Ugochukwu Ezeagwula
In spite of the public outcry over the proposal by the Federal Government to spend N10 billion during the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations, House of Representatives yesterday gave a tacit support as lawmakers voted against a motion seeking to halt the proposed expenditure.
Instead, the House gave preliminary approvals to the amendment of the 2010 Appropriation Act as well as the Supplementary Appropriation 2010. The latter has the N10billion earmarked for the 50th Independence Anniversary as one of its key components.
Minority Leader of the House, Honourable Mohammed Ali Ndume (ANPP Borno) had in the course of the plenary raised an objection to the huge expenditure proposed by the Federal Government during the Golden Jubilee. Ndume who hinged his argument on Order 8 Rule 5 said it was a matter of urgent public importance that the Federal Government had not just proposed to spend N10billion but has already begun to spend the money even when the proposal was yet to be approved by the National Assembly.
According to Ndume, the Nigeria at 50 Summit which ended yesterday in London was part of the events lined up in the chain of activities marking Nigeria ’s golden jubilee. He cited Section 80 of the 1999 Constitution wherein it is stated that: “ No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation except to meet expenditure that is charged upon the fund by this Constitution or where the issue of those monies has been authorised by an Appropriation Act, Supplementary Appropriation Act or an Act passed in pursuance of section 81 of this Constitution; No monies shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly; No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.”
He said that the parliament has a responsibility to ensure that resources accruing to the Federation Account were judiciously used in the best interest of Nigerians. Ndume further argued that N10billion was a huge sum of money if it is to be used just for the celebration of an anniversary, adding that the implication of such an expenditure will be that about 150million Nigerians will be denied security, access to electricity, housing, water and health care. He urged the House to take a second look at the proposal and take steps to putting a check to what he described as a wasteful expenditure.
When the Speaker of the House, Honourable Dimeji Bankole put the question on whether the issue should be treated as a matter of urgent public importance, the motion did not survive the voice vote.
However, the House passed through second reading a Bill for an Act to amend the 2010 Appropriation Act. The bill seeks to amend the exiting 2010 budget by reviewing downwards, the sum authorised to be issued from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation as contained in the principal Act.
House Leader, Honourable Tunde Akogun (PDP Edo ) who led the debate said the amendment was the product of an understanding reached between the National Assembly and the Executive following the realisation that the economic indices that formed the basis for the 2010 Appropriation were no longer sustainable. Akogun disclosed that the amendment will result in the cut of about forty per cent (40%) of capital budget across board so as to maintain the capital budgets already captured in the budget. The cut, he explained, will not affect critical sector projects like power and some roads.
“While the full implication of such decision is not unappreciated, Members may wish to know that attempts were made to apply a lower percentage cut but the resultant deficit was still not sustainable. No doubt such cut would distort budget implementation, but it is expected that sector heads of Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would prioritise with the balance of the budget cut and perhaps facilitate efficient budget performance in conjunction with members of the National Assembly,” Akogun said.
The House Leader who also led the debate on the Supplementary Budget disclosed that the Executive Bill seeks to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, the total sum of N639, 824,478,183.00 (Six Hundred and Thirty Nine Billion, Eight Hundred and twenty four Million, Four Hundred and Seventy Eight Thousand, One Hundred and Eighty Three Naira only).
According to Akogun, the Supplementary Appropriation was specifically for the celebration of Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee and for the settlement of the balance of the public service wage adjustment, covering salary arrears to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU); their colleagues in the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education as well as some core civil servants. He also said that provision has been made in the supplementary budget to settle wage increase for medical professionals and to drive the second phase (Post Amnesty) of the re-integration programme of ex-militants in the Niger Delta.
Also included is the finance of the arrears of monetisation benefit to workers of the Power Holing Company of Nigeria (PHCN) who are threatening to down tools as well as funds to be deployed to intervention projects carried over from last year’s budget under the Ministry of Niger Delta.
The funding for these projects, Akogun said, were expected to come from the carry over of unspent funds in the second Supplementary Budget of 2009; Federal Government Bond Issuance for PHCN Arrears of monetisation as well as other sources of revenue available to government.
Although some lawmakers picked holes in both bills, Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Honourable John Enoh countered their argument that the amendment and supplementary budgets were unnecessary. Honourable Mohammed Ndume and Honourable Igo Aguma had argued that since the year was already half way gone, these additional budgets were not going to save the 2010 Budget from failing.
Ndume specifically kicked against the budget amendment because of what he described as the incessant alterations the Executive made on the document while it was under consideration at the National Assembly. He said that the current alteration will not just be the seventh in the series but will creat a situation where the country's budget will be 80 per cent recurrent expenditure and 20 per cent capital expenditure.
However, Enoh argued that the amendment to the 2010 Appropriation, cutting down capital expenditure by 40 per cent and reducing the crude oil benchmark was necessary because of the implication of the national budget on the budgets run by the 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory and the 774 Local Government Councils . Enoh disclosed that the Federal Government had identified a shortfall of about 27 per cent in its revenue given the sharp drop in the price of crude oil in the international market and it will be wrong for the government to leave the budget in its original state as the state governments will be calculating revenues accruing to them from the Federation Account using the initial projections of the 2010 Appropriation Act.
Both budget bills were subsequently passed in separate voice votes and each referred to the Joint House Committee on Finance and appropriation for further legislative action. The Joint Committee on Finance and Appropriation is expected to make its report on the budget bill available to the House in two days. There are strong indications that given the time the supplementary budget is being presented the 2010 budget, like the 2009 appropriation Act may spill over to March 31st 2011.
Also yesterday, the House adopted the Conference Committee Report on a Bill for an Act to establish the National Space Research and Development Agency. Chairman, House Committee on Science and technology, Honourable Abiodun Akinlade who presented the report said the bill was earlier passed by the House on Wednesday December 17, 2008 and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence. The Senate, Akinlade said, passed the same bill with some minor differences which necessitated the two chambers meeting at a conference on Tuesday May 25, 2010 where they adopted the harmonised version of the bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment