Two days after President Muhammadu
Buhari expressed reservations over some alterations in the 2018 budget, both
chambers of the national assembly have sent a response to the president.
Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman of
the house of representatives, had earlier issued a statement, saying the
parliament was not expected to act as a “rubber stamp”.
But at a press conference on
Friday, Namdas and Abdullahi Sabi, spokesman of the senate, defended the action
of the federal lawmakers.
They said Buhari would not have
raised the alarm over the introduction of 6,043 projects into the budget and
other changes, if his aides had briefed him properly.
“Adjustments and reductions in
the locations, costs and number of projects approved were made in order to
address geo-political imbalances that came with the Executive proposal,” they
said.
“The introduction of new projects
was done to ensure the promotion of the principles of Federal Character as
contained in Section 14, subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria as amended which states that “the composition of the
Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its
affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to reflect the federal character
of Nigeria…” The number of projects had to be increased in order to give a
sense of belonging to every geo-political zone of the country to ensure
socio-economic justice, equity, fairness, and to command National loyalty.
“Within the context of the
provisions of Sections 4, 80 and 81 of the Constitution, everything that the
National Assembly has done is within its powers.
“Furthermore, Chapter 2 of the
Constitution emphasizes the need for balance, inclusivity, and equity in the
distribution of national resources. The annual budget, which symbolizes the
distribution of these resources must reflect the aforementioned values, which
we swore to uphold.
“These Constitutional provisions,
in addition to a recent Court judgment have affirmed the fact that the budget
process is a ‘joint effort’ that must reflect the input of both the executive
and the legislature — the latter being the closest representatives of the
people. However, we are fully aware that the Executive has the exclusive
responsibility to execute all parts of the Appropriation Act once it is signed
into law.
“It is our firm belief that if
the President had been properly briefed by his appointees, he would not have
raised most of the concerns that he did in his remarks at the budget signing.
It is therefore inevitable for the legislature to give members of the public an
insight into what transpired during the appropriations process and how we
arrived at the decisions that are contained in the 2018 budget.”
More to follow…
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