"They (Presidency) seem to be suffering from military hangover where budgets were announced after a meeting of the Supreme Military Council (SMC). The Federal Executive Council (FEC) is not the equivalent of the SMC. The National Assembly has replaced the SMC."
There seems to be no end in sight to the "battle" between House of Representatives and the Presidency over the poor implementation of the 2012 budget.
The House threw more barbs at the Executive on Sunday with the spokesman of the House, Zakari Mohammed insisting that the National Assembly is no longer “a toothless bulldog”.
Speaking at a special media briefing the House, in a direct reference, warned President Goodluck Jonathan against the kind of advice he gets from Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other “un-elected appointees”, which might put his administration in more trouble.
Mohammed said: “The idea of the National Assembly distorting the budget is incorrect. The National Assembly cannot distort a budget which it has full powers over. There is no law that says the budget must be returned to the President exactly the way it is forwarded to the National Assembly.
“If the Appropriation Act is to be sent back to the Executive the way it is presented, then, it is better that the National Assembly is abolished. In a constitutional democracy, in the budgeting process, the National Assembly exercises the constitutional responsibility of taking care of the interests and aspirations of Nigerians from every constituency.
The House spokesman, who read from a prepared text entitled: “2012 Budget, Non-Implementation: Okonjo-Iweala Should Address The Real Issues,” accused the Finance Minister of breaking the law by not adhering to the letters of the 2012 Appropriations Act.
According to the House, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s claim that the executive arm has implemented 56 per cent of the 2012 budget as widely reported, “is not true,” as only “about 34 percent of the budget has been implemented.”
Part of the statement of the House of Reps read:
“The House of Representatives will like to restate its concern on the poor and selective implementation of the 2012 budget by the executive arm of government and the attitude of officials of government saddled with the responsibility of implementing the Appropriation Acts.
For the avoidance of doubt, section 6 and 7 of the 2012 Appropriation Act clearly says what officials of government and in this case the Honourable Minister of finance is permitted to do.
“If the revenue target is not achieved in any particular period, it is the responsibility of the Honourable Minister to seek for waiver from the National Assembly. This has not been the case as the Honourable Minister has not told the nation or the National Assembly that the monies for these projects are not available.
“This is not to say that funds should be released and accessed by MDAs without due process and actual execution of projects. In other words, there should be value for money. How released funds are accessed by the various MDAs is stated in Section 7 of the budget Act and further guided by due process law.
Speaking at a special media briefing the House, in a direct reference, warned President Goodluck Jonathan against the kind of advice he gets from Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other “un-elected appointees”, which might put his administration in more trouble.
Mohammed said: “The idea of the National Assembly distorting the budget is incorrect. The National Assembly cannot distort a budget which it has full powers over. There is no law that says the budget must be returned to the President exactly the way it is forwarded to the National Assembly.
“If the Appropriation Act is to be sent back to the Executive the way it is presented, then, it is better that the National Assembly is abolished. In a constitutional democracy, in the budgeting process, the National Assembly exercises the constitutional responsibility of taking care of the interests and aspirations of Nigerians from every constituency.
The House spokesman, who read from a prepared text entitled: “2012 Budget, Non-Implementation: Okonjo-Iweala Should Address The Real Issues,” accused the Finance Minister of breaking the law by not adhering to the letters of the 2012 Appropriations Act.
According to the House, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s claim that the executive arm has implemented 56 per cent of the 2012 budget as widely reported, “is not true,” as only “about 34 percent of the budget has been implemented.”
Part of the statement of the House of Reps read:
“The House of Representatives will like to restate its concern on the poor and selective implementation of the 2012 budget by the executive arm of government and the attitude of officials of government saddled with the responsibility of implementing the Appropriation Acts.
For the avoidance of doubt, section 6 and 7 of the 2012 Appropriation Act clearly says what officials of government and in this case the Honourable Minister of finance is permitted to do.
“If the revenue target is not achieved in any particular period, it is the responsibility of the Honourable Minister to seek for waiver from the National Assembly. This has not been the case as the Honourable Minister has not told the nation or the National Assembly that the monies for these projects are not available.
“This is not to say that funds should be released and accessed by MDAs without due process and actual execution of projects. In other words, there should be value for money. How released funds are accessed by the various MDAs is stated in Section 7 of the budget Act and further guided by due process law.
Jonathan should go ask Obasanjo why he removed this Okonjo-Iweala woman from Finance to Foreign Affairs... that woman don't know anything about Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteBabatunde
All Naija politicians are rotten and need to be flushed. That is my stand!! OI
ReplyDeleteTOO MUCH DECEIT GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY WE DONT EVEN KNOW WHO TO TRUST, EITHER EXECUTIVE OR LEGISLATORS
ReplyDeleteNgozi Iweala is doing a good job by checking how previous quaters was spent before giving more.Although it should not mbe slow.National assembly are interested in sharing money alone.What have they done concerning security?.They only blame executive on that.We Nigerians should ask ourselves.What has been done with all budject giving since militry rule up till date?.No developement.I've been to some contries outside Africa and noticed that this so call national assembly are there to take money and fight for where the next president will come from..Let us tell ourselves the truth.Is national assembly doing anything to help the nation?.
ReplyDeletethe point is that everyone of them fighting for there pocket they all know the secret within the issue if u re a holy man blv me nomater how decent you re this plp will corupt you immidately u join them if you disagree you will end in jail or send you out by all miss 9ija we are in mess . bola
ReplyDeletethis woman is nigeria problem....GEJ nothing good can come out of her..........her economic policises is failed already.
ReplyDeleteAs for me,i dnt have mouch to say.it's a pity that nigerian dnt have security;
ReplyDeleteWeda so called national assembly / president wo, ekonje iweala , finance minister and all oda cabinat and government parastatals wo! Are full of sentiment, selfish intrest and coruption. What an ordinary nigerian can do is to denied them with the mandate dat wil warant them to act as colonial masters by 2015 . Jibril makarfi
ReplyDeleteMembers of the House of Reps are merely against the Finance Minister because she has failed to release money for them to loot! The lawmakers are just out for their own selfish means. Nigerians must see through their antics and understand that Iweala means well for the economy.
ReplyDelete