Senate said,
yesterday, that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has no no economic
blueprint to pull Nigeria out of recession.
The country’s upper
legislative chamber gave the verdict during reconsideration of Buhari’s Medium
Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), yesterday.
The lawmakers also
added that the president’s economic team is in disarray.
The legislators
described the MTEF/FSP as shallow and empty and warned that if the documents
are passed, as presented, they would have created room for the executive to
present a faulty 2017 national budget.
Last month, Senate
returned the MTEF/FSP to Buhari and in an October 19 letter, signed by Senate
Leader, Ali Ndume, the chamber said it expected Minister of Budget and National
Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma to brief its leadership on some key issues
contained in the documents.
Udoma did not turn up
for the proposed meeting. The two documents, alongside the rejected borrowing
plan, were returned to president Buhari.
Speaking on the new
documents yesterday, Chairman of the Commitee on Defence, Senator Ahmad Lawan
noted that “the benchmark is realistic. But, I have my reservation about the
production level.
“We need to bring in
more efforts to reconcile the government and people of the Niger Delta.
“This, in my
opinion, will be the only way through which the government can achieve the 2.2
barrels per day.
Senator Dino Melaye,
who was more critical, urged his colleagues to reject the proposals.
He said the
documents were riddled with falsehood and that there was no significant
difference between what was passed last year and what was presented to the
National Assembly this year.
Senator Gbenga
Ashafa said the documents were unrealistic.
He said: “We either
accept or make necessary amendments to what has been presented.
“We can criticise,
but we need to work with what we have. We have looked at the unrealistic
projections made. One critical issue I want to raise is the estimated projected
earnings of the government. It has significant shortfall.”
Senator Emmanuel
Paulker aligned himself with Lawan and Melaye.
He said: “Looking at
some of the parameters, it is glaring that you cannot comprehend the truth
behind these assumptions.
“The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) governor said unemployment is high.
“The current
inflation rate is 18.3 per cent, but, this document is misleading us by saying
that the inflation rate is 4.6 per cent.
“I will not suggest
that this document be returned, but, we must admit it was poorly prepared.”
Senator Sani Yerima
opposed his colleagues and insisted that the documents were not empty.
“He said those
uncomfortable with them should make their inputs.
“To say that this
document is empty means that those saying it have not read it.
“What we need to do
is to look at what is projected. These things were not done from the blues.
“You cannot just sit
here and say that this document is empty.
“As an economist, I
suggest that we pass this MTEF/FSP. Whoever has any issues can then make
inputs.”
At the end of the
heated debate, the two documents were approved and referred to the Committees
of Appropriation, Finance and National Planning.
Meanwhile, Senate
Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio said president Buhari will submit estimates of
the 2017 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly in December.
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