When shall we have the 2017 Appropriation Act?
The hopes raised by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, YakubuDogara, in his speech at a seminar in Abuja in September 2016 on the imperatives of reforming the country’s budget procedure seem to have been dashed. At that particular seminar which was attended by the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Governor AminuWaziriTambbuwal of […]
The hopes raised by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, YakubuDogara, in his speech at a seminar in Abuja in September 2016 on the imperatives of reforming the country’s budget procedure seem to have been dashed. At that particular seminar which was attended by the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Governor AminuWaziriTambbuwal of Sokoto state, Speaker Dogara faulted provisions of section 81 of the 1999 constitution which allow the President to submit budget estimates to the National Assembly at any timeduring the financial year.
Speaker Dogara also advocated for the amendment of Section 82 of the 1999 constitution to reduce from 6 to 3 months the time in which the previous year’s budget may continue to run in the event that the Appropriation Act is not passed at the beginning of a financial year. The reduction sought in the period is meant to curtail the delays caused by the long time it always took the executive and the legislature to respectively prepare and deliberate on budget estimates.
But rather than actualize these reform proposals in order to, among otherdemocratic gains, improve upon the time within which legislative actions on budget estimates areconcluded, the pace at which the lawmakers are working on the 2017 budget isindeed slower than expected. While the 2016 budget was presented by President MuhammaduBuhari to a joint session of the national assembly on December 22, 2015; it was passed by the lawmakers on March 24, 2016 and consequently signed in to law by President Buhari on May 6, 2016.
With a slight progress on the part of the executive, the 2017 budget was presented by President Buhari on December 14, 2016; about a week earlier than the date on which the 2016 budget was laid before the national assembly. We are now in the second week of April and the 2017 budget is yet to be passed. It is already three weeks late compared towhen the 2016 budget was passed by the lawmakers last year. This means, even by the standard of their legislative actions on the 2016 budget which was ridden with‘padding’ controversies, the 2017 budget should have been passed.
If an opinion poll were to be conducted today about the feelings of Nigerians as to how the eighth national assembly has, since its inauguration,represented them and their interests, most Nigerians who voted the lawmakers in to power are likely to express some highly nauseating ambiances of disappointment. Many Nigerians get dissatisfied daily with what the legislators preoccupy themselves with.There is actually a general feeling now among the Nigerian masses that a section of the legislative arm of government has betrayed the trust and confidence they had in them. Many also believe that recent intrigues particularly on the floor of the Senate chambers are contrary to the collective mandate of the electorates.
But when internal political bickeringamong lawmakers as well as a needless rift between the senate and the executive overshadow legislative activities at the national assembly, how couldthey have time to prioritize a national issue that is as important as the country’s annual budget let alone care about how to improve the quality of life of ordinary Nigerians that they are supposed to represent.The strained relationship that had existed for nearly two years between the executives and the legislature is not in the best interest of the generality of Nigerians.
Although Senate PresidentBukolaSaraki and Speaker YakubuDogara both told State House reporters after their recent separate meetings with President Buhari that having a face-off with the executive is unavoidable, I do not think it should get to the embarrassing level which the current fractious bond between the two arms of government created by law has reached. While Saraki said ‘there would always be points of divergence between the executive and the legislature’, Dogara hinted that ‘crisis is an opportunity for both arms to begin afresh’. I just hope Saraki and Dogara did not make their statements to justify the existing rift between the two arms of government. I also least expect that their separate statementswas not to signify that rift is a necessary ingredient of good governance.
Issues of governance, welfare of citizens,delayed budget, and confirmation of presidential nominees are among other casualties that have suffered from the morbid relationship between the presidency and the national assembly. This shouldn’t have been the case for a political party, the APC, which came to power with a pledge to salvage the country. We commend President Buhari for setting up the Osinbajo-led reconciliation committee to resolve the crisis. We urge the leadership of the Senate which many Nigerians believe is behind the lingering discord to co-operate with the reconciliation committee so that Nigerians can reap the dividends of an APC-led government.
Our senators and members of the House of Representatives should know that the fate of 170million lives is hinged on the potential benefits of the budget represented in government policies and initiatives for the 2017 fiscal year. The capital expenditure captured in the budget goes a long way to propel small and medium scale businesses. Artisans, technicians and skilled workers largely derive their sustenance from the execution of capital projects. It, thus, implies that the longer the lawmakers delay in passing the budget, the more critical the survival of these groups of Nigerians become in an already battered economy. Nigerians are pleading with the lawmakers to put the country above their personal interests and pass the 2017 budget.May Allah (SWT) guide our leaders to have the necessary piety required to bring about good governance, amin.