Mark tasks govt on electricity, security
THE Senate yesterday threatened to withhold allocations to all parastatals that fail to submit their 2011 budgets to the National Assembly for approval.
At the close of debate on the general principle of the 2011 budget proposal forwarded by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly last week, Senate President David Mark remarked that some agencies of the Federal Government were yet to forward their budget proposals to the legislature and warned that they might not be allowed access to any funds if they failed to make presentation to the National Assembly.
“Some agencies are yet to forward their proposals to the National Assembly and we advise them to do so on time because we will not allow them to spend any money until such funds are approved by the National Assembly,’’ he warned.
THE Senate yesterday threatened to withhold allocations to all parastatals that fail to submit their 2011 budgets to the National Assembly for approval.
At the close of debate on the general principle of the 2011 budget proposal forwarded by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly last week, Senate President David Mark remarked that some agencies of the Federal Government were yet to forward their budget proposals to the legislature and warned that they might not be allowed access to any funds if they failed to make presentation to the National Assembly.
“Some agencies are yet to forward their proposals to the National Assembly and we advise them to do so on time because we will not allow them to spend any money until such funds are approved by the National Assembly,’’ he warned.
The Guardian’s investigation showed that the president of the Senate was referring to agencies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) that generate and spend funds.
The Senate’s position that government’s agencies should present their budgets might not be unconnected with the allegation of the CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi that the National Assembly members are over-paid and that their remunerations should be reduced to boost the economy. Sanusi’s position caused a rift between him and the National Assembly.
However, the position of the Senate is anchored on section 80 of the 1999 constitution which says all revenues accruing to the federation must be put in the federation account.
Section 88(1) reads: “All revenues or other monies raised or received by the federation [not being revenues or other moneys payable under the constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the federation established for a specific purpose] shall be paid into and form one consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.’’
Section 81(3) adds: “No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the federation other than the consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.”
Since 2005, the National Assembly has included it in the appropriation law that all requests for fund or virement must be approved by the legislature.
The president of the Senate lamented that the condition of roads in the country was terrible and disclosed that the legislature would review ongoing contracts so that the Federal Government would concentrate on a few projects and see them to a logical conclusion before awarding further contracts.
“The first problem with our budget is implementation. No matter how good a budget is, if it is not implemented, it amounts to zero. We have to wake up and ensure that the 2011 budget is fully implemented,’’ he said.
Mark advised that the Federal Government should focus on power and security and every other thing would take shape. “There are two key issues that need to be urgently addressed–power and security. Unless we get them right, we can’t make progress. Those bringing in generators are making sure that our power does not work. If we do not have security, investors will be scared away. We spend too much money on roads and there is no impact. We have to look at a few roads and concentrate and finish them first instead of spreading them and getting no result. Look at Abuja-Lokoja road. It has been on for several years now but no appreciable progress has been made. The Committee on Works should take that up and ensure that we complete all ongoing road projects’’, he directed.
Before the Senate committed the budget to Committees on Appropriation and Finance, Mark announced minor changes in the leadership of some standing committees. He said Senator Anyim Udeh, formerly chairman of the Committee on Aviation had been moved to works committee, Senator Chris Anyanwu took over science and technology committee as chairman and Senator Sylvester Anyanwu moved to aviation. While Senator Uche Chukwumerije was put in charge of education committee, Senator Greg Uganji took over special duties committee.
He also said that Senator Joseph Akergege took over the committee on cooperation and integration committee, former chairman of the committee, Senator George Akume moved to local and foreign debt committee as vice chairman and Senator Patick Osakwe was put in charge of communication committee.
The Senate adjoined yesterday for the Christmas and new year break to reconvene on January 18 but Mark tasked the committees handling the 2011 budget to get it ready before the resumption of the upper chamber.
No comments:
Post a Comment