Vote of Thanks and Response to GEJ by RT. HON. AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL Thursday, 11 October 2012 17:20
Protocol:
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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. The Composition of the Public Procurement
Council provided under the Public Procurement Act is very critical to
budget implementation. 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.
6. 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 cannot
continue to be used as guide for an economy that is not keeping pace
with global trends.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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).
11. 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.
12.
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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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!
VOTE OF THANKS BY RT.
HON. AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL CFR, SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE JOINT SESSION OF THE NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY TO RECEIVE THE 2013 APPROPRIATION BILL AS PRESENTED BY HIS
EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN GCFR, PRESIDENT AND C-IN-C
OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, ON WEDNESDAY, 10TH OCTOBER, 2012.
via Nasril El'Rufai
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