By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
President of Nigeria’s Senate, Ahmed Lawan has said that the secret behind the National Assembly (NASS) to easily pass the yearly budget early is the cooperation, partnership, synergy and understanding and mutual respect between the Legislature and Executive arms of government.
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He also argued that Nigeria is benefiting from that kind of relationship so much that there has not been any rancour between both arms of government since the life time of this present NASS.
The Senate President spoke to State House Correspondents after the budget signing ceremony held in Abuja on Friday by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Fielding questions on what was the driving force for the early passage of the budget and what next to expect in the years ahead, Senator Lawan said the ability of the two chambers to work very amicably with the executive has helped the government. The interaction went thus:
“Thank you very much for that very important and relevant question. The driving force is our ability in the National Assembly in the two chambers to work very amicably, and productively. And then, of course, our ability as a National Assembly, as an institution, to work with the executive arm of government in such a manner that the processing of the budget estimates, as will be laid by President all the time, are done in such a way that every arm of government all the two arms, participate fully at the appropriate time.
“You will recall that in 2019, December for the budget 2020, Mr. President, directed his ministers and Chief Executive Officers of MDAs, not to travel at all until they defended their budgets. And that, of course, helped us a lot in the National Assembly.
“So the secret is cooperation, partnership, synergy, and that understanding and mutual respect. And of course, Nigeria is benefiting from that kind of relationship. So that is what, in my judgment and opinion works for us, to be passing the budget at the time, that will always feel is the appropriate time before the end of the year. And of course, Mr. President, congratulations to him for signing the 2022 appropriation bill today, even though today is the last day of the year. But we have achieved that very significant important date of signing before the end of the year.
“And let me also add here, that, and this is I hope there’s a spark in controversy. But the reality is what i have observed, the ability of the federal government to have his budget passed and signed before the end of the year, has made so many states to also work towards achieving that. And by today, you would have noticed that more than half of our states would have signed the budget 2022. And that is the kind of leadership that the federal government is giving to the sub nationals. Thank you”.
Reminded that the President is not happy with a major changes made by the National Assembly, Lawan said: “I thought he would ask us what the President is happy with, because he’s happy with most things and not…”.
“Well, I’m coming to that. But I think the most important thing is, Mr. President is happy with majority of what the National Assembly has done and that is the most critical thing that we need to focus on. As for the observations Mr. President has raised, this is a natural and logical tendency between the executive and the legislature, sometimes our views on certain issues may not be necessarily the same kind of views that the executive will have and hold on any particular matter. So I don’t think what the President did, by raising some observations as something that we should worry about. I’m happy that the President signed the budget in the first place. And he said, it’s going back to the National Assembly to seek for amendments or virement , and this natural, logical, legislative process. So I’m happy that we have done our own part in our own way”.
“This is based on judgments when we asked for more resources coming from the independent sources, especially from the government owned enterprises of about N400 to N500 billion is because we believe that this government owned enterprises should contribute even much more. In fact, I hold the opinion that they should have contributed about a trillion, at least not N500 billion or so. So I believe that the National Assembly was right in its judgment, but there is nothing wrong in the executive arm of government coming back to the National Assembly to see how we’re able to dialogue and go through the process and see where the misunderstanding is. But I don’t think that is supposed to be worrisome development for us”.
Also speaking to reporters at the event, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila said Budget 2022 is an improvement on the previous year.
Said he: “Thank you very much is every year’s budget is an improvement on the last one. So the transition budget shuck Mr. President spoke about as you heard him earlier, they are even going to bring it earlier in 2023, which gives us ample time, more time to work on it, improve on it, and make it a seamless budget with a seamless execution and implementation. I don’t think I have a problem with 2023 budget. 2023 budget is going to come and we’re gonna work on it just like we have been working on the budgets”.
“Well, we are on vacation now when we come back on the 18th January will will know what’s next. Thank you”.
