President Muhammadu Buhari may be
in for another showdown with members of the National Assembly on resumption of
plenary in January if the executive fails to release funds appropriated to the
federal parliament in the 2018 budget.
Some of the federal lawmakers,
who spoke with our correspondents on Friday, alleged that the executive arm of
government had withheld their money as a form of punishment.
The National Assembly increased
its budget from N125bn allocated to it in 2017 to N139bn in 2018.
They, however, said rather than
implement the N139bn allocated to them in 2018, the executive was still paying
them based on the N125bn appropriated for them in the 2017 national budget.
The development worsened
penultimate week, forcing the House of Representatives to summon the Minister
of Finance, Aisha Mohammed, to explain the delay in the release of the funds,
categorised as first-line charge.
But the minister attributed the
non-implementation of the 2018 National Assembly budget to a gross revenue
shortfall recorded by the Federal Government in the current fiscal year.
Obviously not satisfied with the
minister’s explanation, the representatives demanded immediate full payment of
the monthly release to the assembly put at N11bn monthly.
They lamented that the executive
was still releasing N10bn monthly to the federal parliament based on the 2017
appropriation despite the fact that the 2018 national budget was assented to in
June this year.
The Deputy Speaker, House of
Representatives, Lasun Yusuf, said, “Clearly, the Appropriation Act has been
breached; the law has been breached. Each month, the National Assembly receives
money less by N1.2bn.”
A member of the House of
Representatives from Ondo State, who spoke with one of our correspondents on
condition of anonymity, said his colleagues booed the President while
presenting the 2019 budget proposal last week to show their grievances.
He said, “We will show him
(Buhari) our true colours in January if he fails to release our money in full.
He is deliberately treating us like this to ensure that we have nothing to
mobilise our constituents for the February 16 elections.
“The Buhari government has also
failed to fund our constituency projects, thereby depriving us of the
opportunity to count them as part of our achievements.”
Another member from Oyo State,
who also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that his colleagues were
warming up for a showdown with the President, if he failed to fund their budget
in full.
He stated, “That is exactly why
we booed him when he came for the budget presentation and he should expect more
in the New Year. As it is now, we cannot meet our obligations to our
constituents, staff and National Assembly maintenance.”
According to investigations by
our correspondents, based on the new arrangement, a senator now goes home with
N11m as monthly running cost while their counterparts in the House collect N8m.
A senator from the North-West
confirmed off record that the National Assembly budget was not being properly
funded, adding that the development was affecting their financial obligations.
The senator, representing Kaduna
Central, Shehu Sani, in March, revealed that he and his colleagues received
N13.5m monthly as “running cost.”
He said the amount did not
include a N700,000 monthly consolidated salary and allowances, which they also
received.
A legislative source, also in
March this year, confided in SUNDAY PUNCH that because of their high number
(360), members of the House received slightly lower amount for the running cost
than senators.
The source had said, “For the
money to go round, the Reps usually take lower than senators. Depending on the
flow of allocation into the account of the National Assembly, the running cost
for members is between N9.3m and N12m. There are times though when what is
available is N8m.”
The senator representing Zamfara
Central Senatorial District, Kabir Marafa, said some of his colleagues actually
complained about the inadequate funding of their constituency projects when
President Buhari was presenting the budget.
He, however, directed one of our
correspondents to the Committee on Senate Services to know the implementation
of the National Assembly budgets.
Attempts to speak with the Chairman,
Committee on Senate Services, Ibrahim Gobir, failed as calls made to his mobile
did not connect and he had yet to respond to a text message sent to his
telephone as of the time of filing this report.
The Deputy Majority Leader of the
House, Mr Idris Wase, who admitted that the legislature was underfunded, said
it was due to revenue shortfall recorded by the Federal Government.
Wase said, “Yes, there was an
increase in the budget to take care of other issues regarding the funding of
the welfare of workers and infrastructural needs of the institution.”
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