Following the controversy that trailed the passage of 2013 budget, Senate has decided to take on the Presidency by effecting changes in the budgeting process and national planning. The Upper Legislative Chamber is also set to enact a law that would discard the ‘envelope’ system practised by the executive in the budgeting process.
Senators lampooned a system when the Presidency, through the Budget Office and the Finance Ministry would restrict ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) from fixing recurrent and capital expenditure in a financial year. The National Assembly has always been at loggerheads with the Presidency over the ‘envelope’ system.
These resolutions emerged from a motion on the call for a review of national planning and budgeting process sponsored by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi and 46 other Senators including Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), Minority Whip Ganiyu Solomon, Smart Adeyemi, Kabiru Gaya and Uche Chukwumerije. Adetunmbi noted that the “current national budgeting process makes the legislature less involved and at best, reactive; relying solely on the information provided by the executive.
“Under the current arrangement, there is an absence of a coherent and systematic means of exerting legislative control over the fiscal priorities of the Federal Government,” He also expressed concern that “current annual incremental ‘envelope’-based budgeting being used by the Federal Ministry of Finance is arbitrary and not pro-growth and is one of the factors responsible for the slow shift from recurrent to capital-led annual budget in Nigeria.” Contributing to the debate, Ndoma-Egba reiterated that “whatever comes from the executive is not a Bible or Qu’ran that cannot be reviewed. Now, they know they are wrong.
“The annual budget, as I know it, is just a segment of a national plan…There’s a disconnect between the body that has the ultimate power for appropriation and the body that makes plans.” Speaking on the ‘envelope’ system, Ndoma-Egba urged the chamber to take a close, second look at a system alien to the 1999 Constitution.
“The envelope system of budgeting makes no meaning to me. We must take a second look at this envelope system…recurrent budget doesn’t deliver dividends of democracy for the people; capital budget does. In a system where recurrent expenditure is bigger than capital expenditure, we are only developing poverty.” His deputy, Sen. Abdul Ningi, asked the Senate to “amend the National Planning Act.” Solomon agreed with Ningi on the need to amend the national planning department and wondered why Nigeria no longer operates a balanced budgeting system. “We no longer talk of balanced national budgets anymore.
It seems we’ve accepted that anytime they bring a budget here, it must come with deficit. There have been reports of recovery of funds from the late Gen. Sani Abacha but it’s never reflected in the budget. What’s happening? “In fact, there’s no criterion for budget performance!” Rounding off the debate, Senate President David Mark bemoaned the fact that past national budgets had failed as they had not contributed to the country’s economic growth.
“While the debate was going on, I decided to read up the National Planning Commission Act and everything we said is contained in that Act…The problem is that people have failed to do what they are supposed to do. Some others have become too powerful and hijacked other people’s work and refused to allow those who have been charged with specific responsibility to do what they are supposed to do. “If you go through the National Planning Commission Act, the objectives and the functions of the commission are precisely what we have said here.
A system that has not worked, people who are operating it resist changes, they do not want to change the system because changing the system means that they will lose some authority that they have arrogated for themselves. I think that is not in the best interest of Nigeria.
Our budgets over the years have not brought growth, it has not improved employment rate, it has not brought dividends of democracy as far as they have expected it. “I think that there is basically a problem with the ‘envelope’ system and that has to change. Our committees would take full responsibility if in the 2014 budget, they are not able to effect changes…” Mark said.
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