President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law.
The President assented to the bill yesterday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
In his remarks, President Buhari thanked the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as all the lawmakers for passing the 2018 Appropriation Bill.
He, however, noted, “When I submitted the 2018 Budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7th November 2017, I had hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year.”
He explained that the Federal Government’s budget represents less than 10 per cent of the aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy.
He however said the delay in signing the 2018 budget into law was due to the slow pace of legislative process.
Recall that the National Assembly had passed the budget on May 16, seven months after the President submitted the proposals to the lawmaker.
However, Buhari, at the signing of the bill, expressed hope that he will continue to work with the National Assembly “towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle.”
According to Buhari, “I would like to thank the leadership of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as all the Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members, for passing the 2018 Appropriation Bill, after seven months.
“When I submitted the 2018 Budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7th November 2017, I had hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year. The importance of this predictability cannot be overemphasised.
“While the Federal Government’s budget represents less than 10 per cent of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, it has a very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year.
“Notwithstanding the delay this year, I am determined to continue to work with the National Assembly towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle.
“I note, with pleasure, that the National Assembly is working on the enactment of an Organic Budget Law, so as to improve the efficiency of the nation’s budgetary process.”
…we stand by our actions – Senate
The Deputy Majority Leader in the Senate, Alhaji Bala Na’allah, has said the National Assembly was unperturbed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s concerns about the adjustments it made in the 2018 Appropriation Bill.
While signing the budget at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari expressed concerns that it would be difficult for the purpose of the 2018 budget to achieved due to some changes made by the national assembly.
Addressing reporters in Abuja, yesterday, Na’allah said that the job of the National Assembly was a very difficult one, adding that the way the budget came warranted that the National Assembly carried out some adjustments.
“If we had allowed it to go that way (it came) we would have been in trouble with those who elected us into office.
“You have to balance between the six geo-political zones.
“It is the balancing effort by the National Assembly that led to those observations and happily enough he himself has said that he is coming with supplementary appropriation which will be dealt with as quickly as possible.
“I assure you about that one.
“It is a very delicate issue; if someone says he wants N500 billion for the maintenance of the nation’s bridges and then you expect the National Assembly to say that budget is approved because it is coming from the executive then we have not done our work.
“We will be interested in knowing which roads you say you want to maintain so that we do not give another allocation in the next budget.
“The President’s observations are correct but in the budgeting process those things are normal,” Na’allah stated.
…we’re not rubber stamp – Reps
The House of Representatives has responded to President Muhammadu Buhari’s complaint that the National Assembly altered the 2018 budget.
Chairman, House Committee on Media, Hon Abdulrazak Namdas, said the budget is usually a proposal by the Executive to the National Assembly, which the latter is given the constitutional power of appropriation to alter, make additions, costs or reduce as it may deem necessary.
“The Legislature is not expected to be a rubber-stamp by simply approving the Executive proposals and returning the budget to Mr. President. Therefore, the additions Mr. President complained of in his speech are justifiable”, he said.
“We are on the same page with Mr. President in his desire to return our budget cycle to January-December. By the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, the budget estimates should be with the National Assembly around September of the year. In the case of the 2018 budget, the estimates came behind schedule in November 2017, even though this attempt was seen as one of the earliest in recent years. Going forward, we urge the Executive to speed up the reporting time to the National Assembly by complying fully with the FRA.
“Besides, there were delays that should be blamed on the heads of MDAs. Mr. President will recall that he had to direct ministers and heads of agencies to go to the National Assembly to defend their proposals. This came after the National Assembly had persistently raised the alarm over the non-cooperative attitudes of these government officials. On these grounds, the delay in passing the budget cannot be blamed on the legislature.
“New projects in budget. On this aspect, we have to remind Mr. President that we are representatives of our people and wish to state that even the common man deserves a mention in the budget by including projects that will directly affect his life positively. Some of the projects designed by the executive, as high-sounding as their names suggest, do not meet the needs of the common man.
“National Assembly budget. Before 2015, the budget of the National Assembly was N150billion for several years. It was cut down to N120bn in 2015 and further down to N115bn in 2016. In 2017, the budget was N125bn and N139.5bn in 2018. This means that the budget of the National Assembly is still far below the N150bn in the years before 2015.
“While we commend Mr. President for a good working relationship, we also wish to state that we have a job to do, which requires adequate funding as well. The additional costs and projects to the budget were done in good faith for the sole purpose of improving the lives of Nigerians.
“Finally, we welcome the proposal by Mr. President to forward a supplementary budget to the National Assembly to address other areas of pressing demands and commend the President and the entire executive arm for a cordial working relationship.”
