FG, NASS’ Rift Deepens …As Senate Summons Finance Minister Over 2012 Budget

The Senate yesterday in Abuja mandated its Committee on Appropriation to summon the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to explain the level of implementation of the 2012 budget.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator  Ike Ekweremadu, issued the directive at a public hearing by the joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance on the implementation of the 2012 Appropriation Act.

Ekweremadu expressed concern over the poor implementation of the budget, adding that the level of implementation was below expectation.

He said that Okonjo-Iweala, who also doubles as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, had last week failed to brief the Senate on the implementation of the budget.

He decried Okonjo-Iweala’s official trip to London to represent the president at an investment forum, saying that there were other officials who could represent the Nigerian government.

“We consider our meeting with her on any issue that has to do with budget implementation to be more important than any other assignment.

“We know there are other ministers and government officials that could as well have done that to enable her to be here with us this afternoon.

“ So it is regrettable that she is not here, ” he said.

He explained that the public hearing was aimed at evaluating the level of performance of the budget and to know what was responsible for the non- implementation.

Ekweremadu said the public hearing also offered opportunity for the Senate committees to respond to allegations that the budget performed badly due to “tinkering’’ by the National Assembly.

“One of the excuses we’ve read from the pages of newspapers for non performance of the budget is what they considered as the tinkering of the budget by the National Assembly.

“So, what we had wanted to do today is to hear from the executive what those tinkering are.

“If they have response from the National Assembly, our appropriation committees should also respond, ‘’Ekweremadu stressed.

He said the National Assembly was determined to know the actual performance of the budget in terms of the funds released and the projects that were ongoing.

The Deputy Senate President subsequently adjourned the public hearing till Thursday to enable the Appropriation Committee to take the necessary legislative action to ensure that the minister appears before it.

“The Committee on Appropriation should take immediate steps including, if possible, summoning the minister to show up before it and other relevant committees by Thursday this week,’’ he added.

Earlier, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Ahmad Maccido, had said the Senate was disappointed at the dismal level of performance of the budget.

“Contrary to claims by the executive that the level of implementation was 56 per cent, we have found out that the performance level is actually 21.5 per cent.

“This is based on records from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. The Senate is not happy about this,’’ he said.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, were among the representatives of the executive at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has again addressed the issue of budget implementation raised by the House of Representatives, saying that transparency and prudence were the major considerations of the Federal Government.

Okonjo-Iweala said that the Federal Government would manage the budget in a way that will best serve the interest of Nigerians.

In a statement by her spokesperson, Paul Nwabuikwu, Okonjo-Iweala said, “our objective is to achieve both higher budget implementation and better management of the country’s resources.

She said “the improvement in implementation ratio from 39.2 per cent by the end of May to 56 per cent utilisation of cash backed resources by June 20 was made possible by the direct leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who is leading the drive for better budget performance.”

Okonjo-Iweala expressed confidence that there would be further improvement in the level of implementation before the end of the year,” saying,”to maximise results, the ministry is careful and methodical in releasing funds to MDAs. She stressed that given the rate of utilisation, there is still room for more implementation.