Burden of legislative oversight and local industries

In any serious economy which financial year ends on the 31st of December, the succeeding year’s budget is by now either completed or is being fine-tuned by f the executive arm of government. Our concern is the counterpoint that involves the legislative arm in the budget formulation and implementation. The separation of powers between the […]

In any serious economy which financial year ends on the 31st of December, the succeeding year’s budget is by now either completed or is being fine-tuned by f the executive arm of government. Our concern is the counterpoint that involves the legislative arm in the budget formulation and implementation. The separation of powers between the executive and other two arms of government  was not intended to be parallel service to uncommon goals. It was to make service better for the citizens of a state. This interconnect can therefore be clearly seen in the budget process.
There is the budget-making legislature. This legislature has the capacity to amend or reject the budget proposal of the executive, and the capacity to substitute (part of) a budget of its own conviction. Very few parliaments fall into this category. The National Assembly has the capacity to determine its own budget policy. The measures taken by the National Assembly when passing the 2008 Appropriation Act and the clauses it added to render the executive accountable to it and which triggered the controversy with the executive, provide and immediate example of the budget-making ability of the Nigerian parliament.
There is also the budget-influencing legislature, which is so named because this legislature has the capacity to amend or reject the budget proposal of the executive, but lacks the capacity to formulate and substitute a budget of its own. This is even more assertive when compared to the budget non-influencing legislature: this legislature lacks the capacity to impute any influence on the budget. It cannot amend or reject the budget proposal of the executive; nor can it formulate and substitute a budget of its own. It can only approve the draft proposal as submitted to it by the executive.
So knowing how proactive the National Assembly has always been in the budget process in Nigeria, to what extent will it be prepared to push for pro-poor economic programmes in the coming budget? As elected representatives, they have a duty to impress on their electorate in their first budget: they can make their lives better than they met them. They cannot afford to leave the budget and its economic postulations in the hands of a few technocrats and economic pundits, whose ideas have become standards against which the performance of legislators are measured.
National Assembly members must take interest in the budget because the budget is an avenue where scarce government resources are rationed, government programmes prioritised, trade-offs and compromises negotiated. This is so because resources of any country are limited as against the plethora needs of its citizens. A legislator who campaigned under the programme and manifesto of a political party, and who comes from a community with some of such needs, will have no choice but engage the process so as to impact on the lives of his constituents.
There is the vexed case of rising unemployment with its corollaries of youth restiveness, banditry, robbery, drug addiction and many other crimes; oil pollution and land denigration in the oil producing states; desertification; need for alternative source of income in the light of dwindling oil revenues; poor income and incentives for farmers; corruption; and good governance, amongst so many others.
All these somehow revolve around the economy.  And so putting Nigeria’s economy on a strong footing is a major task ahead of the 8th National Assembly The budget process includes many oversight activities, because during the appropriation process, the National Assembly must relate the overall value of a programme to other programmes competing for funding from limited state resources.  To some extent, legislators determine relative funding levels for programs on the basis of information they receive by questioning officials from the executive branch during budget hearings.
While there are no statistics on the actual number of vegetable and soya bean mills in Nigeria, there have been cries in the industry recently indicating that quite many have either closed down because similar imported products have flooded our markets. In Kano alone, oil mills that have closed caused 20,000 direct and indirect jobs loss. This figure excludes what is happening in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Jos, Kaduna and the eastern Nigeria. In Lagos, for instance, two leading oil producers with mills and farms are reported to be finding difficulty to  sell their products in spite of producing health-friendly oil.
In spite of the government professed policy of protecting home industries with high tariffs going as high as 35 per cent, import duties for crude palm oil and other vegetable oils, import waivers were being secretly given to political associates and favoured friends and relations. This is worsened by the activities of smugglers across our porous borders. More jobs will be lost. We cannot be importing poverty and exporting jobs.  This is what we do when we cripple our industries in support of foreign goods.
Flooding the Nigerian market with foreign oils, meals and cakes will also affect farmers of soya beans as most buyers of soya are millers.  Soya is now one of the highest cash-fetching crops in Nigeria. These farmers need to be protected by the National Assembly. The 2016 budget appropriation provides an avenue for the NASS to do so.
It is the responsibility if the legislature to ensure that previous gains are not loss and that for all funds it budgets, commensurate results are obtained from the executive. In the process of legislative preparations for the 2016 budget defence, it is therefore important to task relevant secretariat staff of committees, the National Assembly budget office and its legislative institute to come up with indices that shall guide oversight in the course of budget scrutiny. Also important are the issues raised here that shall enhance the survival of Nigeria’s agro-allied industries.
Peter, a former Legislative Assistant, writes from Kaduna.