A War Postponed
By Tobs Agbaegbu
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Presidency and the National Assembly patch up their differences on the 2008 budget through agreement, paving the way for presidential assent
The altercation between the Presidency and members of the National Assembly which stalled the passage of the 2008 national budget ended last week in Abuja. After a joint meeting between President Umaru Yar'Adua and leaders of the National Assembly, at the instance of the Presidency, Tuesday, April 8, both parties shifted grounds and agreed to move forward in the interest of the country.
Yar'Adua accepted to assent to the budget which is now N2.7 trillion, increased by the legislators from the original proposal of N2.4 trillion proposed by the Presidency. Segun Adeniyi, special adviser to the president on Communication, announced last week that the budget signing ceremony would take place this week, Monday, April 14.
In line with the agreement reached last week, the president is expected to forward to the National Assembly soon, a bill to amend certain provisions of the 2008 appropriation act. The new bill is expected to contain details of the grey areas. These are the areas where figures were inflated. It is expected also to contain details of the president's position on the allegation that the National Assembly distorted the budget by encouraging ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government to submit sundry projects for which money was allocated without clearance from the executive.
Ayogu Eze, chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Information, who participated in the meeting, told Newswatch that the agreements reached so far have signalled the end of the cold war between the executive and the National Assembly which had caused impasse in the passage of the budget. He described the outcome of the meeting as fruitful and explained that both parties came out of the meeting with a better understanding and appreciation of each other's position. Eze said: "When the two parties met, they spoke frankly and reached common grounds. The president found that the National Assembly members meant well and the legislators found that the president was not out to denigrate the National Assembly."
Giving insight into the terms of the agreement reached by both parties, Eze said while the president agreed to assent to the budget as presented to him, the National Assembly accepted to receive the upcoming amendment bill, with a view to removing a number of the clauses and additions which had infuriated the president and caused the impasse in the passage of the budget. In what sounded like an assurance that the National Assembly will keep to the terms of the agreement, Eze said: "I am sure we will be disposed to removing some of the controversial clauses, for instance, that the accounting officers of the ministries, department or agencies, to give us monthly or quarterly report of the releases to them. We can dispense with some of these things because we believe there are enough constitutional guarantees against the excesses that we do not need to start breaking them down in the appropriation bill."
Adeniyi also confirmed that both parties have reached an agreement on the budget. Speaking on the subject last week, he described the meeting as amicable and cordial and said: "Both parties resolved their differences on the budget and decided to reach a compromise. The budget document will be signed the way it is now but an amendment would be sent to the National Assembly in another two weeks."
Last week's meeting of the presidency and the legislators was indeed a welcome relief to Nigerians. Until the outcome was made public, the nation's economic life appeared to be at a standing still after the president wrote to the National Assembly stating why he would not sign the budget. On its part, the National Assembly talked tough and threatened to veto the president.
As the controversy raged, the Presidency released documents circulated to the media, detailing areas the federal government objected to in the budget. The document, among other things expressed the president's disgust on a number of issues, including the increase in money allocated to a number of ministries and agencies of the federal government by the National Assembly without authorisation by the executive which prepared the budget estimates.
The ministries whose votes were increased included Transportation which got N61billion while FERMA, an agency under the ministry got about N18 billion. Newswatch learnt that the presidency would have preferred that the increase in allocation to FERMA be given to Transportation as a whole as the ministry was committed to revamping the railway which needs huge financial commitment.
The presidency also protested the way the National Assembly handled the issue of the budget benchmark. Adeniyi had confirmed that the raising of the benchmark of the oil price from N53.83 per barrel to 59 per barrel was agreed to with officials of the ministry of Finance based on the understanding that the extra revenue would be used to reduce the fiscal deficit in the original proposal from the executive.
But the National Assembly altered that arrangement and raised the total expenditure, thereby increasing the deficit in the budget from N468 billion under the executive budget to N554 billion. In light of the differences in the positions taken by both parties, presidency sources hinted then that Yar'Adua may head to court to challenge the position of the National Assembly.
Reacting to the position of the Presidency which was reported in many newspapers, officials of the two arms of the National Assembly spoke angrily on what was reported. Eze, who spoke for the Senate said that the Assembly was not bound to take the president's proposal and pass it without adjustment. "It is the responsibility of the executive to propose the budget and it is the duty of the National Assembly to appropriate funds for the project. Don't forget that majority of the National Assembly members are of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and they are familiar with the party's manifesto. They know the needs of their people. We are not rubber stamps, we are responsible for the needs of our people and we do critical analysis of the needs of the people."
Eziuche Ubani, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Publicity, said that the National Assembly had complied fully with the requirements for the budget and that it was for the president to now sign or veto it. He frowned on the unofficial response of the Presidency to matters arising from the budget as reported in newspapers. He said: "All the talk about Presidency sources is not known to us. We are not aware of any further reservations by the President. It will not be in the interest of the president to fight the National Assembly. The first time was a veto but we bent over backwards and suspended our rules to take care of the President's request." He argued that in every democracy, no budget is perfect.
He insisted that if the President had any reservation, he should express it with a supplementary budget. "We must understand that the budget was conceived before he came and now he has done 11 months while we have done 10 months. From the time the last budget was submitted we have 27 days and the process will take care of the issues if any," he said.
Ahmed Safana, a member of the House of Representatives from Katsina State, commended the Presidency and the National Assembly for towing the part of dialogue in resolving disagreement on the budget and described the tough positions taken by the presidency and National Assembly as a bold effort at turning around the economy. He told Newswatch that the legislators had meant to use the opportunity created by the budget to redirect the affairs of the country by increasing votes in arrears they felt sufficient money was not provided. Safana said: "I have read some reports which gave the impression that legislators did not mean well by increasing votes of some ministries or agencies of government. Don't forget that legislators asked relevant questions and sought specific information on details and requirements on projects. It is not out of place to make input in areas where we believe money will mean greater welfare for the people."
He accused the media of creating the impression that the executive and legislative arms were on the war path. "President Yar'Adua is not aggrieved, neither are the legislators. Both are asserting their authorities and independence. Where there are disagreements, they will meet to resolve it and this is what happened with the just-concluded meeting at the Villa which ended the budget impasse. We can now move forward, having realised that it is better to jaw-jaw than war-war," Safana said.
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