This budget won’t fly – Lawmakers

27th Jan. 2016

The National Assembly yesterday continued the debate on the 2016 national budget, picking holes in the N6.07 trillion estimates.

In the Upper Chamber, Senator Samuel Anyanwu said the budget will not work because the $38 oil benchmark is unrealistic going by the current price which is below $30 and it may drop further.

This is even as the House Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, said the budget’s sum total was wrong. He said the actual figure should be N6.33 trillion.

Anyanwu, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, therefore advocated for a downward review of the oil benchmark in tandem with global economic realities.

Anyanwu said it was time for the country to take the issue of diversification of the economy more seriously.

He said there was the need for the government to immediately explore alternative sources of funding to make up for the shortfall occasioned by the sharp drop in the price of crude oil.

“We must tell ourselves the truth. The oil benchmark upon which the 2016 budget was predicated is unrealistic. The benchmark must be reviewed. We keep talking about the diversification of the economy. But the budget proposals for the solid and agricultural sectors are almost the same.

“In the South-East, we have been internally displaced by erosion. And this year’s budget makes a caricature of the region,” he noted. 

Meanwhile, lawmakers drawn from the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), agreed during the debate that government must ensure that monies borrowed to fund the budget were spent on capital projects.

Senator Clifford Ordia hailed the budget and described it as a departure from the past. He said if well implemented, it will go a long way in  raising the living standards of the people.

Making a case for the expenditure of borrowed monies on capital projects, he said: “The 2016 budget as all other budget has no political affiliation or inclination. What Nigerians need at this moment is a workable budget that would improve on their living condition. Our contribution therefore, must be informed by national interest alone and nothing more.

Meanwhile, the Appropriation Bill passed Second Reading in the House yesterday, but this wasn’t without lawmakers from the main opposition PDP picking holes in the document.

Leading the onslaught on the last day of the debate on the budget, Ogor said it was disappointing that something as fundamental and important as the sum total of the budget, was wrongly presented.

According to Ogor, who offered to borrow the House his computer to calculate what he said was the correct amount for the budget, contrary to the document presented by President Muhammadu Buhari which was N6.077 trillion, the budget total stands at N6.33 trillion.

“We have before us a budget of N6.077 trillion. But the bill before you, I calculated to be N6.33 trillion and I stand to be corrected. I can give you my calculator and maybe you can work it out” he said.

He criticised the late presentation of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which he said was an infraction of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which states that the document be sent not later than three months before the budget is presented, adding that the entire budget process was faulty from the onset.

Speaking after Minority Leader, Ossai Nicholas Ossai identified a major flaw of the budget to be the inclusion of Ministries, Departments and Agencies such as the Transport ministry and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) that do not have statutory transfer status as such.

“I ride on the presentation of the Minority Leader to say that this budget has failed all known litmus tests” he said

Despite the heated debate, lawmakers unanimously passed the bill when put to a voice vote by Speaker Yakubu Dogara. 

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