Budget Showdown Looms As Buhari Withholds Assent

President Muhammadu Buhari

• Ministers stop Buhari from signing ‘mutilated’ budget • NASS tampers with key projects• FG spots eight key defects in budget details • Legislators slash allocations for completion of major road projects nationwide• Ministers end scrutiny of details, send package to Udoma

The Presidency and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) have identified  eight  major ‘assaults’  by the National Assembly  on the 2016 Appropriation Bill sent to President Muhammadu Buhari last Thursday for his assent.

The Nation report continues:

The infractions were detected by the ministers at their Friday’s emergency meeting called to vet the budget details.

This development is now stalling the signing into law of the bill by the President until his return from a week-long trip to China.

But he plans to engage the National Assembly in talks with a view to resolving the issues, sources familiar with the matter said.

In contention are funds proposed by the executive for   key infrastructure projects but which were either removed from the budget or slashed drastically by the National Assembly in the details presented to him.

One of these is the Coastal Railway project which the President plans to discuss with the Chinese government during his visit.

He is departing Abuja today for Beijing at the start of the visit.

Government earmarked ₦60billion counterpart funds for it but the NASS removed it completely from the budget details.

It was gathered that Buhari had planned to assent to the Appropriation Bill yesterday but the “strategic and fundamental errors/ oversights” in the details may now delay it by a week.

The Presidency also found that the NASS:

*Expunged the Calabar – Lagos rail line project from the budget details;

*Reduced allocation to the completion Idu-Kaduna rail project by ₦8.7b;

*Slashed allocations for the completion of all major road projects across the country;

*Proposed new roads for which studies have not been conducted;

*Dropped proposals for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns like Polio and AIDS;

*Cancelled or reduced allocations for diversification projects under Agriculture and Water Resources; and

*Diverted funds for rural health facilities and boreholes for which provisions had been made elsewhere.

Throwing light on the issue, a well-placed source said: “The National Assembly transmitted the details to the President on Thursday, April 7, 2016 and because he was desirous of giving assent to the Appropriation Bill before leaving for China, he directed that the Ministers should review the provisions/appropriations of their respective ministry to fast-track the process.

“The document was distributed same Thursday to all ministers and a meeting was agreed for Friday to get everything sorted out for the President’s briefing and assent. That was why the Vice President, who is the Head of the Economic Team presided over the meeting and not the President.

“At the meeting, it was noticed that some very key aspects of the Budget, which have to do with government’s core infrastructural focus were removed. One of which is the subject of the President’s trip to China – the Coastal Railway project – for which a counterpart funding of ₦60b was provided, but which was completely removed by the National Assembly.”

The Executive is working on two major rail arteries, among other rail projects, to service the northern and eastern part of the country – the Lagos-Kano line and the Calabar – Lagos line.

The source said that while the provision for the Lagos-Kano rail line was left untouched, the Calabar – Lagos line was removed entirely.

Both projects are to be funded jointly by China and Nigeria. The source said that the amount proposed for the completion of the Idu-Kaduna rail project which “has reached an advanced stage was reduced by N8.7b, a development which will make it difficult for the project to be completed.”

Continuing, the source said: “The other fundamental area noticed was in respect of completion of on-going road projects. While the Executive had provided for the completion of all major road projects across the country, the National Assembly reduced the amounts provided and instead included new roads which studies have not even been conducted.

“The amounts provided by the National Assembly for the projects can neither complete the on-going road projects nor the new ones proposed. At the end of the year no significant progress would have been made.”

Asked of the next step, the source said: “Because of these observations, the President is engaging further with the leadership of the National Assembly to resolve them and hopes that it would be resolved by the time he returns from his trip to China.

“The President is desirous of signing the bill into law so that the implementation of the provisions could begin in earnest for the benefit of the people.

“That is why the moment he received the document on Thursday, a meeting was convened for Friday to immediately start work on it.”

Another source in the cabinet said: “We have all completed the review of the budget details sent to the Presidency by the National Assembly.”

All ministers were directed to send their observations (if any) on their allocations to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma.

The Ministry of Budget and National Planning will thereafter compile all observations and comments in line with the proposals of the Executive arm and guide the President accordingly.

Another reliable source spoke yesterday of how ministers and members of the president’s economic team stopped him from signing the ‘mutilated’ budget.

The ministers, according to the source who was at the Friday meeting, lamented the “reckless mutilation” of the original documents which the President tendered to the National Assembly, noting that the details were clearly un-implementable.

The source disclosed that Buhari, who had earlier been scheduled to address the nation after signing the budget had to call off the broadcast.

He said: “All the ministers, aside the Defence Minister who was a bit positive about the figures appropriated for his ministry, totally kicked against the so called budget details.

“They said it was mutilated beyond recognition and therefore cannot be implemented under the present condition. Notably, the Minister of Health told the gathering that what was returned to his ministry was even worse than what he kicked against when he went to defend the budget in the National Assembly.

“As a matter of fact, the budget details made nonsense of the planned visit of the President to China because the lawmakers removed that aspect of the loan completely from the details that were scrutinized by the ministers yesterday (Friday).”

Asked what steps the Presidency would take next, the source said two options are open for the President. He said the documents may be sent back to the lawmakers with a detailed note on the mutilation and a call for rectification or he may be persuaded to sign the budget and then ask for modifications.

2016 Budget: FEC Detects Padding By National Assembly

Nigeria's National Assembly

The Sunday Punch reports that the crisis between President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly over the 2016 budget has worsened as the executive has discovered fresh padding of the fiscal document by the lawmakers.

Sunday Punch reliably learnt on Saturday that only one minister did not have problems with the budget when it was discussed at the emergency Federal Executive meeting presided over by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Friday.

It was learnt that the lawmakers reduced amounts allocated to some major projects and inserted what was not originally included in the budget by the executive.

A top civil servant, who confided reporters said, “Only one minister did not have any problem with the budget details the National Assembly submitted to the President.

“There are instances, where they completely removed projects and padded the budget by inserting theirs. The lawmakers should know that the budget is the document of the executive and it takes responsibility for it.”

It was learnt that at the FEC meeting that many key aspects of the budget on government’s infrastructural programmes were removed.

One of such, it was gathered, was the coastal railway project. Findings showed that Calabar-Lagos rail project was removed from the budget by the lawmakers.

The senior civil servant, who confided in reporters, said, “The coastal railway project is one of the reasons the President is in China. N60bn counterpart funding has been provided.

“We are working on two major rail arteries.  The Lagos-Kano line and the Calabar – Lagos line. While the Lagos-Kano provision was left intact by the National Assembly, the Calabar – Lagos line was removed.”

The projects will be jointly financed by the Federal Government and China.

It was learnt that the FEC meeting noticed that the amount proposed for the completion of the Idu-Kaduna rail project, was also reduced by ₦8.7bn.

It was gathered that the executive observed that the reduction would make the completion of the project difficult.

The civil servant stated, “Another major area noticed was the completion of on-going road projects. While the executive in the budget provided for the completion of all major road projects, the National Assembly reduced the amounts budgeted for them and instead, inserted new road projects which studies have not even been conducted.

“The amounts allocated by the National Assembly for the projects can neither complete the ongoing projects nor the new ones. At the end of 2016, no significant progress would have been made.

“Another major flaw in the budget is in the health sector. Proposals made for the purchase of essential drugs for major health issues such as Polio and AIDS were removed by the National Assembly.”

The FEC also observed that certain provisions made for agriculture and water resources as part of the Federal Government’s diversification projects were either removed or reduced.

 “The funds were moved to provision of rural health facilities and boreholes, for which provisions have been made elsewhere,” the top civil servants said.

It was gathered that the lawmakers made such provisions in their constituencies.

Investigations showed that the President had reached out to the leadership of the National Assembly as part of efforts to resolve areas of disagreement.

It was learnt that Buhari was determined to ensure that the budget was signed as soon as he returned from China and once the grey areas were resolved.

It will be recalled that the National Assembly had a few months ago detected errors in the budget. The lawmakers had also alleged that the budget was padded.

Asked to speak on the recent development, the House of Representatives advised the executive to appreciate the power of the legislature to appropriate funds as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, who gave the House’ position, explained further: “The job of the executive is to initiate projects and spending heads, but it is the responsibility of the National Assembly to appropriate funds as necessary.”

On padding, Namdas said that it was actually the fault of the executive, which brought a budget that was already full of discrepancies to the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.

“Padding was an issue that the executive itself admitted ever before the National Assembly started a thorough re-working of the budget to clean it up,” he said.

The senate spokesperson, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, neither picked calls to his mobile telephone nor   responded to the text message sent to him on the issue.

Also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, had yet to respond to a text message sent to him after repeated calls made to his mobile line did not connect.
When contacted, the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enag said, “What the Minister of Information said after the FEC meeting is the exact position of government on the issue. I have nothing more to add.”