DAILY TRUST

December 6, 2008

Budget: Don’t include unrealistic figures
...c’ttees warned

From SUNDAY ODE & JOSHUA I. EGBODO, Abuja |

THE House of Representatives yesterday warned committee chairmen and members against any attempt to pad  the 2009 budget just as it passed the bill for second reading. Deputy Speaker Usman  Bayero  Nafada who gave the order at the plenary urged the committee chairmen to do their jobs conscientiously and resist the temptation of including frivolous clauses and unrealistic figures that may attract public criticism.

The deputy speaker who presided over the plenary said the leadership was not in any way interfering with the committees in carrying out their assignments, but warned them against arriving at figures that may not be realistic.

“We are not giving the committees any directive on how to do their job because the constitution and House Rules are clear on that but I urge the committees to do their job and avoid putting figures that people from outside the chambers would start saying we are padding the budget. We should please concentrate and work within a reasonable figure,” Nafada cautioned.

The House had after a prolonged debate by members passed the 2009 Appropriation Bill for second reading and committed it to the appropriation committee with all standing committees of the House as sub-committees of appropriation on the budget.

At the resumed debate on the general principles of the bill, the lawmakers agreed that the figures proposed by President Umar Musa Yar’Adua cannot be relied on to finance the budget and therefore called on the executive to look for more credible ways to fund the deficit.

In his contribution,  Halims Agoda(PDP, Delta) expressed worry over the proposal to finance the deficit budget from payment of signature bonuses and unspent funds from the 2008 budget, saying that such a projection was unrealistic. He noted that signature bonuses for oil blocks issued out since 2000 were yet to be paid by companies and wondered how government could get the funds to finance the huge deficit.

Most of the members expressed worries that the plan of the executive to raise capital from privatization proceeds and signature bonuses cannot be realized as most of the funds realized is yet to be remitted into the federation account.

Leo Ogor, chairman, Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs in his summation said, “I am worried that we might end up going to banks to get money that belongs to the government to pay for the projects with an interest.”

“The privatization proceeds from 2000 to date, the total sum paid into the federation account is 125.6 billion Naira. Where is the rationale of been able to raise 100 billion Naira in just 1 year? 518.6 billion  has been raised till date but only 125.6 billion Naira has been remitted. Where is the 393 billion Naira difference?”

Also,  Ita Enang, Chairman of the Business and Rules Committee of the House in his contribution described the proposed appropriation bill as a “diplomatic deceit”.

He explained that the allocation to the Ministry of Niger Delta for the development of infrastructure in the region appeared promising, but a thorough look at the budget revealed that it was the same amount allocated to the Ministry of Works for provision of roads in the region that was reflected by the executive as allocation to ministry of Niger Delta.

“This is the most unreliable budget that we have seen in the last nine years. This is diplomatic deceit by the ministry of works. The ministry of Niger Delta should not be under the ministry of works,’’ Enang said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker, Usman  Bayero  Nafada, also frowned at reports credited to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman implying that the poor performance of the 2008 budget was caused by the delay in the passage of the Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly.

He said the budget was passed in April thereby giving the Executive enough time to implement it, adding that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had during the presentation of 2009 budget disclosed that 100 percent releases have been made hence, the fault is not from parliament but the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“The minister of finance said that the delay in the passage of the budget by National Assembly was responsible for the poor performance of the budget. The budget was passed in April and they were left with eight months to implement. But according to statistics compiled by the chairman committee on Appropriation only 30 percent of the budget has been implemented.”

“The problem we are having today is not passage it is implementation. Money has been released and there is no implementation.

“So, we disagree in total with what the minister has said. Besides Mr. President has said there is 100 percent releases and only implementation is remaining. Do they want us to do their job for them? We have done our job let them do their job too,” the Deputy Speaker added.

The Minister of Finance, Usman  Shamsudeen had Wednesday blamed the poor implementation of the 2008 budget on the National Assembly for failing to pass the Bill early enough.