The Senate has disclosed that it has delegated its Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje to hold a media briefing to clarify concerns raised by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 2018 Budget.
\nThe red chamber of the National Assembly assured that Goje would make revelations about contentious areas.
\nChairman, Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, in a statement, yesterday, confirmed that the Senate was in agreement with the statement issued by the House of Representatives, in response to the issues raised by Buhari on the budget.
\nHe said, \u201cThe leadership of both chambers have directed the chairmen of our committees on appropriations to provide item by item, detailed explanations on all points raised by the President for the benefit of members of the public.
\n\u201cIt should, however, be noted that the action of the National Assembly while working on the budget was informed by the provision of the Constitution on the need for inclusion, balance and the fact that the first responsibility of government is the security and welfare of all citizens,\u201d he said.
\nBuhari had in his speech said, \u201cthe 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.
\n\u201cUnfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts amounting to N347billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion.
\n\u201cMany of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation.
\n\u201cSome of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed, and will, therefore, be difficult to execute.
\n\u201cSuch examples of projects from which cuts were made are as follows: The provisions for some nationally\/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as counterpart 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 N11.5billion.\u201d
\n\u201cSimilarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of N7.5billion.
\n\u201cThe provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by N3.9billion from N4billion to N100million.
\n\u201cThe above will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project.
\n\u201cThe 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 were cut by an aggregate amount of N7.45billion.
\n\u201cThe provision for security infrastructure in the 104 unity schools across the country were cut by N3billion at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism ought to be a major concern of government.
\n\u201cThe provision for the Federal Government\u2019s National Housing Programme was cut by N8.7billion.
\n\u201cAt a time when we are working with labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of N5billion was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment.\u201d
\nSimilarly, the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari should be ashamed that he signed the 2018 budget in June, instead of blaming the National Assembly for performing its constitutional duties.
\nThis was as he wondered that, \u201cThe previous budgets that he agreed with the National Assembly, what did he do with them? Where are the impacts of 2016 and 2017 budgets?\u201d
\nThe governor described those presenting the President as the only one who is right and knowledgeable about national issues, as his greatest enemies.
\nHe said; \u201cIn the mindset of President Buhari and his men, all Nigerians are wrong except him. That is the reason he feigned ignorance to the fact that the law did not say that the legislative arm of government must pass the budget as presented by the executive.\u201d
\nIn a statement issued in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said, \u201cPresident Buhari has become what can be termed as blame specialist who will always blame his failure on other people.
\n\u201cAs a military Head of State, he blamed former President Shehu Shagari\u2019s government. Since he assumed office, he has been blaming his predecessor. And now that he can\u2019t get ordinary budget passed by the National Assembly for over six months, he is blaming the legislative arm. When is he going to be man enough to stop his blame game?\u201d
\nThe governor reminded the President of the 2016 ruling of Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja in which he declared that the National Assembly has the power to add, reduce, and review the budget, pointing out that the judge said categorically that the National Assembly can increase, or review upward, budget estimates laid before it by the executive.
\n\u201cTrying to use the National Assembly as scapegoat for his failure is a disservice to the principle of separation of powers, checks and balances,\u201d he said.
\nWhile calling on the President to govern the country and stop blaming others for his inadequacies, Fayose asked; \u201cThe budgets that the National passed in 2016 and 2017, what did he do with them? What impact did the budgets make on the lives of Nigerians?
\n\u201cWhy can\u2019t the President just go ahead and implement what the National Assembly appropriated and present supplementary budget later instead of trying to label the legislative arm as the reasons for his government\u2019s failure?\u201d
\nThe governor said Nigerians were tired of President Buhari\u2019s repetitive speeches and unfulfilled promises, adding that, \u201cThe masses want the president to create jobs and make life more abundant for them.
\n\u201cAs at today, everything is wrong with Nigeria under President Buhari. The country is not secured as armed bandits and killer herdsmen have taken over everywhere. Nigerians are no longer free to move even within a state not to talk of from one state to another.
\n\u201cTherefore, he should stop the blame game and get serious with governance so that Nigerians can at least attach one major achievement to his tenure as President.\u201d
\nHowever, Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi West, yesterday, took a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that he should stop playing to the gallery and milking the naivety of the masses on the issue.
\nMelaye, in his reaction to President Buhari\u2019 s lamentation and outright displeasure on the 2018 Appropriation bill before he finally signed it into law, said that the President should halt what he described as his chicanery and smear campaign of the National Assembly.
\nIn a statement, yesterday, which he made available to Journalists, Senator Melaye who noted that the National Assembly is not a department of the Presidency, said, \u201cI notice that President Muhammadu Buhari is trying to whip up sentiments against the National Assembly again by alleging that the 2018 budget was padded.
\n\u201cWhat the President is authorised to do constitutionally is to present the National Assembly with a bill. A bill is a work in progress and not the finished work. The reason the Constitution directs the Bill to be submitted to the National Assembly is that it expects the National Assembly to vet it and make inputs into such a Bill before passing it as the Appropriation Act.
\n\u201cThe National Assembly is not just expected to rubber stamp whatever Bill the President presents. If this was the norm then there would have been no need for the Constitution to direct that the Bill be submitted to the National Assembly in the first place.
\n\u201cMr. President should therefore refrain from playing to the gallery and milking the naivety of the masses on the issue.
\n\u201cIn any event, he reserves the prerogative of refusing to append his signature to the Bill passed if it meets with his displeasure. He is also free to return the Bill to the N\/A unsigned with a note indicating his areas of disaffection.
\n\u201cTherefore Mr. President should halt his chicanery and smear campaign of the National Assembly.
\n\u201cI also ask, in the last three years of this administration: What has been the percentage of implementation of capital budget?
\n\u201cThe powers and authority of the National Assembly cannot be eroded by the presidency. The National Assembly is not a department of the Presidency.\u201d
\nMeanwhile,the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s submission that the 2018 budget would be difficult to implement \u201cis a clear admission that he lacks the capacity and competence to run a development-oriented economy as desired by Nigerians.\u201d
\nThe party, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, said the President\u2019s action was an indication that \u201cthe economy is in very bad hands.\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cPresident Buhari, in picking holes on items that would directly impact on economic productivity, infrastructural advancement, rural development as well as those that would provide urgent palliatives to the plight of Nigerians, shows his aversion to developmental economy as well as insensitivity to the welfare of our citizens.
\n\u201cIn fact, President Buhari, in his comments on the budget has further de-marketed our economy before international investors, thereby worsening our woes as a nation.
\n\u201cHow on earth can a President, if indeed he loves the people, quarrel over budgetary items seeking to cushion the biting effect of the economic recession, particularly for the poor, who are the direct victims of the harsh policies of his incompetent administration?
\n\u201cFurthermore, President Buhari\u2019s resort to blaming the National Assembly for his inability to exert himself as a leader and ensure smooth implementation of the budget, further shows that he cares little about the actual needs of the people, having holed himself up in the comfort, security and pleasures of the Presidential Villa.\u201d
\nOlogbodiyan urged the National Assembly to ensure strict implementation of the 2018 budget.
\nPresident Buhari had last Wednesday lamented that the 2018 Appropriation Bill which he signed into law would be difficult, if not impossible, to implement because of the alterations members of the National Assembly effected on the document he submitted to them on November 7, 2017.
\nAlso, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Working Committee, NWC, yesterday alleged that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has commenced \u201cdesperate clampdown\u201d on perceived opposition leaders.
\nPDP said the safety of its members was no longer guaranteed.
\nIn a statement issued by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party insisted that Nigeria has \u201cfallen into perilous time\u201d under Buhari\u2019s government.
\nThe statement recalled that the party had earlier alerted the nation and the international community that the \u201cenemies of our democratic process and adversaries of our unity and harmonious living as a nation have commenced a desperate clampdown on opposition leaders\u201d.
\n\u201cToday, our dear nation, Nigeria, has finally fallen into a perilous time! There are fears and trepidation everywhere. The safety, personal freedom and well-being of Nigerians, particularly, opposition members are no longer guaranteed.
\n\u201cThe All Progressives Congress (APC), having realized that they stand no chance in the 2019 general elections, are now deploying all wicked machinations to cause confusion, heighten political tension, hounding and arresting of opposition leaders, making spurious allegations and attacking influential Nigerians, including former heads of state, all to instill fear on the polity.
\n\u201cHaving failed in their corruption smear campaign against the PDP and many notable Nigerians, the APC and the Presidency cabal have now devised a devious machination to rope in, frame up, implicate and ultimately incarcerate marked opposition leaders and other dissenting voices over fabricated security charges.
\n\u201cPart of this design, as already exposed by the Special Adviser to President Buhari, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Arise TV, is to link such opposition leaders and dissenting voices with the widespread killings in various parts of the country, while forgetting that President Buhari had earlier blamed the attacks on invaders from Late Muammar Gaddafi\u2019s Libya, while his Director General of State Security Services (DG SSS) blamed it on herdsmen from neighbouring countries.\u201d
\nSimilarly,the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the umpteenth time has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of deliberate moves to stifle opposition ahead of the 2019 general elections.
\nThe party also said it has uncovered fresh plot by government to pick up opposition figures on phoney charges all in a bid to boost its chances at the polls.
\nAddressing a world press conference, yesterday, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan also alleged that a former Head of State was also on the radar of the Buhari Presidency for daring to criticise the leadership style of the first citizen.
\n\u201cThe APC, having realized that they stand no chance in the 2019 general elections, are now deploying all wicked machinations to cause confusion, heighten political tension, hounding and arresting of opposition leaders, making spurious allegations and attacking influential Nigerians, including former heads of state, all to instil fear in the polity.
\n\u201cHaving failed in their corruption smear campaign against the PDP and many notable Nigerians, the APC and the Presidency cabal have now devised a devious machination to rope in, frame up, implicate and ultimately incarcerate marked opposition leaders and other dissenting voices over fabricated security charges,\u201d said the publicity scribe.
\nThe party also noted that \u201cpart of the design, as already exposed by the Special Adviser to President Buhari, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Arise TV, is to link such opposition leaders and dissenting voices with the widespread killings in various parts of the country, while forgetting that President Buhari had earlier blamed the attacks on invaders from Late Muammar Gaddafi\u2019s Libya, while his Director General of State Security Services (DG, SSS) blamed it on herdsmen from neighbouring countries.
\n\u201cThe wicked clampdown has started. Only yesterday, we were made aware of the arrest and detention of former Benue State governor, Hon. Gabriel Suswam, who has been kept incommunicado without access to his lawyers, while the Federal Government is not forthcoming with the details of the reasons behind the arrest and detention,\u201d he said, adding \u201chis arrest and detention is intended to put him out of circulation, so that he will not take part in the mega meetings of our party planned for the North-Central states.\u201d
\nOlogbondiyan added that Nigerians were already aware of the alarm raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo of alleged plots by the Buhari administration to frame, arrest and detain him indefinitely on trumped up charges, ostensibly following his criticisms and open rejection of the administration for its failures and misrule.
\nHe added: \u201cThe world is also aware of the numerous alleged plots by the APC and its Federal Government to frame up and humiliate Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, Senators Dino Melaye and Shehu Sani, as well as Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike and his Ekiti State counterpart, Governor Ayo Fayose.
\n\u201cAlso, there are concerns about the safety of former Chief of Army Staff and former defence minister, Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), following the fear expressed by Governor Wike that Gen. Danjuma\u2019s life might be in danger after his comments in March, this year, on possible complicity of the state in the killings in Taraba State,\u201d he said, stressing that \u201cOnly Wednesday, an explosive device was discovered at the Ebonyi state PDP secretariat, either planted to blow up our secretariat and kill our members or to set up our leaders,\u201d Ologbondiyan further stated.
\nHe called on Nigerians to remain resolute and charged President Buhari to ensure that the 2019 general elections pass the credibility test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate has disclosed that it has delegated its Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje to hold a media briefing to clarify concerns raised by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 2018 Budget. The red chamber of the National Assembly assured that Goje would make revelations about contentious areas. Chairman, Committee on Media and Publicity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=178893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/178973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=178893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=178893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=178893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}