The House of Representatives has explained the delay in the
passage of the 2018 budget. The Chairman, Committee on Rules and
Business, Rep. Emmanuel Orker-Jev said the situation was
because the national assembly insisted on proper scrutiny of the
proposal.
He said that Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) had
refused to go before relevant committees of both chambers of the
assembly to defend what they put in the budget.
“Only last week, it was reported that the President directed the
Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) to direct all the
MDAs which had failed to defend their budgets to come and do so”,
he told NAN.
“A budget that has not been defended by some agencies cannot be
passed like that; we are not rubber stamps.
“Don’t forget, the executive arm of government takes all the
time they have to prepare the budget and bring it to the national
assembly, and then the pressure comes on the assembly.
“If people get to understand the work of the national assembly,
they will be more appreciative”, he said.
Orker-Jev added that if the budget was not defended, “the
responsibility that the national assembly is allocated in section 4
of the 1999 Constitution will not be discharged.
“The parliament passed the National Assembly Budget Research
Office (NABRO) Bill.
“The idea behind that law was that among other things, the
legislators will interface with the executive so that by the time
the budget comes to the National Assembly, there will be
understanding on both sides of the bargain.
“Therefore, no much time will be taken at arriving at a
conclusion.
“The presidency for some reasons returned that NABRO bill so we
are back to square one, where we will have to wait for the
executive to take all the time to prepare the budget and present
it.
“I think when the structure of this whole budget thing is put in
a better shape we will begin to talk of passing it in time.
“But, the nation is not helpless; the law states that if the
budget is not passed you can go for six months to spend based on
the estimates of the last budget.
”So, it is not as if the nation will grind to a halt if the
budget is not passed.
“It is only when the six months elapses and the budget is not in
place that the nation will be in trouble because by then everything
would have come to a halt. But that is not the case right now.
“Ultimately, I think we will get to a situation where a budget
will start from January and end in December, but we have not had
that since the inception of Democracy.
“We always have it over lapping into the next year. Nothing is
lost anyway, apart from the ideal situation of the budget running
from January to December.
“For instance, if the budget is passed in June, its
implementation will run till another budget is put in place; so
nothing is lost.”
The House of Representatives has explained the delay in the
passage of the 2018 budget. The Chairman, Committee on Rules and
Business, Rep. Emmanuel Orker-Jev said the situation was
because the national assembly insisted on proper scrutiny of the
proposal.
He said that Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) had
refused to go before relevant committees of both chambers of the
assembly to defend what they put in the budget.
“Only last week, it was reported that the President directed the
Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) to direct all the
MDAs which had failed to defend their budgets to come and do so”,
he told NAN.
“A budget that has not been defended by some agencies cannot be
passed like that; we are not rubber stamps.
“Don’t forget, the executive arm of government takes all the
time they have to prepare the budget and bring it to the national
assembly, and then the pressure comes on the assembly.
“If people get to understand the work of the national assembly,
they will be more appreciative”, he said.
Orker-Jev added that if the budget was not defended, “the
responsibility that the national assembly is allocated in section 4
of the 1999 Constitution will not be discharged.
“The parliament passed the National Assembly Budget Research
Office (NABRO) Bill.
“The idea behind that law was that among other things, the
legislators will interface with the executive so that by the time
the budget comes to the National Assembly, there will be
understanding on both sides of the bargain.
“Therefore, no much time will be taken at arriving at a
conclusion.
“The presidency for some reasons returned that NABRO bill so we
are back to square one, where we will have to wait for the
executive to take all the time to prepare the budget and present
it.
“I think when the structure of this whole budget thing is put in
a better shape we will begin to talk of passing it in time.
“But, the nation is not helpless; the law states that if the
budget is not passed you can go for six months to spend based on
the estimates of the last budget.
”So, it is not as if the nation will grind to a halt if the
budget is not passed.
“It is only when the six months elapses and the budget is not in
place that the nation will be in trouble because by then everything
would have come to a halt. But that is not the case right now.
“Ultimately, I think we will get to a situation where a budget
will start from January and end in December, but we have not had
that since the inception of Democracy.
“We always have it over lapping into the next year. Nothing is
lost anyway, apart from the ideal situation of the budget running
from January to December.
“For instance, if the budget is passed in June, its
implementation will run till another budget is put in place; so
nothing is lost.”
Read more https://nairalaw.com/2018-budget-reps-explain-delay-in-passage-lament-flaws-by-executive/