By: Hajara Umar Nataala
Members of the National Assembly have insisted on the amendments made to the 2022 Appropriation Bill, including the reduction of allocation to 10,733 projects and insertion of 6,576 new ones.
The lawmakers stated that by the power of appropriation conferred on the National Assembly by the constitution, the parliament has the right to tinker with the Federal Government’s budget like any other bill.
According to the members, who spoke to the Guardian correspondents, in separate interviews on Sunday, “the changes made and the response by the President Muhammadu Buhari showed that the legislature was not a rubber stamp of the Executive, as being alleged by Nigerians”.
Buhari had on Friday while signing into law, the 2022 Appropriation Bill and the 2021 Finance Bill, expressed strong reservations on the “worrisome changes” made by the National Assembly to the Federal Government’s budget.
He argued that the cuts in the provisions for several of these projects by the National Assembly might render the projects “un-implementable” or set back their completion, especially some of the administration’s strategic capital projects.
The President declared that he would revert to the National Assembly with a request for an amendment after the parliament’s resumption so that critical ongoing projects cardinal to his regime would not suffer a setback due to the reduced funding.
Lawmakers have no right to introduce projects, it is an anomaly, says Itse Sagay
Supporting the President’s view, the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), told The PUNCH that it was illegal for the National Assembly to introduce projects into the budget proposal submitted by the President.
The senior advocate stated while the legislative arm of government had the right to adjust figures and make amendments to the budget, it lacked the power to introduce new projects.
He also argued that the National Assembly was trying to usurp the powers of the executive arm of government hence the penchant of the lawmakers for executing projects.
Sagay added, “Yes, the National Assembly have the power to deduct funds from certain projects. But what they don’t have power to do is to introduce new projects into the budget. It is an executive budget. It is an anomaly. Nigeria is the only country in the world that legislators introduce projects. It has never been done. It is an unconstitutional act in the extreme.
“It is a pity that the executive has been blackmailed to swallow this bitter pill. The functions of the executive are being taken over by the legislature because they are afraid that if they protest, the National Assembly will not approve the budget. It is pure blackmail.
“The National Assembly members contest elections as lawmakers but when elected, they suddenly want to become part of the executive which is very sad.
Constituency projects are part of it and it is illegal.”
When asked why the executive arm of government had never approached the Supreme Court to determine if the legislative have the power to introduce projects into the budget, Sagay responded by stating that the executive had succumbed to the blackmail.
The lawmakers, however, justified their action during separate interviews with The PUNCH on Sunday.
A principal officer of the National Assembly who wished to remain anonymous because he didn’t want to offend the President, told The PUNCH that the lawmakers would not be inclined towards removing any projects especially because electioneering was about to begin.
He said, “Most Nigerians do not understand what passing a bill is or what oversight is. They want boreholes, refurbished health centres and other tangible things. They want us to buy them sewing machines, motorcycles, JAMB forms for their children and other items for empowerment.
“Telling them to remove such programmes from the project during an election year is like suicide. They will never agree.”
Source: The Punch