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Presidency, NASS row over TSA, cars: Who blinks first?

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Executive, legislature face-off: Buhari meets Saraki, Dogara

In from Olumide Olaoluwa . . .
The Presidency and National Assembly may be heading for a showdown over the operation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari had ordered the shutdown of all accounts by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the remittance of all government revenues into a single account opened for that purpose.

The move, he explained, was to check illegal deposits and withdrawals from government accounts as well as monitor incomes and expenditures without much stress.
The Presidency further explained it will help to curb excesses and corruption associated with running multiple governmental accounts.

All MDAs have since complied with the directive with over N1.2trillion moved to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last November.

But the National Assembly balked at the idea of joining TSA, saying it would expose that arm of government to financial control by the executive.

Senate spokesman, Aliu Abdullahi stated that the National Assembly was rejecting compliance with TSA over “fears that the adoption could frustrate the smooth functioning of the National Assembly led to the decision to out rightly reject its extension to the country’s apex law-making body.”

Speaker Yakubu Dogara, in series of tweets last Saturday, clarified the position of the National Assembly leadership on TSA.

He said: “As for revenue, all NASS receipts go to TSA. We are part of it. Get the arguments right. We are part of TSA but opposed to executive control of NASS, judiciary and INEC except as the constitution allows.

Read also: NASS challenges Buhari on TSA

“Nigeria is a democracy, not an empire. This should be the ideal position or we create an agency that is independent of all arms of government to manage the TSA.
“I will defend the constitution. My first duty is to ask what does the law say about any issue. NASS has always stood for TSA. You won’t win if you ask me to be against the law.”
Read also: NASS challenges Buhari on TSA

Dogara acknowledged Buhari may have good intentions over TSA but expressed fears over what future Presidents could do with the policy.

According to him: “PMB may have good intentions and may not want to manipulate NASS, judiciary or INEC but who knows the future?”

Federal lawmakers, who spoke with Ripples Nigeria, stated that the National Assembly will never comply with the order on TSA.

One of them said: “It means the Presidency and executive arms will be in charge of all the nation’s treasuries. They can stop our salaries and allowances if we fail to tow certain lines.

“They can use money to control our activities and determine what we do or not. That is unacceptable in a federal system.”

A female lawmaker said: “If you can trust the executive to handle their own finances, why can’t the same apply to us? Are we saying they are better managers than us?
‘We were elected just as the President and Nigerians have trust in their capacity. The National Assembly is an independent arm and will not succumb to financial strangulation under any guise.”

It was gathered that the leadership of the National Assembly considers the TSA issue a serious threat to the ability to function and has mobilised legislators to reject the move regardless of public outcries.

Investigations revealed that the proposed purchase of cars by the federal lawmakers at N4.7billion is also setting the two arms of government at par.

Buhari had during his maiden presidential media chat disagreed with the legislators, saying he would have to hold a closed-door session with them.

He said it was unfair of them to plan to purchase cars when they already draw transport allowance.

But the lawmakers have said the Presidency cannot dictate what they do or not do with their finance just as the executive does not take brief from other arms of government before expending money.

The two issues, it was learnt, will further shatter the fragile relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government.

The relationship became strained when the leadership of the National Assembly emerged against the zoning directive of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
When Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was charged to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) over false declaration of assets, the relationship took further dip.

Some lawmakers confided in Ripples Nigeria that they would be going for broke over the developments to assert their independence and ensure true federalism.
They warned that the current administration will face hard times with getting legislative approval for key policies and appointments.

When contacted, Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the presidency cannot be reacting to every issue in the nation.

He said since the Accountant General of the Federation is in charge of the TSA, he or the Minister of Finance should be reacting to the issue.

The days ahead may be strained as far as the rapport between both arms of government is concerned, especially since both have continued to hold their grounds, unwilling to back down. Nigerians however, wait to see who will blinks first.

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0 Comments

  1. Akhenaten4

    January 7, 2016 at 7:53 pm

    The legislators are not different from the ones we have in Kenya. They take public office as an opportunity to get rich quick and I believe it is the cars they plan to buy that will make them politic this way.

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