NASS sends 2016 budget details to Buhari

After stoking controversy for so long, the National Assembly has finally sent details of the 2016 budget to President Muhammadu Buhari for review and approval.

The document was passed to the Clerk of the National Assembly at precisely 4:54pm, for onward transmission to the Presidency on Wednesday

This was made known by chairmen of the Appropriation Committees of both chambers of federal legislature, Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin in a joint statement.

It would be recalled that the president had refused to sign the appropriation bill into law, stating that the details as approved by the National Assembly had not been made available to him.

The details are expected to be picked from the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly by both Special Advisers to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang and his House of Representatives counterpart, Abdulrahman Ismaila Kawu.

The Appropriation Committees chairmen noted that “We have taken into account all shades of opinions in arriving at the breakdown, which is now with the executive”.

They also said “Now that the 2016 budget has been passed, our next role is to add value to the process through legislative oversight functions that enable us to ensure adherence to priorities while monitoring effective allocation of resources. But there is a lesson that should not be lost on the executive given the current experience.

“We specifically urge the president to abide strictly with provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which stipulates that the appropriation bill be presented early so that there could be sufficient time for interactive sessions between the executive and the legislature before the commencement of committee hearings.”

The explained, that the appropriation bill took extra weeks to get the details ready because they had to correct all inconsistencies, errors, omissions and padding in the document submitted to them in December last year.

“Being the most important economic policy tool of government, the budget provides a comprehensive statement of our priorities as a nation.

Read also: Tension as Senators, Reps tackle leadership over budget details

“And as representatives of the people, the National Assembly remains the appropriate place to ensure that the details of such a document best match our national goals and aspirations.

“Therefore, what we have been doing in these past few weeks is to balance the projections for revenue against the estimates for expenditure based on the reality of our situation today.

“Unfortunately, that task has been made very difficult by the sloppy manner in which the 2016 Appropriation Bill was prepared by the executive such that many of the officials who came before our various committees practically disowned the inputs from their own departments and ministries.”

The chairmen stated that they believe that the executive will learn from the mistakes of this year, going forward, adding, “We specifically urge the president to abide strictly with provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which stipulates that the appropriation bill be presented early so that there could be sufficient time for interactive sessions between the executive and the legislature before the commencement of committee hearings.

“That way, we can avoid some of the controversies that dogged this year’s budget and add value to the entire process,” the statement added.

 

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