Members of the House of Representatives have taken turns to x-ray the 2021 appropriation bill presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 8, 2020.
While some of the lawmakers gave kudos to the government for the budget, the majority expressed displeasure with the capital vote contained in the budget, saying there was the need to increase the capital estimate and reduce spending on personnel.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the budget, House Leader, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa said the implementation of the 2020 budget faced a lot of challenges such as the covid-19 pandemic and the drastic fall in the prices of crude oil in the international market and economic challenges across the globe
He said in spite of the challenges, the government was able to release almost 60 percent of the capital estimate, with a promise to release more funds for capital projects before the end of the year, adding as a result of these challenges, the budget had to be reviewed.
He recalled several engagements between the National Assembly and the executive where so much of the capital expenditure had to be reduced, stressing that by the presentation of the President, there was evidence that more money will be made available before the end of the year.
Doguwa explained that the government was out to fight against those factors that militated against the successful implementation of the 2020 budget such as the falling price of crude oil, factors affecting the local production of crude oil, the Covid 19 pandemic among others.
He said that the parameters for the 2021 budget have been laid out in a way that the budget will not be faced with the same challenges as the 2020 budget and asked members to join hands and ensure speedy passage of the estimate.
He said further that the budget has the potentials to improve drastically on the nation’s education, health, agriculture, and rural development as well as improve security and infrastructural development, adding that the provision of the N441 billion to the police was the largest in the history of the country.
He said “the ball is now in our court. The Executive has done its own part. The budget as laid before the House is only but a proposal and I believe that with the commitment to serve the Nigerian people, we should ensure that this budget is given a speedy passage”.
Hon. Abdulrazak Namdis (APC, Adamawa) said the budget was practicable but said his major concern was the exchange rate which is pegged at N379 but argued that the nation needs to improve on its capital estimate.
He expressed concern that the nation needs to borrow to finance the budget and suggested that the borrowing should be more from internal sources because of the high-interest rate, adding that there was the need to reduce the cost of governance which will free more money that should be plunged into capital projects.
With the issues we have had in the last one year, one would have expected that the budget for health would have gone up, saying “if you look at the budget, there is N132 billion for health and a double of that for humanitarian and disaster management.
“In other words, while our country can provide more money for health, we are preparing more money for disaster that is yet to come. We need to appropriate more funds to the health sector fully aware of what we have gone through in the recent past.
“The money for education is N127 billion. No country that wants to develop will put that amount of money aside for education and voting N446 billion for disaster management. Education is a disaster waiting to happen. We must budget for it today because our schools need the money now.
“We are having a budget that has a lot for personnel and staff issues. It is time in this country that we have a budget that shows more concern for things that show more concern for people that are outside the government system”
Abubakar Yunusa said over the years, the parliament has been trying to close the gap between capital and recurrent expenditure, adding that “despite the quantum of the budget which is on the increase, the budget for capital projects left much to be desired.
He said that the increase in the capital budget for the 2021 fiscal year was not commensurate with the total sum of the subject, adding that there was the need to reduce the recurrent estimate to make way for an increase in capital expenditure
Yunusa called for a reduction in the cost of international travels, saying “a lot has been learned with this Covid-19 pandemic and so, we can cut down on international travels. So much can be achieved without traveling using virtual meetings. We should try to look at international travel as provided for in this budget.
Whatever savings we are able to make from there can be added to the capital estimate and take due advantage of the lessons we learned during this Covid-19 by attending virtual meetings. We should really scrutinize the estimates of the MDAs especially as it relates to their international travels with a view to reducing the cost.
Hon. Thomas Eriyetomi (PDP, Delta) decry decayed infrastructures in the country and expressed concern that rather than make more money available for capital projects, recurrent expenditure is again taking the lion shares of the budget.
He said that the capital project needs to be increased so that there can be a massive infrastructural development, adding that the capital budget as it is now cannot be left like that
He said that the source of revenue in the country should not be tied to oil only, adding that the economic diversification being talked about the need to be implemented so that money be generated from other sources to finance future budgets
In his contribution, Hon. Kunle Olarewaju said he finds it difficult to understand how government can always sit in Abuja and make budget plans for people in the states, adding that there is the is the need for interaction between the MDAs and the parliament before budgets are made to allow the lawmakers who are representatives of the people to make inputs.
He said once budgets have been prepared, there was little the parliament can do, saying “we can do practically nothing when the budget has been prepared and submitted”.
Both Hon. Onofiok Luke and Aniekan Umanna expressed displeasure that there was no provision in the budget for the Lagos-Calabar rail project mentioned by the President during his presentation, despite the President saying it was one of his priority projects.
Hon. Yusuf Gagdi accused MDAs of mismanaging government resources, thereby reducing revenues accruing to government, adding that the increase in Value Added Tax and other forms of taxes has not reflected in the revenue of the nation.
He said the house needs to take a critical look at the recommendations of the House Committee on Finance especially as it relates to revenue generating agencies that are not remitting the required money to the treasury.
Also contributing, Hon. Ben Ibakpa drew the attention of members to the statement of the President asking the lawmakers to follow the revenue the same way they will follow the expenditure and expressed concern about the continued borrowing plans of the government.\
He also expressed concern that while the government resorts to borrowing to fund the budget, officers of the government always come to the National Assembly to intimidate the lawmakers each time they ask questions.
Both Hon. Mark Gbila and Hon. Toby Okechukwu said the budget betrayed the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2004 which provided that budget deficit should not be more than 3 percent of GDP, adding that there was the need for the budget to be withdrawn and made to conform with the provisions of the law.
But Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, James Abiodun Faleke said the budget was still a proposal which the House will work on, adding that the President has already informed the House that an amendment to the Act will soon be tabled before the National Assembly.
Gbila however drew the attention of the House to the promise made to Benue state by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 for the reconstruction of communities affected by activities of bandits.
He said, “The President made a promise through the Vice President of N10 billion to Benue state. Not a single kobo of that money has been released. I have gone through the budget and it is not mentioned here”.
Okechukwu on his part said the President was honest enough to admit that the budget breached provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, but he was cut short by the Speaker who reminded him that he has already ruled on a motion by Faleke on the same issue.
Okechukwu said “Mr. Speaker, I represent the opposition. We should be allowed to have our say. In 2014, the budget was N4.6 trillion, but today, it is N13 trillion. When you compare using the exchange rate, it is almost the same. It means that we have had a lot of motion without movement since then.
“We have not been told how much we spent on subsidy and how that will affect the budget now that we are told there is no subsidy. What about the recoveries? How will that affect the budget?
“The House Committee on Finance did a lot of work on revenue generation and came up with the report that most MDAs are not remitting the 25 percent revenue they are supposed to the government treasury. The Central Bank of Nigeria is one of such agencies.
“Many MDAs are engaged in extra-budgetary spending. The CBN for example has spent a lot of money on intervention without budgetary provision. If they have the autonomy that allows them to do that, they should be prudent enough and report to parliament what they are doing”.
