President Muhammadu Buhari has kicked at the National Assembly for introducing new projects totaling 6403 worth N578b for themselves into the 2018 budget, while reducing 4700 worth N347b.
The President made the observation while signing the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, adding that the provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects were affected by the new provisions.
The President berated National Assembly saying that “ The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira.”
The President said budgetary provisions in the 2018 budget for key infrastructure projects were cut by as much as N11.5b while increasing the National Assembly Budget from N125 billion to N139.5 billion “without any discussion with the Executive.”
The President who noted that the logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects, said however that “provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as Counter-part funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira.
The President also noted that provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira; this will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project.
Others include provisions for various Strategic Interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables which were also reduced by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira.
The President who declared that the provision for security infrastructure in the 104 Unity Schools across the country were cut by N3billion, said the cut is coming “ at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism ought to be a major concern of government.”
Other areas of disagreement listed by the President include “provision for the Federal Government’s National Housing Programme was cut by 8.7 billion Naira.”
“At a time when we are working with Labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of 5 billion Naira was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment.”
“The provisions for Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and Special Economic Zones/Industrial Parks, which are key industrialization initiatives of this Administration, were cut by a total of 14.5 billion Naira.
“The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira which will further delay the completion of this critical project.
“The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira.
The President also kicked against the inclusion of seventy (70) new road projects, which he said “have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing” adding that “ in doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministry’s vote. Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads have been cut by the National Assembly.”
He stated that Federal Government’s budget represents less than 10% of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, but with very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year.
The President however expressed determination to continue to work with the National Assembly towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle.
“ I note, with pleasure, that the National Assembly is working on the enactment of an Organic Budget Law, so as to improve the efficiency of the nation’s budgetary process.
“ I am concerned about some of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the budget proposals that I presented, adding that “ Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute”
He expressed worry over the lack of institutional capacity to execute some of the new additions by the National Assembly have been adding that “most MDAs do not have institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required”
“As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.
“ being a deficit budget, the Borrowing Plan will be forwarded to the National Assembly shortly. I crave the indulgence of the National Assembly for a speedy consideration and approval of the Plan.
“The 2018 Budget I have just signed into law provides for aggregate expenditures of 9.12 trillion Naira, which is 22.6% higher than the 2017 Appropriation. Further details of the approved budget will be provided by the Minister of Budget and National Planning.
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