Instead, there may ensue a showdown
between the Presidency and the National
Assembly on the budget.
Investigations by Vanguard had revealed
that the law-makers may have played a
fast one on the Presidency by
transmitting only the highlights of the
budget and kept the details in their
custody.
Release of the budget highlights without
details makes it difficult for President
Muhammadu Buhari to know what
adjustments were made by the
law-makers.
To this end, it was learned that the
President and his ministers, who
investigations revealed, were eager to
sign and begin implementation, are now
boxed into a corner.
Investigations further revealed the
Budget Office, which also needs the
details to work with, is handicapped at
the moment.
This gives an impression that it was
either the budget was not well tidied up
or that by approving the estimates three
months after it was laid, the National
Assembly had left itself off the worry of
Nigerians and now passed the buck to
the President, who is not likely to sign
the bill into law until the details were
made available to him.
Face-off looms
Vanguard gathered that the
development was fast prompting a face-
off and crisis of confidence between the
Presidency and National Assembly which
may delay the passage of the budget to
the detriment of Nigerians.
Efforts to contact spokesmen of the
President, Messrs Femi Adesina and
Garba Shehu, for confirmation last night
proved abortive as they could not be
reached on phone. Text messages sent
to their mobile phones were also
unreplied.
However, a member of the Senate
Committee on Appropriation, Senator
Rafiu Ibrahim (APC, Kwara South), said
yesterday that full details of the passed
2016 Appropriation Bill were with
President Muhammadu Buhari for
assent.
In a text message to Vanguard last night,
Senator Ibrahim who is also Chairman,
Senate Committee on Banking,
Insurance and other Financial
Institutions, said the bill was at the
moment going through a process.
His words: "There is nothing like the
President refusing assent to the
Appropriation Bill. We worked closely
with the executive in passing the bill. We
are aware it is going through the normal
process before the President assents.
"If anybody tells you that the President
refuses to assent, let the person tell you
the reason. The Appropriation Bill is
already with the Executive with full
details."
Slashed budget
It will be recalled that the National
Assembly, upon the passage of the
budget, slashed the estimate from the
original N6.08 trillion to N6.06 trillion.
However, while presenting the report on
the budget at the plenary for
consideration in the Senate, Chairman,
Senate Committee on Appropriation,
Senator Danjuma Goje, had noted that
the budget was filled with controversies,
and many lapses.
He added that if the Senate had insisted
on clearing up the lapses, the committee
would not have been able to meet up
with the deadline of submission.
The Senate said its approval of the 2016
fiscal document was due to its
satisfaction that the country would
benefit if it was passed into law.
He had said: "This budget is full of
controversies and we did not want to
have more controversies or else it won't
have been presented today and the
National Assembly would be blamed.
The people would not understand it
because people are even saying that we
are playing politics.
"This budget exercise was a follow-up
negotiation, going forward and back.
When the budget was presented as
attested by many committees, there
were strategies discovered that couldn't
close the personnel cost in various
committees and these were highlighted
by various committees and the total
amount involved was presented to the
executive during our interaction with the
budget office.
"We presented that these are the
shortfalls from personnel and other
overhead cost which we believe should
be taken care of. So, because this budget
is full of controversies, we didn't want to
add more controversies and if we added
more controversy, the report wouldn't
have been submitted today and the
National Assembly would be blamed for
delaying this budget. That is why we did
everything possible to ensure that we
beat the deadline in bringing it today.''
But members of the House of
Representatives, yesterday, shared
divergent views on the President's
alleged refusal to sign the 2016
Appropriation Bill sent by the National
Assembly last week.
While some of the lawmakers argued
that it was not possible to send an empty
budget proposal to the President, others
argued that though they had not been
fully briefed on the issue, that if it was
true, then the President was right.
It's mere speculation
—Minority
Leader, Leo Ogor
Ogor, who represents Isoko Federal
Constituency in his reaction, said it was
virtually impossible to send the
Appropriation Bill to President
Muhammadu Buhari without details,
noting that it was contrary to the
convention of the National Assembly.
He said: "I want to believe that it is mere
speculation that we sent such a sensitive
bill to Mr. President without the
necessary details.
"What we sent was a detailed budget that
will make the President congratulate us
for a job well done and that it is not
possible for us to do such a thing, such
an action is contrary to Section 59 of the
1999 Constitution as amended and is
against our convention."
The President is right if it is true—
Emmanuel Ekon, PDP, Akwa Ibo m
Ekon in his contribution simply said
"though I've not been fully briefed but if
it is true that what we sent does not
have details, then to an extent the
President is right".
Deputy Chairman, House Committee on
Finance, Austin Chukwukere when
contacted on his mobile phone, said he
did not have any knowledge of such.
Chukwukere, who represents Ideato
Federal Constituency of Imo State on the
platform of the APC said: "I can't react to
this because I don't have any
information about it, it is only when I
have the information that I will be able
to react to it."
Also reacting to this, Anayo Nwonu (PDP,
Ebonyi) said: "The point there is that the
National Assembly budget is very
transparent. If he says he will not give
his assent until the National Assembly
gives a break down of its budget, it is
democracy, every thing should be open
to Nigerians. It is the duty of the
leadership to provide the information.
The leadership is transparent and is
ready to do that."
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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