When on October 10, 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan presented the 2013 budget proposal to the joint session of both chambers of the National Assembly (NASS), Nigerians had thought that we have moved from the era, where the passage and signing of annual budgets were being delayed due to late presentation by the Presidency.
In fact, the President received accolades from the entire people of Nigeria, as it was believed to be a good development that will greatly aid the budget implementation process. They (Nigerians) had expected the federal lawmakers to follow suit in ensuring quick passage, without prejudice to their constitutional powers to carry out proper scrutiny of the content of the budget proposal and make amends where necessary.
Interestingly, the legislators did not disappoint Nigerians as they worked assiduously round the clock to ensure that the 2013 appropriation bill was passed on December 20, 2012, with an addition of about N63 billion to the N4.924 trillion originally proposed by the Presidency.
However, almost two months after the passage of the 2013 budget by the parliamentarians, it is still awaiting the assent of Jonathan, which is necessary for it to have the force of law, except if NASS decides to override the decision of the President by applying the power vested in it by the constitution. This delay in the signing of the 2013 appropriation bill into law, according to reports, may be due to disagreements between the Presidency and NASS on the oil benchmark, constituency projects and zero allocation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Another reason that may have been holding back the President from signing the budget is said to be the additional N63 billion added to it by NASS. The President appears not to be comfortable with the increase made by the lawmakers. All of these, according to presidency source, may delay the signing of the budget till next month.
The source was quoted as saying that, “the president is worried over the oil benchmark approved by the National Assembly which is $4 ($79-$75) more than what the president thinks is realistic. The president believes that with the uncertainty in the oil market, a fall will push the nation into a serious economic situation and may cause undue hardship and stress in the economy. The president is also worried that the zero allocation to the SEC will adversely affect that all important sector of the economy. He is not happy that the National Assembly is not considering the institution but has gone for ego trip of getting at an individual. He is also concerned about the constituency projects injected by the lawmakers in the budget as it is capable of eroding the functions of the executive.”
In its editorial of January 31, 2013, captioned: “The National Assembly has failed the nation”, the punch newspaper quoted a media report attributed to a presidential aide, disclosing that “the legislators allegedly enhanced their overhead cost by N93 billion, subsumed in a dubious constituency projects sub-head.”
In the view of the paper, “over the years, the parliament has acquired notoriety for such predilection, thereby triggering avoidable stand-off between the Legislature and the Executive. The country cannot continue to tread this crooked path. All things considered, the action is tantamount to selfishness and abuse of legislative powers.”
Reacting to the punch publication, Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, said: “I am alarmed that a major newspaper like that would come out with an editorial based on complete fallacies and wrong assumptions. The constitution gives Mr. President the powers to propose and gives the National Assembly the power to appropriate. What does that mean? It means that the power of appropriation resides within the National Assembly. Those who say we adjust and we pad are in other words suggesting that we should just rubber stamp whatever the President brings. They have not investigated the extent of our constitutional powers to appropriate. And the same people who expect you to rubber stamp are the same people who in another breadth will be insisting on a strong National Assembly to check the Executive. I am really alarmed at the punch editorial, because it showed a complete misunderstanding of the dynamics of our democracy. Complete fallacies! They even talked about us padding the budget with N93 billion for our allowances. Our (National Assembly) budget has remained at N150 billion for how many years. They can pick the details that have been submitted. It is still N150 billion. So, the issue of the budget is a shared constitutional responsibility. But the ultimate power to appropriate still resides with the National Assembly.”
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), an erstwhile federal lawmaker, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, noted that the discords between the executive and the legislative arm of government on the budget were not abnormal.
Mamora, who is equally a one-time Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, however, stated that it was only when the disagreements are allowed to drag for long to a point, where the economy and the people are negatively affected that they become a serious problem.
Advising both parties to come to an amicable resolution of the grey areas in the appropriation bill in the interest of the citizens, the former Deputy Senate Minority Leader said: “The president should not expect a garbage-in-garbage-out thing; the lawmakers have a right to amend, adjust and tinker with the bill in the interest of development. Of course this will naturally result in some disagreements but I think what both parties should do is to find a way around ironing out the disagreements. The president should not dictate to legislators what should be in the budget and vice versa”.
Also speaking with NAN, Barrister Mohammed Fawehinmi, and son of the late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, declared that the President should have no reason to refuse to sign the budget. According to Mohammed, the alterations made in the budget proposal by members of NASS were justifiable. He asked Jonathan to give his assent to the budget without further ado in the interest of the people and the country’s growth and development.
I think what is truly important at this point is for the two parties to come to terms as fast as possible. Continuous delay in the signing of the 2013 budget will not augur well for us. The Presidency must not allow this to get to a level where lawmakers will have to take the option of overriding the President veto on the budget, as some members are already threatening and looking towards that direction.
Come to think of it, of what use would it be that despite commendable efforts made by the executive to present the 2013 budget as early October, 2012 as against previous years where it was presented in December, the signing of the appropriation bill is delayed till March or April. This would mean that the essence of the early presentation would have been defeated.
Michael Jegede, a media practitioner wrote from Abuja
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