By Jide Ajani
The acrimonious baggage that the relationship between President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal continues to
carry has its foundation in the process of emergence of the latter. The
events of June 1, 2011, running up to June 6, 2011, which led to the
emergence of Tambuwal as Speaker, sowed the seeds of acrimony.
Tambuwal emerged speaker against the grain of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, zoning arrangement (the office of Speaker was zoned to the
South West, without regard to common sense – the South West had only
about half a dozen members of PDP extraction in a House of
Representatives of 360 members). Adopting a paradigm spiced with
nationalistic fervour, Tambuwal mobilized and got enough support to rout
the rampaging leadership of the PDP.
Whereas Tambuwal would not mind telling those who wish to remember
that he has since moved on, some appointees around Jonathan, who would
like to come across as self-righteous, continue to see in every actions
and inactions of the Speaker as being meant to ridicule Jonathan.
There have been spats between the House and the Executive over many
issues ranging from subsidy management probe, the proposition by the
House that Madam Arunma Oteh of the Securities and Exchange Commission,
SEC, be sacked, to the implementation of the 2012 budget.
Therefore, when, penultimate Wednesday, October 10, 2012, Mr
President made his entry to present the 2013 budget – mind you, the
earlier schedule would have seen the President present the budget a week
earlier but the House insisted on some conditions precedent before any
budget presentation – it was with bated breath.
After Jonathan’s presentation, prior to which Senate President and
Chairman of the National Assembly, David Mark, had welcomed the former,
Tambuwal was called upon to give a vote of thanks.
With the usual niceties, Tambuwal declared: “On behalf of the
National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I wish to most
sincerely thank you Mr. President sir for making time to come to this
hallowed chambers and formally undertaking this very important
constitutional responsibility of the laying of the year 2013 budget
estimates.
“The House of Representatives Legislative Agenda prescribes under its
National Economic and Budgetary provisions that ‘the draft budget
should be submitted AT LEAST three months prior to the start of a fiscal
year’ and already there is a Bill before the House for the amendment of
Section 82 of the Constitution to conform with this. In this regard,
the laying of the 2013 budget estimates by Mr. President to this Joint
Sitting today, reasonably meets these expectations”.
After that the tone began to set.
“I would have been done with my vote of thanks at this point except that
the mention of certain salient points of critical importance to our
collective resolve for good governance is compelling. Mr. President
sir, given that the 469 elected members of the National Assembly have
closer interaction with the nooks and crannies of the nation, we are
privileged to feel the peoples pulse more intensely and we feel same on
behalf and for the benefit and guidance of all the arms of government.
Surely Mr. President and his vice, being the elected officials on the
other side cannot be expected to be in 109 Senatorial Districts; worse
still, 360 Federal Constituencies. Therefore when we feel this pulse, we
are duty bound to communicate to you.
“As I speak, interim field oversight reports from House Committees on
the 2012 budget implementation are clearly unimpressive both in terms
of releases as well as utilization and this is a great challenge to all
of us. It is important to state, at this point, the clear provisions of
Section 8 of the Appropriation Act to the effect that approved budgeted
funds shall be released to MDAs ‘as at when due’. This is sadly
observed more in breach.
“The composition of the Public Procurement Council provided under the
Public Procurement Act is very critical to budget implementation”.
Mr. President, Leave FEC Out of Budget Administration
“The sanctity of extant legislations and respect for the rule of law are
critical hallmarks of true democracy, we therefore once more call on
Mr. President to expeditiously constitute this council so as to free the
Federal Executive Council from the burden of contract administration,
so they can concentrate on the more sublime issues of their
constitutional roles and responsibilities.
Incidentally, the present constitution of the Bureau of Public
Procurement has been identified as one of the bottlenecks to effective
capital budget implementation. “It will be recalled that the 2012 budget
contained a deficit and the main source of funding this deficit was
domestic borrowing. Figures emanating from the Debt Management Office
regarding domestic borrowing are however worrisome.
At a whopping 33.6 Billion US Dollars, government appears to be
monopolizing domestic borrowing to the unhealthy exclusion of the
private sector. This is certainly a matter of grave concern because
global statistics on sustainable debt-GDP ratio percentages can not
continue to be used as guide for an economy that is not keeping pace
with global trends”.
Crude Price Benchmark Low
“In our effort to address this concern, only yesterday, in passing the
2013-2015 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which is the basis
for annual budgets, the House resolved to raise the oil price benchmark
from 75 US Dollars per barrel to 80 US Dollars per barrel with the
objective that the difference of 5 US Dollars per barrel be channeled
exclusively towards reducing the deficit in the budget and consequently
reducing domestic borrowing for same purpose by 66%.
This will make available these loanable funds to our private sector
which will stimulate the economy and jobs creation for our teeming
unemployed youths. The House of Representatives however observed two
critical omissions on the MTEF namely:
(i) That the Revenue from Gas, running into billions of dollars, is not reflected, and
(ii) External borrowing is similarly not reflected.
Mismanagement of Excess Crude Account
“Another source of concern for the legislature is the management of the
excess crude revenues. Since 2010 the Appropriation Act has legislated
that the excess crude component of the Federation Account be operated
under separate records for purpose of transparency and accountability.
“Besides, Section 30 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act makes it
mandatory for the Budget office to submit budget implementation
Assessment reports to the National Assembly and the Fiscal
Responsibility Commission on a quarterly basis and to publish same on
Ministry of Finance Website.
The President may be unaware that the National Assembly is neither
availed evidence of implementation of this policy along with the records
of Federal Governments portion of the excess crude funds nor the
quarterly implementation reports, as required under the two Acts. Mr.
President may wish to give appropriate directives to ensure full and
speedy compliance by relevant agencies.
“The trend of Nigeria’s foreign reserves has taken an upward
trajectory in recent months, on the back of steady production levels and
robust oil prices. The latest figure for the country’s foreign reserve,
as of 04 October 2012, stands at 41.48Billion US Dollars, a 26-month
high.
“Concerns are however being expressed regarding the management and
accounting reportage of our foreign reserve stock as to whether the
figures reported are cumulative accruing inflows only or are inclusive
of interests accruing from the management process or attributed to other
sources of accretion. This matter becomes urgent especially when
accruing management fees thereof is not reflected in the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF)”.
Transparency, Accountability, Paramount
“There must be transparency, accountability and probity in the
management of our resources generally, given recent developments that
indicate our exposure to unforeseen natural disasters. We certainly, for
instance, cannot take the protection of our environment for granted.
Mr. President, on our part we wish to promise early passage and
diligent monitoring. It is important to remind ourselves that Nigerians
would want to see proof of that as quickly as possible. They no longer
care for words, they insist on action. It is necessary that ministries,
Departments, Agencies and all public functionaries concerned in the
governance process are properly instructed on this fact so that they
cease from considering beautiful excuses and explanations as
achievements.
“It remains for me to state once again that the pace of governance
must take cognizance of the fact that the nation is grossly in arrears
of its developmental potentials and expectations and accordingly a
“business as usual” approach is totally unhelpful and unacceptable.
“In concluding this short vote of thanks, Mr. President, let me
restate our assurances that the National Assembly wants you to succeed
and I say that for every legislator here today. The stakes are certainly
high and as representatives of the people we know exactly how bad
things are. We believe that this country can only benefit if we all work
together to deliver our mandates. The National Assembly has no other
motive than this”.
Mr. President Let Us Reason Together
“I am compelled however to state that the National Assembly is becoming
increasingly concerned about the disregard for its resolutions and
public comments by certain functionaries of the Executive on same.
“I cite the Senate Resolution on the Bureau of Public Enterprises
(BPE), the House Resolution on the state of insecurity of the nation,
requesting Mr. President to visit and brief the House, the House of
Representatives Resolution on the Security and Exchange Commission
(SEC), the concurrent Resolution of the two Chambers on Bakassi among
others.
This does not promote cordial relationship between the Executive and
Legislature and consequently stability in the polity. “We must
therefore, continue to work together to redeem this nation from the
clutches of poverty and disease. The vaunted growth in the nation’s GDP
must be reflected in the lives of everyone, not just a few people
privileged to hold public office or those enjoying unfair public
patronage.
Mr. President, Thank You
“Mr. President, once again, thank you for this visit and may the
Almighty God grant you the wisdom of Solomon as you steer this delicate
ship of state. God bless Nigeria!”
Indeed, after the Speaker’s speech, Jonathan requested for and got a
copy of the speech. For those appointees who did not know what was
happening before jumping to town to cry disrespect, Sunday Vanguard has
been made to understand that unlike his aides, the President “left the
chambers concerned about the issues raised by the Speaker”.
A source in Aso Rock Presidential Villa said the only part that did
not go down well was the occasion and not the issues raised”.
However, without prejudice, the real essence of the actions of
Tambuwal on that day appears to have been well taken-in by Mr
President. It is only hoped that some of the very overzealous aides and
ministers around him would not add poison and allow the message digest
properly.
Vanguard
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