Senate summons Okonjo-Iweala, Ngama to explain budget performance

ABUJA — PEEVED by alleged comments
by Minister of State for Finance, Dr
Yerima Ngama that the 2013 budget was
no longer implementable due to what he
called “over-bloated revenue estimates by
the National Assembly”, the Senate
yesterday, directed its Committee on
Finance to, as a matter of urgency,
summon the two ministers of finance to
appear before it to defend the allegation.
The Senate also said it was awaiting the
Accountant-General of the Federation to
present before it, the various monies
released in the on-going year for
ministries, departments and agencies,
MDAs, in accordance with clauses 6 and
9 of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
Finance Minister, Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala
The development came even as Senate
President, David Mark blamed the various
committees for not doing enough to
monitor budget performances by the
executive arm of government.
The Senate which deliberated the issue at
its plenary, mandated Committees on
Finance and Appropriation to immediately
summon Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, as well as the Ministry of
State, Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama to
appear before it to give explanation and
submit its report within three weeks.
The summon followed a motion to that
effect, sponsored by the Senate Deputy
Leader, Abdul Ningi, PDP, Bauchi Central,
and 13 others praying the upper
legislative chamber to probe the
performance of the budget, with a view to
critically assess the position of the
nation’s economy.
Senator Ningi, in his lead debate, said the
minister’s statement was worrisome, as
the National Assembly enactment guiding
the implementation of the budget, most
especially clause 6 of the 2013
Appropriation Act, stipulates that the
“Minister of Finance shall ensure that
funds appropriated under the Act are
released to the appropriate agencies and
organs of government as at when due,
provided that no funds for any quarter of
the fiscal year shall be differed without
prior waiver from the National Assembly”
He said the essence of the motion was to
bring the issue to the fore that the
National Assembly was not to blame for
failure of the executive to implement the
2013 budget.
“There has not been any communication
from the executive that there’s a shortfall
in the revenue projections and Mr.
President said time and again that this
economy is healthy”, he said.
While noting that the 2013 Appropriation
Bill was passed on December 20, 2012,
and subsequently assented to by
President Goodluck Jonathan on January
15, 2013, Ningi expressed concern that
the release indications from first to third
quarter saw the capital at N 855,141
billion while approved budget stands at
N1, 591, 657 trillion, saying there was a
difference of N736, 466 billion.
He expressed dismay over the minister’s
statement, saying it was targeted at
blackmailing the National Assembly,
considering that all the revenue variables
were within the target expectations.
He observed that part of the minister’s
argument was that the benchmark being
used for the budget implementation was
over bloated which made it impossible to
be implementable.
Ningi insisted that the alleged declaration
by the minister should be discussed
because the benchmark fixed for the 2013
budget was $79 per barrel of crude oil
whereas the current price of the
commodity is now $107 per barrel.
He requested the senate to consult
relevant agencies saddled with the
responsibilities of monitoring budget
performances to get the true state of the
nation’s economy.
Contributing to the debate, Senator James
Manager, PDP, Delta South, said the
development was a wake up call for the
National Assembly to find out what went
wrong in the budget implementation just
as he said it was wrong for the executive
to always blame the legislature for budget
failure.
Senator Bello Tukur, PDP, Adamawa
Central, wondered why it was taking so
long to bring out the facts and blamed the
Senate committee responsible for
monitoring budget implementation for not
raising the issue before things got to the
present level.
Senator Ali Ndume, PDP, Borno South,
blamed the Minister of State for Finance
for making the pronouncement, saying he
lacked such powers.