Hardship looms
The National Assembly yesterday said its
earlier date of February 25 envisaged for the passage of the 2016 budget is no
longer realistic due to discrepancies observed in the appropriation bill.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and his
House of Representatives colleague, Honourable Abdulmumuni Jubril, respectively
failed to set a new date for the passage of the 2016 money bill, citing huge
irregularities inherent in the fiscal policy document.
At a joint press briefing yesterday, the committees said the budget as presently submitted is not implementable, declaring: “We are here in connection with the ongoing processing of the 2016 budget defence and because these two committees are the ones saddled with the production of the final copies of the budget that would be passed by the two houses for onward submission to Mr President for his assent and subsequent implementation.
“Because of the observed instances that are being reported from the beginning of the budget submission – a lot of controversies surrounding the budget – we feel that we have to come here, interact with you, make some clarifications so that Nigerians will know the correct situation of things regarding the 2016 budget.
“We designed a timetable for the consideration and passage of the budget for February 25, 2016 but as you are all aware, a lot of issues have come up and gladly so. Even the Executive arm of government has also come out to accept the fact that there has been a lot of errors in the budget”, Honourable Abdulmumuni Jubril who first spoke on the issue, declared.
Senator Goje, who complemented his colleague on the budget loop, explained that, “during the budget defence, a lot of issues based on padding of the budget arose from over bloated overhead and in some instances, cases of over bloated personnel cost. But generally, there have been lots of issues. The appropriation committees would look at these issues after the whole budget defence, to do a very thorough work aimed at a proper clean up of the budget.”
According to Goje, the committees will “liaise with all the stakeholders to enable us pass the budget that is implementable, a budget that is good from the perspective of the legislature and also acceptable to the Executive arm of the government.
“So, in summary, the timetable for the passage of the budget is no longer realistic because appropriation committees of both chambers of the National Assembly need additional time to be able to do a thorough job for the 2016 budget,” he explained.
The joint committees also acknowledged that, the budget was thrown back to it based on some ambiguities, insisting:”We want to remove the ambiguities; we want to remove all paddings. We want to produce a budget that is in line with the constitutional requirement.
“Again, in terms of capital expenditure, there are complaints coming from different quarters arising from the imbalance from the capital allocation and of course disagreement among the ministers and the civil servants in the various ministries that we have witnessed during the period of budget defence.
“These altogether form enough bases for us to sit down and ensure that a thorough job is done before the budget is passed,” he contended.
At a joint press briefing yesterday, the committees said the budget as presently submitted is not implementable, declaring: “We are here in connection with the ongoing processing of the 2016 budget defence and because these two committees are the ones saddled with the production of the final copies of the budget that would be passed by the two houses for onward submission to Mr President for his assent and subsequent implementation.
“Because of the observed instances that are being reported from the beginning of the budget submission – a lot of controversies surrounding the budget – we feel that we have to come here, interact with you, make some clarifications so that Nigerians will know the correct situation of things regarding the 2016 budget.
“We designed a timetable for the consideration and passage of the budget for February 25, 2016 but as you are all aware, a lot of issues have come up and gladly so. Even the Executive arm of government has also come out to accept the fact that there has been a lot of errors in the budget”, Honourable Abdulmumuni Jubril who first spoke on the issue, declared.
Senator Goje, who complemented his colleague on the budget loop, explained that, “during the budget defence, a lot of issues based on padding of the budget arose from over bloated overhead and in some instances, cases of over bloated personnel cost. But generally, there have been lots of issues. The appropriation committees would look at these issues after the whole budget defence, to do a very thorough work aimed at a proper clean up of the budget.”
According to Goje, the committees will “liaise with all the stakeholders to enable us pass the budget that is implementable, a budget that is good from the perspective of the legislature and also acceptable to the Executive arm of the government.
“So, in summary, the timetable for the passage of the budget is no longer realistic because appropriation committees of both chambers of the National Assembly need additional time to be able to do a thorough job for the 2016 budget,” he explained.
The joint committees also acknowledged that, the budget was thrown back to it based on some ambiguities, insisting:”We want to remove the ambiguities; we want to remove all paddings. We want to produce a budget that is in line with the constitutional requirement.
“Again, in terms of capital expenditure, there are complaints coming from different quarters arising from the imbalance from the capital allocation and of course disagreement among the ministers and the civil servants in the various ministries that we have witnessed during the period of budget defence.
“These altogether form enough bases for us to sit down and ensure that a thorough job is done before the budget is passed,” he contended.
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