President Goodluck Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan will on Tuesday, November 12, present the 2014 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly.
This was contained in letters Jonathan sent to the two chambers of the parliament and read at yesterday’s plenary.
The letters read in both chambers of the National Assembly requested the lawmakers to prepare to receive the budget at 12 noon on that day.
The letters written to the Senate and House of Representatives dated October 23, 2013 read in part: “I write to crave your kind indulgence to grant me the slot of 12.00 noon on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 to enable me formally address a Joint Session of the National Assembly on the 2014 Budget.
“While thanking the Honourable Members of the House of Representatives (and Senate) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the constancy of their support, please accept the assurances of my highest consideration.”
The presentation of the new budget is coming about a month later than last year's when Jonathan laid the 2013 budget estimates before the parliament on October 10, 2012.
Also, Jonathan had on September 17, submitted the 2014-2016 Medium Term and Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Policy (FSP) containing a N4.495 trillion budget proposal for 2014.
The proposal, according to MTEF and FSP, will be predicated on $74 oil benchmark.
However, the president's decision to present the budget on November 12 is still of concern to many. This is moreso that the National Assembly is yet to pass the MTEF and FSP, which ordinarily should guide the executive in the preparation of the budget.
However, the Joint Committee of Senate and House of Representatives on Finance and Appropriation held a one-day public hearing on the 2014-2016 MTEF and FSP yesterday.
At the hearing, Director General of Budget Office, Mr. Bright Okogu, defended the $74 oil benchmark for the 2014 budget, saying the higher the benchmark, the bigger the liquidity.
Lawmakers at the hearing had queried the rationale behind reducing the benchmark from the current $79 to $74 when there was nothing to suggest a possible fall of the price of oil in 2014.
But Okogu, who agreed with the observation, argued that nothing suggested the fall witnessed in 2009 ahead of time.
According to him, pegging the benchmark at $74 per barrel was a protective measure, adding that no magic can ascertain what will obtain in the oil market next year.
Okogu also dismissed the perception that Nigeria was broke, submitting that indices, which showed that a country is broke, were not difficult to ascertain.
He further stated that even though Nigeria had cash flow problem, it was still not broke, insisting that countries that are broke have run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other relevant agencies, seeking a bailout.
On the rational for the reduction of capital expenditure from 32 per cent in the current budget to the proposed 26 per cent in 2014, Okongu said the sudden rise of labour wages from N870 billion in 2008 to N1.7 trillion has continued to have adverse effects on capital expenditure.
He also dismissed the notion that relevant stakeholders were not carried along in the preparation of MTEF and FSP.
However, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), represented by Mr. M.D Jatau, a Deputy Comptroller General of Customs, blamed the indiscriminate granting of waivers to individuals and companies that could conveniently pay duties on their imported products as one of the reasons for the shortfall in revenue.
According to Jatau, the federal government has granted waivers to the tune of N86 billion to different companies this year.
Jatau called for the curtailment of frivolous granting of waivers, saying only those who statutorily required it should enjoy them.
He further said the waivers were having an adverse effect on the agency's ability to meet the N1 trillion target this year. Nevertheless, he said NCS had met 60 per cent of its target.
In the House of Representatives, the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who read the letter on the 2014 budget presentation, however, expressed disappointment at the slow pace of work by standing committees of the House with respect to their oversight responsibilities on the 2013 Appropriation Act.
Ihedioha disclosed that of the 90 standing committees that participated in the oversight of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), only 10 committees had submitted their reports.
He charged the remaining 80 committees to expedite action and submit their reports on or before Thursday.
The House has in the last two months adjourned plenary twice to enable its committees engage the various MDAs on the level of implementation of the 2013 budget.
Each of the standing committees was expected to conduct an appraisal of the budget in the MDAs under their purview and submit their findings to the chamber.
In the same vein, the House was expected to deliberate on the reports to enable the lawmakers decide on how to deal with the new budget proposal.
In a related development, a member of the House of Representatives Razaq Bello-Osagie has raised concerns over the non-submission of reports of various investigations conducted by committees of the House.
Bello-Osagie (APC/ Edo) said there have been allegations in the media that the House has been conducting probes without ensuring that such probes achieved their set goals.
He said such insinuations in the media was not in the best interest of the House as Nigerians might begin to see the lawmakers and the National Assembly as not being serious.
He listed the oil subsidy probe, Rivers State House of Assembly crisis, the recent Apo killings, the Malabu oil block transaction, police pension fund, Dana air crash and assets seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as some of the investigations whose reports the House must bring to a logical conclusion.
In response to the observation, Ihedioha who presided over yesterday's session in the lower chamber, directed all committees to which matters were referred, to conclude their investigations and submit their reports promptly.
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