On-the-late-passage-of-nigeria-yearly-budgets-appropriation-bill-by-the-national-assembly-and-their-excesses-becoming-a-great-source-of-concern-for-the-nation-economic-growth
September 7, 2020 | News
ON THE LATE PASSAGE OF NIGERIA’S YEARLY BUDGETS (APPROPRIATION BILL) BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND THEIR EXCESSES – BECOMING A GREAT SOURCE OF CONCERN FOR THE NATION’S ECONOMIC GROWTH
We have said it on several occasions that those who usually end up as members of the nation’s National Assembly as Lawmakers (both past and present), are part of the major obstacles that have been stagnating and retrogressing the country’s developmental strides from all angles. This unfortunate attribute of the nation’s Federal lawmakers is often demonstrated by them in different forms that are too many to elaborate. But the one that has become a serious source of concern, is their usual late passage of Nigeria’s yearly Appropriation Bill (national budget) and their ‘excesses’ in this regard, which have often, adversely affected the nation’s economic growth at all levels.
Aside the usual late passage of the national budget, if it is not “budget padding”, it will be the “insertion or removal of projects/programs for their own personal interests”. The 2018 Appropriation Bill is the latest victim of these lawmakers in this regard. This was our conclusion when President Muhammadu Buhari was said to have recently, ‘reluctantly signed’ the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law. In fact, President Buhari was said to have raised concern over the National Assembly’s injection of‘strange projects’ and ‘sundry irregularities’ into the 2018 budget. He made the observation when he signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill of N9.12 trillion into law, after seven months of delay.
At the said signing of the national budget, President Buhari accused the legislators, saying they “made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion.” He regretted: “Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualised, designed and costed, and will therefore be difficult to execute.” He also said many of the new projects “have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required. As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the states and local governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.”
Though, the Lawmakers was said to have recently come out in a press statement to defend their actions concerning the 2018 Appropriation Bill and issues raised by President Buhari, however, from everything they have said, we really do not see any iota of justification for the way and manner they handled the nation’s budget. All the excuses they gave to try to justify their actions are simply worthless and holds no water. We would look at some of these excuses given by the lawmakers as we look at the genuine concerns raised by President Buhari concerning the said 2018 Appropriation Bill.
Giving instances of the cuts, the President said: “The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as counterpart funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of N11.5 billion. Similarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja, especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of N7.5 billion. The provisions for various strategic interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of N7.45 billion. About 70 new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. In doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the ministry’s vote.
“Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the National Assembly has cut the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads.” Buhari also expressed concern over the Assembly’s increase of the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of N73.96 billion. He said “most of the increases are for recurrent expenditure at a time we are trying to keep down the cost of governance. An example of this increase is the budget of the National Assembly itself, which has increased by N14.5 billion, from N125 billion to N139.5 billion, without any discussion with the executive.” Notwithstanding the objections, Buhari said he decided to sign the budget “in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy, which has doubtlessly been affected by the delay in passing the budget.” The excuse given by the National Assembly for the introduction of new projects was that it was done “to ensure the promotion of the principles of Federal Character as contained in Section 14, subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution”, simply does not make sense because all the projects listed by the President are very sensitive to making life more bearable for Nigerians. So, the said reductions by the National Assembly are really not necessary based on the needs and viability of these projects, which are intendeds to meet the needs of the Nigerians. Take the reduction of the East-West road project, it is uncalled for. Same with the Maritime University, which would obviously build the confidence on the people from the Niger Delta on the Federal Government.
With the above development, Nigerians do not need any soothsayer to point to them, those that are responsible and part of the problems obstructing the nation’s progress and the improvement of the standard of living for the Nigerian masses. Despite the fact that the 2018 Appropriation Bill was delayed for passage by these lawmakers over a period of about seven months, they still came up with an Appropriation Bill that is grossly distorted with insertions and removal of sensitive elements of the budget to suit their selfish interests, for the President to sign into law. Let us be reminded that President Buhari submitted the said 2018 budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7th November 2017, and he said he had “hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year, because the importance of this predictability cannot be overemphasized. Yet, the lawmakers did as they pleased with the nation’s budget. The excuse by the National Assembly members that, as at March 15, 2018, “Mr. President was still directing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to compel the Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to appear before the committees of the National Assembly to defend their respective budget,” and that “In addition, up till April (6 months after the budget submission), the Executive was still bringing new additions to the 2018 budget which the National Assembly in good faith and in the spirit of collaboration and harmonious working relationship accepted”, still does not exonerate them from being part and parcel of the people who caused the delay in the passage of the 2018 Appropriation Bill. At the end of the day, they are the ones who still had the power to either speedily pass the said Bill or delay its passage with their lackadaisical, indifferent, irresponsible and ‘lazy’ disposition in handling urgent affairs that affect the nation.
One begins to wonder if the said ‘usual delays’ in the passage of yearly Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly, are not done on purpose by these lawmakers so that the President will be under pressure and left with no choice but to sign the Bill when it eventually gets to him. But how would the country move forward with this kind of unnecessary delay in approving national budgets?
One also begins to wonder why these lawmakers could cut down on the costs of some sensitive projects across the country but at the same time they inserted projects and other sundry irregularities into the budget for obviously selfish reasons best known to them. They even increased the budget of the National Assembly by N14.5 billion, from N125 billion to N139.5 billion. How greedy, selfish and wicked can these people get! All that the lawmakers could say in this regard is to try to justify their action, was that: “the budget of the National Assembly as at 2014 was N150billion, which is still N10.5billion more than our current figure despite increased national challenges that requires: frequent public hearings held on almost a daily basis at high costs; and intense oversight, which has become more thorough and incisive in order to check the Executive. The N139.5billion budget of the National Assembly represents less than 1.5percent of the entire N9trillion budget. Does it not make sense to use 1.5percent to protect the other 98.5percent?” The question is, how has the National Assembly been able to use their own increased percent from the Budget to so-called “protect” the other percentage? If anything, are they not the main source of the ‘leakages’ of the nation’s public funds with their usual outrageous recurrent expenditure? Why did they increase their NASS budgets and not decrease it, especially considering the fact that they are said to be the highest paid in the world, at least to prove to Nigerians that they are “listening lawmakers” who understand the sufferings of the masses?
One wonders what duty or responsibility the honourable members are discharging to warrant stated increase in their annual appropriation! The reality of their performance is even a greater embarrassment: empty seats during sessions, merry-go-round on non-conclusive inquiries which are often turned into rent-seeking exercises. It is even more scandalous that they are paid sumptuously for the sinecure they call responsibility. They are the recipients of unimaginable allowances outside basic salaries. Also, it is the practice that under the pretext of statutory transfer the National Assembly are allocated huge sums which details are never made public. They enjoy these privileges for ‘practically doing nothing’ other than create more problems and confusion for the polity, and against the backdrop of a ‘laughable minimum wage’ for an average worker, unpaid public servants, and millions of jobless graduates who roam the streets and increasing social crises.
It is also surprisingly how these supposed lawmakers that are meant to represent the interest of their various constituencies and people, just sit down there to allow these anomalies. For instance, President Buhari originally submitted a budget of 2 billion Naira for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport. But the National Assembly cut that budget from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira. Needless to say that this cut will slow down the pace of work on that critical infrastructure. The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu is from Enugu State, but he was obviously silent as his colleagues cut the budget for that project.
President Buhari submitted a budget of 5 billion Naira being The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State. But the National Assembly cut that budget from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira. All the Senators from the South-South region, particularly Senator Ben Bruce watched as their colleagues slashed that budget. And as noted by someone in recently circulated write up on social media, “Tomorrow, Ndi Igbo will be screaming, “Buhari hates us, he is a wicked man, he does not want to develop infrastructure in Igbo land;” and Senator Ekweremadu will be silent, watching as rancid Igbo people spill all manner of insults on the President. He will not open his mouth and tell Ndi Igbo, he and his colleagues are responsible for the slow pace of work at that important airport. Tomorrow, Niger Delta indigenes will be agitating, asking why that important university has not taken off. And their representatives comfortably sitting in the ‘hallowed’ chambers of the National Assembly will be silent. Of what use is influence when you cannot use it, especially at critical moments.”
Any well-meaning and patriotic Nigerian would see that Nigerian lawmakers are part of the major problems we have in the nation’s forward movement, as all their actions are usually ‘self-serving’ and an attempt to frustrate democracy while they enrich themselves to the detriment of the masses. Perhaps, our lawmakers need to be reminded that it is the will of the people that should always prevail on such contentious issue as that of the national budget. Nigerian lawmakers should be reminded that they were supposedly elected to represent the interests of the Nigerian people and not their self-centered interests. They are there to enact laws that would entrench and sustain ‘good governance’across the polity and not to enact or amend laws that would only serve their interest.
On several occasions, we have called on the need for Nigerians to regularly re-appraise and re-examine the integrity, character and personality of those representing their various constituencies in the National Assembly, particularly those in the Lower Chamber – the House of Representatives. It is not everybody that puts on good cloths, speaks relatively good English like an orator, and drives good cars or lives in affluence wealth that has the integrity, character and charisma to be a leader. The National Assembly as the Legislative Arm of government can be regarded as the ‘deciding factor’ that enacts laws meant for the progress and development of the country. They are also in the position to‘checkmate’ the ‘excesses’ arising from the Executive Arm of government. Hence, it is imperative that men/women that will make up the National Assembly should be persons of integrity, high moral uprightness and who are ready to make ‘sacrifices for their people.’ Unfortunately, this has not been the case with the Nigerian National Assembly and its members. Every now and then, they are embedded with one controversy or the other. If it is not allegations of bribery, padding of national budgets, and other corrupt practices of great proportions, it will be dramas of fisticuffs and free-for-all fights or gross misconduct and misappropriation of public funds.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
We have said it on several occasions that those who usually end up as members of the nation’s National Assembly as Lawmakers (both past and present), are part of the major obstacles that have been stagnating and retrogressing the country’s developmental strides from all angles. This unfortunate attribute of the nation’s Federal lawmakers is often demonstrated by them in different forms that are too many to elaborate. But the one that has become a serious source of concern, is their usual late passage of Nigeria’s yearly Appropriation Bill (national budget) and their ‘excesses’ in this regard, which have often, adversely affected the nation’s economic growth at all levels.
Aside the usual late passage of the national budget, if it is not “budget padding”, it will be the “insertion or removal of projects/programs for their own personal interests”. The 2018 Appropriation Bill is the latest victim of these lawmakers in this regard. This was our conclusion when President Muhammadu Buhari was said to have recently, ‘reluctantly signed’ the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law. In fact, President Buhari was said to have raised concern over the National Assembly’s injection of‘strange projects’ and ‘sundry irregularities’ into the 2018 budget. He made the observation when he signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill of N9.12 trillion into law, after seven months of delay.
At the said signing of the national budget, President Buhari accused the legislators, saying they “made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion.” He regretted: “Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualised, designed and costed, and will therefore be difficult to execute.” He also said many of the new projects “have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required. As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the states and local governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.”
Though, the Lawmakers was said to have recently come out in a press statement to defend their actions concerning the 2018 Appropriation Bill and issues raised by President Buhari, however, from everything they have said, we really do not see any iota of justification for the way and manner they handled the nation’s budget. All the excuses they gave to try to justify their actions are simply worthless and holds no water. We would look at some of these excuses given by the lawmakers as we look at the genuine concerns raised by President Buhari concerning the said 2018 Appropriation Bill.
Giving instances of the cuts, the President said: “The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as counterpart funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of N11.5 billion. Similarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja, especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of N7.5 billion. The provisions for various strategic interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of N7.45 billion. About 70 new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. In doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the ministry’s vote.
“Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the National Assembly has cut the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads.” Buhari also expressed concern over the Assembly’s increase of the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of N73.96 billion. He said “most of the increases are for recurrent expenditure at a time we are trying to keep down the cost of governance. An example of this increase is the budget of the National Assembly itself, which has increased by N14.5 billion, from N125 billion to N139.5 billion, without any discussion with the executive.” Notwithstanding the objections, Buhari said he decided to sign the budget “in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy, which has doubtlessly been affected by the delay in passing the budget.” The excuse given by the National Assembly for the introduction of new projects was that it was done “to ensure the promotion of the principles of Federal Character as contained in Section 14, subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution”, simply does not make sense because all the projects listed by the President are very sensitive to making life more bearable for Nigerians. So, the said reductions by the National Assembly are really not necessary based on the needs and viability of these projects, which are intendeds to meet the needs of the Nigerians. Take the reduction of the East-West road project, it is uncalled for. Same with the Maritime University, which would obviously build the confidence on the people from the Niger Delta on the Federal Government.
With the above development, Nigerians do not need any soothsayer to point to them, those that are responsible and part of the problems obstructing the nation’s progress and the improvement of the standard of living for the Nigerian masses. Despite the fact that the 2018 Appropriation Bill was delayed for passage by these lawmakers over a period of about seven months, they still came up with an Appropriation Bill that is grossly distorted with insertions and removal of sensitive elements of the budget to suit their selfish interests, for the President to sign into law. Let us be reminded that President Buhari submitted the said 2018 budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7th November 2017, and he said he had “hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year, because the importance of this predictability cannot be overemphasized. Yet, the lawmakers did as they pleased with the nation’s budget. The excuse by the National Assembly members that, as at March 15, 2018, “Mr. President was still directing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to compel the Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to appear before the committees of the National Assembly to defend their respective budget,” and that “In addition, up till April (6 months after the budget submission), the Executive was still bringing new additions to the 2018 budget which the National Assembly in good faith and in the spirit of collaboration and harmonious working relationship accepted”, still does not exonerate them from being part and parcel of the people who caused the delay in the passage of the 2018 Appropriation Bill. At the end of the day, they are the ones who still had the power to either speedily pass the said Bill or delay its passage with their lackadaisical, indifferent, irresponsible and ‘lazy’ disposition in handling urgent affairs that affect the nation.
One begins to wonder if the said ‘usual delays’ in the passage of yearly Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly, are not done on purpose by these lawmakers so that the President will be under pressure and left with no choice but to sign the Bill when it eventually gets to him. But how would the country move forward with this kind of unnecessary delay in approving national budgets?
One also begins to wonder why these lawmakers could cut down on the costs of some sensitive projects across the country but at the same time they inserted projects and other sundry irregularities into the budget for obviously selfish reasons best known to them. They even increased the budget of the National Assembly by N14.5 billion, from N125 billion to N139.5 billion. How greedy, selfish and wicked can these people get! All that the lawmakers could say in this regard is to try to justify their action, was that: “the budget of the National Assembly as at 2014 was N150billion, which is still N10.5billion more than our current figure despite increased national challenges that requires: frequent public hearings held on almost a daily basis at high costs; and intense oversight, which has become more thorough and incisive in order to check the Executive. The N139.5billion budget of the National Assembly represents less than 1.5percent of the entire N9trillion budget. Does it not make sense to use 1.5percent to protect the other 98.5percent?” The question is, how has the National Assembly been able to use their own increased percent from the Budget to so-called “protect” the other percentage? If anything, are they not the main source of the ‘leakages’ of the nation’s public funds with their usual outrageous recurrent expenditure? Why did they increase their NASS budgets and not decrease it, especially considering the fact that they are said to be the highest paid in the world, at least to prove to Nigerians that they are “listening lawmakers” who understand the sufferings of the masses?
One wonders what duty or responsibility the honourable members are discharging to warrant stated increase in their annual appropriation! The reality of their performance is even a greater embarrassment: empty seats during sessions, merry-go-round on non-conclusive inquiries which are often turned into rent-seeking exercises. It is even more scandalous that they are paid sumptuously for the sinecure they call responsibility. They are the recipients of unimaginable allowances outside basic salaries. Also, it is the practice that under the pretext of statutory transfer the National Assembly are allocated huge sums which details are never made public. They enjoy these privileges for ‘practically doing nothing’ other than create more problems and confusion for the polity, and against the backdrop of a ‘laughable minimum wage’ for an average worker, unpaid public servants, and millions of jobless graduates who roam the streets and increasing social crises.
It is also surprisingly how these supposed lawmakers that are meant to represent the interest of their various constituencies and people, just sit down there to allow these anomalies. For instance, President Buhari originally submitted a budget of 2 billion Naira for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport. But the National Assembly cut that budget from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira. Needless to say that this cut will slow down the pace of work on that critical infrastructure. The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu is from Enugu State, but he was obviously silent as his colleagues cut the budget for that project.
President Buhari submitted a budget of 5 billion Naira being The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State. But the National Assembly cut that budget from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira. All the Senators from the South-South region, particularly Senator Ben Bruce watched as their colleagues slashed that budget. And as noted by someone in recently circulated write up on social media, “Tomorrow, Ndi Igbo will be screaming, “Buhari hates us, he is a wicked man, he does not want to develop infrastructure in Igbo land;” and Senator Ekweremadu will be silent, watching as rancid Igbo people spill all manner of insults on the President. He will not open his mouth and tell Ndi Igbo, he and his colleagues are responsible for the slow pace of work at that important airport. Tomorrow, Niger Delta indigenes will be agitating, asking why that important university has not taken off. And their representatives comfortably sitting in the ‘hallowed’ chambers of the National Assembly will be silent. Of what use is influence when you cannot use it, especially at critical moments.”
Any well-meaning and patriotic Nigerian would see that Nigerian lawmakers are part of the major problems we have in the nation’s forward movement, as all their actions are usually ‘self-serving’ and an attempt to frustrate democracy while they enrich themselves to the detriment of the masses. Perhaps, our lawmakers need to be reminded that it is the will of the people that should always prevail on such contentious issue as that of the national budget. Nigerian lawmakers should be reminded that they were supposedly elected to represent the interests of the Nigerian people and not their self-centered interests. They are there to enact laws that would entrench and sustain ‘good governance’across the polity and not to enact or amend laws that would only serve their interest.
On several occasions, we have called on the need for Nigerians to regularly re-appraise and re-examine the integrity, character and personality of those representing their various constituencies in the National Assembly, particularly those in the Lower Chamber – the House of Representatives. It is not everybody that puts on good cloths, speaks relatively good English like an orator, and drives good cars or lives in affluence wealth that has the integrity, character and charisma to be a leader. The National Assembly as the Legislative Arm of government can be regarded as the ‘deciding factor’ that enacts laws meant for the progress and development of the country. They are also in the position to‘checkmate’ the ‘excesses’ arising from the Executive Arm of government. Hence, it is imperative that men/women that will make up the National Assembly should be persons of integrity, high moral uprightness and who are ready to make ‘sacrifices for their people.’ Unfortunately, this has not been the case with the Nigerian National Assembly and its members. Every now and then, they are embedded with one controversy or the other. If it is not allegations of bribery, padding of national budgets, and other corrupt practices of great proportions, it will be dramas of fisticuffs and free-for-all fights or gross misconduct and misappropriation of public funds.
Zik Gbemre, JP.