executive has been whether the National Assembly should indeed tinker with the budget proposals as presented to it by the president.
This year’s budget, presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 14, 2016, has not seen a different light. Though the two arms of government gave indications that the 2017 budget process would be less rancorous after the 2016 experience landed the government in endless feud, the experience this time appears worse. In the House, the battle for the 2016 budget claimed the chairmanship seat of the House Committee on Appropriation from Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin. The furore that followed the removal still remains unsettled.
This time, while the concern is not about padding as alleged by Jibril in 2016, the issue has to do with introduction of new projects by the National Assembly as alleged by the executive. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was the first to give a concrete indication to that while signing the budget into law on June 12.
In his address after the budget was signed into law, Osinbajo complained about the introduction of new project in the budget by the National Assembly, adding that the delay in assenting to the budget bill was caused by discussions with the leadership of the Assembly on the matter. He, however, agreed that the leadership of the legislature had agreed to undertake virements on some of the items. Days after signing the budget, the acting president again spoke at a function and declared that the National Assembly lacks the power to introduce new projects into the budget. The declaration caused some stir in the legislature which reacted angrily to Osinbajo’s comments.
In a motion bordering on privilege raised by a member from Adamawa, Honourable Lawal Abubakar, the lawmaker declared that the speech by Osinbajo was a breach of the privilege of the lawmakers. Speaker Yakubu Dogara, while addressing the issue raised by the Adamawa state lawmaker, said that the National Assembly has powers to introduce new projects, add, remove or reduce items in the Appropriations Bills. To buttress his point, the Speaker asserted that the framers of the constitution vested the powers of law making in the legislature, execution or implementation in the executive while the judiciary interprets the law so as to ensure checks and balances.
Toward this end, he asserted further that the House, under his leadership, will not be a rubber stamp to the executive as it will do everything to uphold and protect the independence of the legislature. He added: “When it comes to the budget, the power of the purse in a presidential system of government rests in the parliament.”
Even as the dust raised by the reported comment of the acting president on the introduction of new projects in the budget by the National Assembly was yet to go down, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, also raised the alarm over introduction of projects which he said the ministry did not initiate. The Minister said, in a statement, that the legislators cut funds from major projects in the ministry’s budget and redistributed the same.
Responding to the minister’s accusation, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Honourable Abdulrazak Namdas cautioned Fashola and insisted that the leadership of the National Assembly had entered into certain understandings with the Executive arm on the 2017 Budget in good faith. He stated that the Minister’s outburst is a clear violation of the understanding.
According to him: “Nigerians deserve a total concentration of all government officials, arms of government and MDAs to grow the economy as we exit the recession. We at the House of Representatives are so passionately committed.”
The House spokesman listed some of the allegations raised by Fashola against the National Assembly as including the claim that the National Assembly included many projects that were not agreed on during the budget defence before the committees; that the Budget Lagos-Ibadan highway was reduced from N31 billion to N10 billion; that 2nd Niger Bridge budget was reduced from N15 billion to N10 billion (actually N12 billion to N7 billion); that about N3 billion or so was removed from Okene-Lokoja-Abuja road and that the budget for Mambila Power Project was also cut.
Namdas however stated that: “It is very misleading and calculated mischief to simply say that N5 billion was taken from the budget for second Niger Bridge. The truth is that in the 2016 Budget, N12 billion was appropriated for the second Niger bridge and not a kobo was spent by the ministry. The money was returned. The ministry could not provide the committees of the National Assembly with evidence of an agreement on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) or a contract for the second Niger Bridge.
“The National Assembly had to intervene to fund some other critical roads that were totally neglected in the executive’s 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 incidences 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, Honourable Namdas said, “Leadership meetings of both the Executive and Legislature were held where it was clarified that alternative funding exists for the road through PPP 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?
“On the Mambila Power Project, the Minister proposed a whopping N17 Billion for only Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The National Assembly felt that N17 billion for EIA was misplaced and patently unjustifiable! The Minister himself even wrote to the National Assembly to move some funds from this sub-heads to others! There are certain matters which the National Assembly committees discover during oversight activities that are corrected during the budget process. There are so many omissions which the National Assembly makes effort to correct on behalf of Nigerians. Even the ministries also disown allocations contained in their budgets! Should the National Assembly keep quiet and allow infractions?
“We think that the constitution did not design the National Assembly as a ‘rubber stamp’ as eloquently stated by Honourable Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker, House of Representatives.
“He claimed that the National Assembly cannot increase the 2017 budget. He conveniently forgot that the MTEF had a $2 increase per barrel that was not applied or part of the 2017 Appropriation Bill proposed by Mr President. How was this to be applied? If applied, would that not amount to an increase? Did the executive not propose new projects and increases in the budget figures of about N41.7 billion after the President presented the budget?’’
Despite the fact that the dust may settle on this matter for a while, the matter is not about to be rested as the lawmakers are sure to reopen the matter in plenary once they are back from the Sallah break.
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