By BASHIR ADEFAKA
“We invite Nigerians to compare this to the trend between 2015 and 2019 when it took federal lawmakers, then led by the duo of former Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Speaker Yakubu Dogara an average of four months to pass Budgets, with that of 2018 taking the opposition-led legislature as long as six months to pass.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has again shown his commitment to due process and fiscal responsibility by sticking with the January-December budget cycle he restored, according to the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO)
The group said in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Maduek, that the current National Assembly also deserves praises for keeping to the President’s timeline for the second year running.
“This is yet another sign that the Buhari-led administration is resolute in its resolve to maintain the January-December fiscal year in line with constitutional provisions.
“We want to remind Nigerians how the President was prepared to stake his reputation when he made the vow and he took steps to realise it in his first term, but for the deliberate mischief of the leadership of the 8th National Assembly.
“But now with more responsible leadership in place in the federal legislature, which some disgruntled people had dismissed as pliable, Nigeria is fully on track with a January-December federal Budget cycle which tallies with that of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and global best practice.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the President tabled the 2021 Budget proposal before the joint session of the National Assembly on October 8 2020, the exact same day he presented that of the outgone year in 2019, and it took the lawmakers not more than two months to complete work on the appropriation bill.
“We invite Nigerians to compare this to the trend between 2015 and 2019 when it took federal lawmakers, then led by the duo of former Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Speaker Yakubu Dogara an average of four months to pass Budgets, with that of 2018 taking the opposition-led legislature as long as six months to pass.
“So the 9th Assembly deserves as many plaudits as the Executive for not putting cogs in the budgetary processes, since its inauguration”, the group added.
BMO also cited the 2020 budget performance as a major factor of the successful switch to the January to December budget cycle.
“it was gratifying to hear President Buhari saying that as at December 2020, N1.748trn out of N1.962trn voted for critical capital projects had been released. This unprecedented move represented about 89% disbursement and overall budget performance of 97%.
“This is the first time in decades that Nigeria is recording such a budget performance and we dare say it is a reflection of a deliberate policy to end the country’s budget implementation conundrum.
“So we are not surprised that virtually all the States are either keying in or have keyed into the steps taken by the President to restore the Budget cycle to what the Constitution originally stipulates”.
The group is convinced that the 2021 Budget which kicked in on January 1 would record a similar performance, especially as the government is keen on ensuring that Nigeria exits the Covid-19 induced recession within the first quarter of the year.
