Abuja — There are hopes that the dispute between the executive and legislative arms of government over the non-implementation of the 2009 Budget will soon be settled.

But Senate Leader Teslim Folarin maintained at the weekend that the legislature had the power to tinker with the budget proposals submitted to it by the executive arm of government.

He also hinted that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua would soon present a supplementary budget to the legislature.

He said in an interview in Abuja, that the two arms of government could actually collaborate to solve the perennial problem of non-implementation of budgets as passed by the National Assembly.

His position is coming amid reports of Presidency's claims that it would not be able to implement the N3.1 trillion 2009 budget passed by the legislature.

The legislature had jacked up the proposed budget figure of N2.955 trillion submitted to it by the executive.

The budget has been affected by a number of factors, particularly the lingering global economic meltdown that has manifested negatively in the capital market. The situation is worsened for the nation by the crude oil price crash that is still struggling to pick up.

Folarin said: "It is very clear that only the National Assembly can appropriate. But what the executive is saying is that, look, we come with figures and you can't tinker with them.

"It does not make sense. Why then do you bring these figures? And, we have looked at the practice all over the world. In Canada, for instance, the Canadian Parliament can reduce the budget. They can increase it.

"If you say the budget is 10 naira, they can say we are taking it to 15 naira. There is nothing you can do. But then, it is implied that if you can reduce it, you can also increase it."

But he noted that the furore over tinkering with the budget would become unnecessary if both arms could collaborate on the issue of budgeting and budget monitoring.

According to him, "If we worked together, that argument would not come into play. This is because, in working together, we would clearly identify the priorities of the government.

"For instance, they would say, this is my priority; I want to make sure there is uninterrupted power supply. So, when you now bring money, when you now send proposal to say that this is the money I want to spend to make sure I keep this objective, we would understand.

"But what is happening is that they are doing their own thing and they come to us. We are the representatives of the people. My people in Ibadan, for instance, are saying that look, you are a useless Senate Leader because the road from Ibadan to Oyo has not been done.

"For me, it is a priority area. For them (the executive), it is not a priority area; and that is the sort of conflict that you get."

On the supplementary budget and non-implementation of budgets as passed by the National Assembly, Folarin said: "We dialogued with the executive but you see, these things are very dynamic. The rate of the naira is dynamic; the price of crude oil is dynamic. It is not fixed. You can't say it is going to be this or that always.

"There was a time the price of crude oil got to $147 and it dropped again; and, so, you can't legislate based on these things. But the good thing is that this is why we have something like supplementary budget. I think we should receive one very soon. I will be surprised if we don't, taking into account the reality on the ground."

Reacting specifically on the non-implementation of the 2009 budget, he stated: "What we are hearing now is that there is a problem with implementation. Our committees are saying that the budget is not being implemented.

"But, even then, the Presidency is saying that the budget we have is unrealistic; and so, we all have to come back to the table and work together and come up with a realistic figure.

"If you look at the value of the naira in relation to the dollar, it has gone down; production level has gone down because of the activities of militants in the Niger Delta. So that has affected the revenue coming in.

"So, it is difficult. Legislators are right to say that look, the executive is not implementing the budget; and the executive is also right, in my view, to say look, we don't have money, how do we execute this budget?"

On the delay in the preparation and submission of budget proposal to the National Assembly, Folarin said the National Assembly was taking steps to address the problem through the establishment of a National Assembly Budget Office.

The office, according to him, would be charged with the responsibility of budget processing.

According to him, "We will overcome it through the establishment of the National Assembly Budget Office; and we are determined to do that this year.

"If we have that office, it will help our committees in their oversight functions. We would have the figures. We would have the statistics; and so, by the time the budget comes, if we have our budget office, we would have got our own budget.

"As it is now, they just come with the budget; nobody makes any input; nobody knows where these figures are coming from and you have to take them. I think it is very sad."