Dogara hits back at Buhari over budget comments, says budget won’t be rushed, NASS not ‘rubber stamp’

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has lashed out at President Muhammadu Buhari over the 2019 budget and previous budget estimates and procedures.

Speaking during the public hearing on the 2019 budget, Dogara said the budgets over the years have only reflected the selfish wish of its drafters, explaining that they have repeatedly excluded national values and interests.

He also criticised the late submission of budgets to the National Assembly by the Executive.

Dogara appeared to be reacting to President Buhari’s comments Tuesday, while hosting senators-elect of his party to a dinner, that late passage of 2018 budget by the 8th assembly was regrettable.

Speaking, Dogara said,“Over the years, the main problem with our budget as submitted by the Executive is that it does not reflect national values and priorities. The budget, more often than not, only reflects the values and priorities of those who help the president in drafting it.

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“The integrity of the project selection process has always been the bane of our national budgets. I regret to say that until we eliminate these problems, we will always have non-implementable national budgets which cannot be relied upon by policymakers in establishing spending priorities”.

The speaker lamented a situation whereby budgets only record less than average performance. He exonerated the National Assembly from delays in the passage of budgets.

“It is very painful that for some years now, our budget process has been an exercise in either or a combination of audacious optimism and/or hypocrisy involving key actors putting together a budget that they fully know will at best be implemented up to 45 per cent, which is by all standards below average.

“How many of us will be proud of a child who consistently performs below average in his exams? How many of us here are proud of our below average budget performance all these years? Our below average budget performance is the main reason why Nigeria has remained a major promise as our national potentials cannot be realised without effective budget planning and execution.

“The budget is the most important law that is passed yearly, consequently, no parliament anywhere in the world rushes it. Let me re-emphasise that this parliament can never be a rubber stamp and neither are we prepared to surrender our constitutionally assigned rights of checks on the Executive.

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