There appears to be no end in sight in the
face-off between the presidency and the National Assembly over the
implementation of 2012 budget as the Senate on Tuesday said the
executive has only implemented 21.5 percent of the 2012 budget.
This is contrary to the figure given by the House of Representatives which said the executive has implemented 34 percent of the budget.
At what was supposed to be an interactive session between the Senate and members of the executive, the Chairman Senate committee on appropriation, Ahmed Maccido said the level of budget implementation was less than impressive.
“Contrary to claims by the executive that the level of implementation was 56 per cent, we have found out that the performance level is actually 21.5 percent.
“This is based on records from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. The Senate is not happy about this,’’ Senator Maccido said.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was absent from the session prompting the senate leadership to adjourn the meeting.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu directed the senate committee on appropriation to summon Mrs Okonjo-Iweala to appear before the committee on Thursday to explain the level of implementation of the budget.
Senator Ekweremadu expressed concern over the poor implementation of the budget, adding that the level of implementation was below expectation.
He said that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who also doubles as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, had last week failed to brief the Senate on the implementation of the budget.
He condemned Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s official trip to London to represent the president at an investment forum, saying that there were other officials who could represent the Nigerian government.
“We consider our meeting with her on any issue that has to do with budget implementation to be more important than any other assignment.
“We know there are other ministers and government officials that could as well have done that to enable her to be here with us this afternoon.
“So it is regrettable that she is not here, ” he said.
He explained that the public hearing was aimed at evaluating the level of performance of the budget and to know what was responsible for the non-implementation.
“One of the excuses we’ve read from the pages of newspapers for non-performance of the budget is what they considered as the tinkering of the budget by the National Assembly.
“So, what we had wanted to do today is to hear from the executive what those tinkering are.
“Let us hear and let the people of Nigeria hear what the National Assembly did to the budget that made it impossible for it to be implemented.
“So it is not enough for the Executive or the Minister of Finance to be accusing the National Assembly of tampering with the budget that made it impossible for it to be implemented.
“If there are areas that the National Assembly should be blamed, the Nigerian public should hear,” Senator Ekweremadu said.
The Deputy Senate President subsequently adjourned the public hearing till Thursday to enable the Appropriation Committee to take the necessary legislative action to ensure that the minister appears before it.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, were among the representatives of the executive at the meeting.
This is contrary to the figure given by the House of Representatives which said the executive has implemented 34 percent of the budget.
At what was supposed to be an interactive session between the Senate and members of the executive, the Chairman Senate committee on appropriation, Ahmed Maccido said the level of budget implementation was less than impressive.
“Contrary to claims by the executive that the level of implementation was 56 per cent, we have found out that the performance level is actually 21.5 percent.
“This is based on records from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. The Senate is not happy about this,’’ Senator Maccido said.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was absent from the session prompting the senate leadership to adjourn the meeting.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu directed the senate committee on appropriation to summon Mrs Okonjo-Iweala to appear before the committee on Thursday to explain the level of implementation of the budget.
Senator Ekweremadu expressed concern over the poor implementation of the budget, adding that the level of implementation was below expectation.
He said that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who also doubles as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, had last week failed to brief the Senate on the implementation of the budget.
He condemned Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s official trip to London to represent the president at an investment forum, saying that there were other officials who could represent the Nigerian government.
“We consider our meeting with her on any issue that has to do with budget implementation to be more important than any other assignment.
“We know there are other ministers and government officials that could as well have done that to enable her to be here with us this afternoon.
“So it is regrettable that she is not here, ” he said.
He explained that the public hearing was aimed at evaluating the level of performance of the budget and to know what was responsible for the non-implementation.
“One of the excuses we’ve read from the pages of newspapers for non-performance of the budget is what they considered as the tinkering of the budget by the National Assembly.
“So, what we had wanted to do today is to hear from the executive what those tinkering are.
“Let us hear and let the people of Nigeria hear what the National Assembly did to the budget that made it impossible for it to be implemented.
“So it is not enough for the Executive or the Minister of Finance to be accusing the National Assembly of tampering with the budget that made it impossible for it to be implemented.
“If there are areas that the National Assembly should be blamed, the Nigerian public should hear,” Senator Ekweremadu said.
The Deputy Senate President subsequently adjourned the public hearing till Thursday to enable the Appropriation Committee to take the necessary legislative action to ensure that the minister appears before it.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, were among the representatives of the executive at the meeting.
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