The House of Representatives, yesterday, made good its threat
not to touch the 2013 budget until it was satisfied with the
implementation of the 2012 budget.
They refused to grant President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to lay the 2013 budget proposal next Thursday.
In
furtherance of this, the House has suspended plenary for the whole of
next week to enable committees carry out proper over-sight functions on
Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.
The resolution was
passed after a robust debate on the letter sent by the Presidency and
read by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal during Tuesday plenary.
Tambuwal,
who presided over yesterday’s plenary, pledged to liaise with the
leadership of the Senate with a view to reaching a compromise on the
budget presentation.
The
legislators had, during the debate on the letter, unanimously agreed
that the budget proposal should be suspended until the House concludes
its findings.
Speaking on the resolution, Abdulmumin Jubrin,
Chairman, House Committee on Finance, who chaired the interactive
session with Federal Ministry of Finance led by Yerima Ngama, Minister
of State for Finance and Bright Okogwu, Director General of Budget
Office, explained that the resolution was passed at plenary.
Jubrin
who briefed the House on some of the issues raised during the ongoing
interactive session with MDAs, bemoaned the state of budget
implementation.
The lawmakers had on resumption from the
eight-week annual recess decried the poor level of 2012 budget
implementation and issued ultimatum to the executive to ensure timely
release of funds approved for execution of capital projects to MDAs
without further delay.
They also urged the President to direct Dr
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance
to release the third quarter for 2012.
During the debate on the
Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Strategy Paper sent to both
chambers last week, the lawmakers expressed concern over the absymal
implementation of the 2012 budget despite increase in the revenue
generation accruing to Federal Government.
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