Senate condemns Buhari’s blame-game on budget delay

The Senate has condemned the shifting of blames to the National Assembly over delay in passing the national budget every year.In a statement yesterday by its Minority Leader, Biodun Olujimi, the upper legislative chamber advised the Presidency to desist from playing politics with sensitive issues like the budgeting process.

Olujimi noted that a recent statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari blaming the National Assembly for the delay in the passage of the Appropriation Act every year was not only unfortunate, but shows that the Executive arm is not saying the truth.

The statement said: “The President himself in June this year expressed surprise during a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly when he was confronted with the fact that ministers and heads of other agencies have refused to defend the budget proposals of their ministries and agencies before legislative committees.

“On that occasion, the President stated that the information was contrary to what he was told by his aides before coming for the meeting. He then ordered the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to compel all heads of MDAs to immediately appear before the respective committees so that the budget can be passed.

“It is a well-known fact that some ministers had in the past appeared before the National Assembly committees and denied certain provisions in the budget of their ministries. In one instance, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, denied the provision made for the purchase of computers in his ministry as stated in the budget proposal submitted to the National Assembly. This kind of disconnect between budget proposals and the position of the heads of MDAs made the National Assembly to insist on budget defence by heads of MDAs. This has helped to curb the menace of what is known as budget padding.

“What was usually laid before the parliament were mere window-dressing documents for the purpose of the presentation ceremony.“There were also past instances like in the case of the 2016 budget when after the budget proposal was submitted with fanfare, the Executive attempted to surreptitiously change what was submitted, thereby leading to allegation of ‘missing budget’ in the media. Later, there were two formal applications for substitution of the budget proposals.

“All these developments will necessarily lead to delay in the passage of the budget. The National Assembly, in the spirit of co-operation, decided to keep quiet and demonstrated understanding with the Executive. Yet, in order to undermine the Legislature and incite people against the institution, the Executive will often go to the public to talk ill of the Legislature and blame us for its own failure.