Daily Independent (Lagos)
Adetutu Folasade-Koyi
4 December 2008
Abuja — Senators have demanded an apology from Finance Minister, Shamsudeen Usman, over his statement that the delay by the National Assembly in passing the 2008 budget led to its poor implementation.
Senate President, David Mark, described the remark as unfortunate and unnecessary, and cautioned the executive not to pass the buck on its inability to execute "simple projects".
It was Environment and Ecology Committee Chairman, Grace Folashade Bent, who drew attention of the Senators to the statement credited to Usman in the newspapers.
Usman had told reporters on Wednesday that only 40 per cent to 45 per cent of the budget has been implemented.
"One of the first things was the delay in getting the budget approved (by the National Assembly) and the ups and downs that followed even after it was approved in April.
"We went for an amendment, the amendment wasn't approved until, I mean, you know the story. So that obviously contributed to the delay in getting the budget implemented," he stated.
During his presentation of the 2009 budget on Tuesday, President Umaru Yar'Adua himself had noted that "the performance of the 2008 budget has been mixed and indeed far from satisfactory.
"While releases of budgetary allocations to the MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies) have been on course, with 100 per cent of the capital vote released by the middle of November, actual utilisation has not kept pace with the releases due to a number of factors which we are closely looking into.
"So our hope is that an accelerated passage of the budget in 2009 will help us begin to really actualise and address the issue of poor budget implementation."
On Thursday, Mark reacted in an angry tone that "if we carry out our oversight functions properly, then the ministries will be forced to sit up. And I think the emphasis there is that we should ensure that we intensify our oversight functions.
"I am particularly disturbed by the comments from (Usman) who was on air this morning blaming us that they did not implement the 2008 budget because we did not release it on time.
"That is totally unfortunate, totally unnecessary. And he is passing the buck of the inefficiency from the executive on to the Senate.
"They are just finding excuses for their inability to carry out simple projects that they themselves put in the budget. And that is the more reason we should take our oversight functions very, very seriously.
"I think they owe us an apology. If the Minister of Finance goes on air to say that they did not implement projects because we delayed, that is very unfortunate."
He urged Ministerial nominee, Senator Adamu Aliero to refrain from making such statements after he has been confirmed by the Chamber.
"We passed the supplementary budget within the shortest possible time and they have not implemented a single project from there. We take serious exception to that type of comment. And Aliero, if you are going to join the executive, make sure you don't say that."
Senate Spokesman, Ayogu Eze, said Usman is "indulging his fancy" because "he knows as most Nigerians know that the executive demonstrated an absolute lack of capacity to implement the budget for this year.
"After passing the budget in April, the executive was supposed to make reservations to the National Assembly and return it for correction within two weeks.
"That budget never came back till July, and when it did, it mangled all the projects that were supposed to benefit our constituents. Because of that we had to sort out the differences and we found out the budget was proposing unacceptable level of deficits.
"While the amendment was on there was an extant Appropriation Law which the executive was duty bound to implement until the amendment came through.
"We believe that that failure or absence of lack of capacity to run the budget should not be an excuse to blackmail the legislature.
"To make matters worse, they brought a supplementary appropriation sometime in September, and I can tell you that although we passed it speedily it has not been implemented.
"The legislature will not tolerate this kind of dismal performance. We will make sure through our oversight responsibility that the failure does not occur again."
Despite the bickering, the 2009 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday scaled Second Reading at the Senate, where the lawmakers concluded debate on the general principles of the N2.8 trillion budget and referred it to the Appropriation Committee chaired by Iyiola Omisore.
Mark told the Committee to return the Bill by December 16, and urged his colleagues to give it urgent attention at the other Committee levels.
"I know this is tasking. But I urge you to devote your time most especially during the break to look at the budget. We should be able to meet with our counterparts from the Lower House to quickly harmonise the budget for its quick passage," he pleaded.
Other Senators who commented on the budget included Kabiru Gaya, Adamu Aliero, Victor Ndoma-Egba, John Eferakeya, Nicholas Ugbane, Joy Emodi, and Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello.
Ndoma-Egba lauded the government's concern for the Niger Delta but was not happy with the allocation to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
He stressed: "My one area of concern is the Niger Delta. This administration at inception made the Niger Delta a part of its seven-point agenda. It even created the Niger Delta Ministry. Those of us from there acknowledge and appreciate that.
"Funding for the NDDC is Constitutional. We insist that it must be followed to the letter and the law establishing the NDDC. Whatever accrues to the NDDC must be given to it.
"Funding for the NDDC has nothing to do with the creation of the ministry. The shortfall recorded in the past must be released to it."
The Senate had on Wednesday resolved to pass the Appropriation Bill into law by December 19.
It also resolved that the fiscal year should now run from January to December.
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