SINCE the National Assembly opened debate on the N6.07 trillion
2016 Appropriation Bill, christened Budget of
Change, the standing
committees of the Senate have been grappling with conflicting figures in the
allocations for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Owing to the discrepancies in the
figures contained in the proposal, the upper legislative chamber has served a
notice that the bill may not be passed earlier than next month.
The notice came shortly after an
earlier assurance by the lawmakers that the bill will be passed by February 22.
The Budget of
Change, the first by President Muhammadu Buhari, is generating
ripples over its sloppy preparation.
There were claims that the Senate and House of Representatives
were served with different versions of the bill presented by the President to
the joint session of the National Assembly on December 22.
The Senate claimed it was given a
version different from the one read by the President but the lower chamber said
it got the authentic copy.
In the midst of the confusion, the
Presidency forwarded an adjusted copy to the Senate for consideration, urging
the National Assembly to work with the copy presented by the President.
The bill is predicated on a crude oil
benchmark of $38 per barrel and a production estimate of 2.2 million barrels
per day.
The brief summary of some of the
features indicated a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth Rate Projection of
4.37 per cent; Revenue Projection of N3.86 trillion; Deficit of N2.22 trillion;
Oil Related Revenue of N820 billion; and Non-oil Revenues of N1.45 trillion.
The budget also projected Independent
Revenues of N1.51 trillion and the Capital Expenditure pegged at N1.8 trillion.
A breakdown of the budget as it relates
to the various ministries are as follows: Works, Power and Housing (N433.4
billion); Transport (N202.0 billion); Special Intervention Programmes (N300
billion); Education (N369.6 billion); Defence (N294.5 billion); Health (N221.7
bilion); Ministry of Interior (N145.3 billion); Foreign & Domestic Debt
Service (N1.36 trillion); Sinking Fund towards the retirement of maturing loans
(N113 billion); and Non-debt Recurrent Expenditure (N2.65 trillion).
Going by official calculations, the
deficit in the budget is expected to be financed by a combination of domestic
borrowing of N984 billion and a foreign component of N900 billion.
Controversy broke a few days after the
submission of the document and the leadership of the Senate declared the budget
missing. But, the senator representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District,
Kabiru Marafa, described the claim as the joke of the year.
Senator Marafa alleged that the
leadership of the upper legislative chamber was only playing politics with the
document, blaming the brewing controversy on those he described as “fifth
columnists” acting the Senate leadership’s script.
He said: “These fifth columnists were
shouting at different times that the budget was missing; the budget had been
doctored; the budget was padded and that it could no longer be passed as
earlier planned.
“Honestly speaking, if I am to comment
on the controversy that has been trailing the 2016 Budget in the Senate, I will
say it is all the work of the fifth columnists there.
“You remember we woke up one day, 15
days or so, after the receipt of the budget in the National Assembly and the
Senate President just came and said there was no budget; that the budget was
stolen, thus embarrassing everybody.
“But, the following day, the Speaker
came out to say the budget was not stolen. Next, they said the budget was
doctored; next they said it was padded; next they said there were discrepancies
all over the place.
“We knew how they came into the
leadership of the National Assembly or the Senate. Was it a coincidence that
the issue of padding and everything just came up after the Supreme Court told
Saraki to go and face your trial?
“Suddenly, we started hearing that we
cannot pass the budget as we promised because there were discrepancies and so
on and so forth. In a nutshell, the noise about the budget is all about the
issue of corruption trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). No more, no
less”.
It has been from one controversy to the
other since the budget was eventually “found”. The story has since changed to
allegations of padding and multiple headings in the budgetary proposals made
by MDAs.
According to Senate Majority Leader Ali
Ndume, owing to the conflicting and multiple sub-headings, leading to inflated
figures, the appropriation bill would have to go through a surgical operation.
By Ndume’s submission, President Buhari
may not need to withdraw the budget, rework it and represent a clean copy
as being suggested in some quarters.
The Senate Leader said the National
Assembly would do the needful by expunging every superfluous item embedded into
the document.
In the course of budget defence before
the standing committees, a number of extraneous items carrying huge votes have
been discovered.
Defending his Ministry’s allocation,
Health Minister Prof. Isaac Adewole disowned the estimate, saying it was
different from what emanated from the ministry.
Inflation of figures was also
discovered in the estimates of many other MDAs.
Although the discrepancies have caused
a lot of embarrassment, particularly for the Presidency, observers say there is
nothing strange in the discovered loopholes.
They argue that padding of budgets has
been a regular practice in budgeting over the years.
In the past, they say, the MDAs would
simply “negotiate” terms with the relevant committees, with the view to passing
the figures as presented.
An observer said: “In some instances,
the negotiations involved inflating the figures based on mutual understanding
between the MDAs and committee members. The difference between the actual
figures and the inflated outcome would then be shared.”
“In times past, some committees used to
insist on having their share of the excess budgeting upfront. But,
circumstances have forced the lawmakers to be wary of dealing with the MDAs the
way they used to deal with them in the past.”
Anti-corruption crusade, seperation of power
It was learnt that the ongoing war
being waged against corruption by the Buhari administration has compelled
lawmakers to scrutinise the budget without demanding for gratification.
Another observer said: “The fear that
heads of the MDAs could expose any demand for gratification may have forced the
legislators to be on their guard.
“Besides the new-found institutional
independence, members of the National Assembly are mindful of the anti-graft
posture of the present administration.
“The fact that both Senate President
Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, are standing trial for alleged
cases of corruption and forgery is enough deterrent.”
The strident calls by various segments
of the society on the National Assembly for openness and transparency in the
legislature’s votes, have also put the lawmakers on the edge.
Unlike its previous fixed budget of
N150 billion annually, the National Assembly’s vote in this year’s
appropriation has been pegged at N115 billion.
Not a few Nigerians have demanded from
the leadership a breakdown of the N115 billion budget for public consumption
and scrutiny.
Budget Mafia
Until the President wielded the big
stick against the Director-General, Budget Office, Yahaya Gusau, some faceless
officials in the Budget Office remained untamed.
Gusau’s sack came in the wake of widespread
irregularities detected in the 2016 Budget presently under consideration by the
National Assembly.
The faceless officials known as Budget Mafia, have been operating within the
comfort of the Budget Office. Going by the reports on the budgets and counter
claims from the MDAs, discrepancies in the budgetary figures emanated from the
Budget Office. Despite the deafening public outcry over the scandal, the Budget
Office did not offer any explanation.
Tijani Abdullahi, who was named by the
President to replace Gusau, has a mandate to overhaul the budget office.
He has been asked to beef up budget surveillance. Besides the change of guard,
the President announced the appointment of Ben Akabueze, a one-time Lagos State
Commissioner for Budget and Planning, as Special Adviser on Budget and National
Planning.
Budget passage delay inevitable
The Senate committees have continued to
detect strange insertions in budget estimates of the MDAs. These discoveries
may delay the passage of the budget far beyond March as the Senate leadership
has vowed to do a thorough job on the document to give the country a clean
budget at the end of the day.
Political opponents have tagged the
2016 Appropriation Bill as budget of corruption; budget of shame and budget of
errors. Some have even called for its withdrawal with the view to correcting
the observed errors before representing it afresh for consideration.
Besides, internal wrangling arising
from discontent in the choice of leadership may further hamper a smooth sail
for the budget even as standing committees continue to work on budgetary
proposals of the MDAs.
Perhaps, the major obstacle in the way
of the Appropriation Bill is the dwindling oil prices in the international
market. The budget is premised on $38 per barrel benchmark, the current oil
price has fallen to $30. The implementation of the budget may be hampered by
the shrinking national economy and the prevalent liquidity squeeze.
The government is banking on short and
long-term borrowing from local and foreign sources, to finance the Budget of
Change.
Analysts are of the view that
diversification of the economy and frugality in government spending would help
in cutting wastage in the system.
