Daily Independent (Lagos)
Austin Oboh
2 December 2008
Lagos — Some lawmakers who had come for a joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday, November 19, were disappointed. This was because President Umaru Yar'Adua who was expected to present the Federal Government's draft budget for 2009 to both chambers changed his mind at the last minute.
It was not the first time the presentation of the 2009 budget was being postponed. It had gone on repeatedly in what some now refer to as the characteristic Yar'Adua's 'drag-on' style, which presidential aides would say is caused by the need for 'dequate consultation.'
There was something untidy about the November 19 postponement since some lawmakers were unaware of the change until they got to the Senate chamber. This is what, once again, those who have been observing the conduct of public affairs at Aso Rock find rather uncomfortable - that even the President is never sure what he would do the next hour. It is either there is absence of synchrony in presidential schedules, critics have said, or that the Presidency is suffering from what Wole Soyinka once referred to as the 'Rambo' - shoot before you think - syndrome.
Another postponement came last week, when the presentation which had been fixed for Wednesday 27 was shelved, because of the failure of the Presidency to successfully iron out grey areas in the budget. A long parley between the President and the lawmakers on Tuesday had failed to accomplish the expected perfect finish on the budget.
Yar'Adua's drag-on style had been manifest in three areas, recently - the 2009 budget presentation, the reshuffling of his cabinet, and long-term process of instituting reforms in the power sector.
Preparing the budget proposals had been a painstaking one as revealed by presidential spokesman, Segun Adeniyi, on account of the President's anxiety to avoid the pitfalls of past budgets, but even while predicting that the presentation of the budget was imminent, he was never sure precisely what day it would be. Having identified the significant role of current global financial crunch as a burden to the budget proposals, he disclosed that the president had to refocus the efforts of the Ministry of Finance several times to align with his thinking in a determination to ensure that government got its acts together, and that the budgeting process conformed with the developmental needs of the country.
He also blamed the long preparation period for the budget proposal as well as the delay in its presentation to the global economic crunch that affected the oil price benchmark.
"The budget has taken a long time to prepare not only because of the global economic crunch that affected the oil price benchmark, but also because the President has had to refocus the efforts of the Ministry of Finance several times to align with his thinking," he had stated.
Adeniyi claimed that the president had to change some aspects of the nation's budgeting process, which he said had not advanced its quest for development in any way.
He said those criticising the administration for being slow in service delivery, had not taken into cognisance the fact that some of the greatest problems that had afflicted governance in the country were a product of lack of planning and the utter disregard for due process, procedures and the rule, of law which he insisted the President had recognised and was determined to halt.
At least two reasons have variously been given by presidential aides for the postponement: the need for wide consultation and harmonisation of figures with the legislature and falling oil price which kept affecting budgetary projections.
Spokesman for the Senate, Ayogu Eze, who also commented on the matter, said the proposed presentation of the budget had to be called off to give room for further consultations.
His words: "It has been postponed until probably next week. This is to allow for further consultations between the National Assembly, the Budget Office and the Ministry of Finance. We are trying to avoid a situation where we will still be having issues with the budget long after it has been presented. What we want to ensure is that the necessary inputs are made, and all the grey areas sorted out before the presentation, so as to save both the legislature and the executive time."
State governors had on Tuesday declared their support for the $45 per barrel crude price benchmark adopted by the Federal Government in formulating the 2009 budget, which was initially scheduled for presentation to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja on Wednesday.
The governors' position, which is a reversal of their earlier stance in favour of a $50, was influenced by further drop in oil price in the international market. Oil prices have declined sharply in the wake of the global financial crisis - from an all-time high of $147 per barrel in July to about $60 currently.
The governors' decision came after the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja, chaired by the President, with the Central Bank Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, in attendance. The governors had at their last meeting under the aegis of the Governors Forum, said the President's $45 per barrel benchmark proposal for the 2009 budget was 'unrealistic.'
Briefing journalists after the NEC meeting, chairman of the Forum, Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, said that the 36 state governors agreed with the President's proposal after listening to the CBN governor.
In his own briefing, Soludo, who noted that the country was not insulated from the global financial meltdown added, however, that certain indices had shown that the country stood a chance of surviving the turmoil. He said saving some percentage of the excess crude earnings had helped to stabilise the economy.
According to Soludo, the debt relief; the recapitalisation of the banks; and the country's robust external reserves had helped to protect the economy from vulnerability, just as he noted that the stock market was recovering gradually from a near crash.
Interestingly, many members of the public, including the House of Representatives are already apprehensive over the delays. Its member have continued to query the continued delay in the budget presentation, which they argued was affecting economic activities. Similarly disappointed were the bulk of Nigerians who, nevertheless, could only complain quietly.
Opposition leaders expectedly ridiculed the administration and its head for their 'slow motion.'
Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) described the failure of the President to present the budget to the National Assembly as scheduled as the hallmark of inertia that has characterised the Yar'Adua administration.
National Conscience Party (NCP) also viewed it as a dangerous signal that Nigeria, under the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Yar'Adua as Head of State, would not make any meaningful progress.
CNPP and NCP in their separate responses to Daily Independent expressed shock and displeasure over development, despite the fact that the 2008 edition presented in early October 2007 took almost one year to be ratified.
Osita Okechukwu, CNPP's national publicity secretary, not only lambasted the President for what he called his lackluster approach to his much-talked-about seven-point agenda, but also for setting forth a dangerous precedent of "the more you look, the less you see" style of leadership for the nation.
"The delay in the presentation of the 2009 budget is the hallmark of Yar'Adua's inertia template; otherwise, before Nigerians split hairs on the budget, where is the 2008 square-signed budget? The posturing of Yar'Adua and his lieutenants so far has demonstrated that the PDP leadership does not have something meaningful to offer the Nigerian people. Everything in the country is currently suffering from delay syndrome, which Yar'Adua has inflicted on it."
As for the NCP Lagos chairman, Afolabi Gbajumo, he attributed the delay to the fact that the government was headed by a president whose capabilities to operate the office was still in serious doubt.
He also described "the climb and tarry" tactics of Yar'Adua - which has reduced the pace of government activities in the country drastically since May 29, 2007 - as an albatross to the nation's quest of becoming one of the 20 most developed nations in 2020.
"NCP condemns the delay that has trailed the 2009 budget, for it portends serious socio-economic and political trauma for the nation still under the rule of 'kleptocrats'," he quipped, urging Nigerians to rise against the ugly developments in the country.
But a former PDP legislative aspirant in the 2007 election in Edo State who preferred anonymity has spoken in defense of the President, while adducing the delay in the presentation of the budget to his desire to introduce thoroughness and precision to government matters, especially the crucial annual budget.
"Annual budgets are not estimations you do with figures from textbooks; there must be interdepartmental consultation and harmonisation, the politician said, adding: "People don't realise that this is a different government and it is not business as usual."
Speaking further, he said: "Do you know that advert which says 'what is power without control?' So, you can also ask the question: 'what is speed without direction?' Those who accuse the President of being slow never stop to consider the monumental tragedies, which hasty decisions under military regimes cost this country in the past; the effects are still with us, they are not interested in such details, they just want to see speed, but where it is leading to is not important to them."
His advice to Nigerians is that they should exercise patience, just as he expressed hope that the budget this time would be different. His reason: "This is the budget that you could really call Yar'Adua's first budget; the 2008 budget did not enjoy his visionary input since he had not really settled down when that budget was presented."
Indeed, there are probabilities that the 2009 budget may introduce elements of change, especially as there have been spirited efforts at identifying the failures of the preceding one.
The real change would come, it seems, if ministries and agencies are able to account for the votes they received at least six months into implementation. The absence of this in the past, economists have pointed out, is the reason federal roads are the way they were nine years ago, despite annual capital votes for their repairs and maintenance.
The popular belief now is that only visible evidence of change can assuage the feelings of millions of Nigerians who are irked by the Federal Government's 'slow-motion' and dilly-dallying over the budget.
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