Plans To
Reset Budget Life Cycle Dropped
Hopes of
reversing some of the negative trends in the nation’s economy may be dimmed by
the Federal Government’s inability to fix the problems that have bedeviled
budget preparations.
In fact,
some lawmakers have confirmed to The Guardian that not only has the
much-anticipated resetting of the budget’s life cycle from January to December
failed, the 2018 budget may not be passed in the first quarter of the new year.
Citing
serious cases of lack of co-ordination and incompetence in the executive, the
senators were frank about the fact that until a more pro-active approach was
applied to budget planning, the nation’s budget woes would continue.
Already, the
Senate has mooted the idea of extending the life cycle of the 2017 budget to
March 2018, to allow the executive cover enough grounds in its implementation
particularly in terms of capital projects.
The plan
would also afford the National Assembly enough time to do a sector-by-sector consideration
of the 2018 budget proposal. The Upper Legislative Chamber is still observing
its End of Year and Christmas recess, and would resume plenary on January 16.
A member of
the Senate Appropriation Committee, who is also the Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu
Ibrahim, disclosed in a brief interview that so far, not much work has been
done on the budget proposal because what the Presidency submitted last October
as 2018 budget estimates grossly fell short of every standard expected of such
a document across the world.
He lamented
that the two-week plenary-free budget consideration period that the Senate gave
all lawmakers and committees, between December 5 and 19, only served the purpose
of exposing the weaknesses and failures of government in implementing the 2017
budget.
According to
Ibrahim, “The basic principles of budgeting were discarded by the executive as
far as the 2018 budget processing is concerned. It means the National Assembly
would have to prepare for more budget work than it expected when we return in
January since the executive has failed in doing its responsibility. It also
means that the budget document cannot be expected to be passed as earlier
scheduled. That is, in January.
“We are
working towards getting it passed within the first quarter of 2018, and push it
to the Presidency. And you know that it will take the Presidency some time to
study and sign the document too,” the lawmaker added.
When reached
for comments on the fate of the 2018 budget, Senator Solomon Adeola blamed the
problems on the failure of the executive to do a good job in budget
preparations and implementation.
He wondered
why the Senate should consider and approve the 2018 budget, when the performance
of the 2017 budget is unknown.
He stated:
“How can we approve the 2018 budget without knowing the performance of the 2017
budget? This is abnormal. From the recent budget defences, it is obvious that
MDAs are not ready. Year in, year out, the budget performance is low. We have
had an occasion where a minister was asked to excuse lawmakers because he did
not come prepared. He did not come with the necessary documents to defend the
budget of his ministry.”
He disclosed
that despite the fact that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) was
submitted three months later than what the Fiscal Responsibility Act
stipulates, the executive even had to withdraw and later resubmitted it because
of some fundamental inadequacies.
“Remember
that the executive not only submitted the MTEF late, it withdrew it again. This
shows lack of seriousness on the part of economic managers of the country.”
Senate
Leader, Ahmad Lawan, had captured the frustration faced by the National
Assembly in these words: “When we suspended plenary for two weeks, the
intention was to enable the committees to work. They are supposed to report
progress in order to enable the Senate to pass the budget before the end of the
year or early next year.
“When we
suspended plenary, it was with the idea that the committees will swing into
action so we can have a tentative date to pass the budget. From what I have
seen, we might run into troubled waters. If we have not appreciated what the
problems are, it is important for Nigerians to be made to understand what the
problem is.”
Lawal
continued: “The template we are using will continue to create problems for us.
The template cannot work in our country today. From reports we have had, it is
obvious that we have problems. We need to know what the problems are. If we
have a 2017 budget that has not been executed today and we are considering the
2018 budget, it means there is a problem.”
Lamenting
the Presidency’s failure to keep to its words in the implementation of the 2017
budget, Lawal said: “The President told us that the 2017 budget was going to
achieve at least 40 per cent performance. Today, that has not happened. We need
to lay this issue and discuss it. Let us put the facts before the executive and
show Nigerians the difficulties we are facing.”
And as the
Upper Chamber was formally closing legislative activities for the year, Senate
President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, voiced out how hopeless getting the country
out of the perennial budget tragedy has become.
“Truly, it
is very disheartening and disappointing because we know how much we have put
into the budget process. How can anybody who is responsible travel at this
period when the budget defence is ongoing?
“The budget
has not been implemented. We cannot be magicians. We just have to work and give
a good budget to Nigerians. The executive really needs to sit up. If they
refuse to roll over the 2017 projects into 2018, it is a disaster,” he
concluded.
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