Kudos, knocks trail debate on N20.5trn federal budget by lawmakers across six zones

Jonas Ezieke, Abuja.

 

The expectation of speedy passage of the N20.5 1 trillion Federal Government of Nigeria FGN Budget by members of the House of Representatives may not be as quick as usual going by colour of the debate on the general principles of the money bill that began in the green chamber on National Assembly on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, at 12.00 noon.

 

Lawmakers across the six geo-political zones of the nation one after the other who spoke at the budget session gave a different version of it at the House as a good estimate even as both kudos and knocks were hulled on the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency for the annual ritual.

Leading a pack of members of the House across different political parties Hon Solomon Maren from Plateau State said that the budget is unrealistic and too bogus in size.

The lawmaker who trained as an engineer further stated that with only N8 trillion as revenue projection, there is really nothing Nigerian as citizens can expect from the 2023 budget of Nigeria

In his contribution, Hon Oniofok Akpan from Akwa-Ibom State said that there is not much the budget estimates for infrastructure, social investment, and security by the government can achieve.

He identified many challenges in the nation in the last few months including insecurity, the collapse of the national grid, scarcity of petroleum products, and strikes noting that they needed to be tackled immediately with the budget.

He also lamented the subsidy regime and blamed the government for not finding a solution to the crisis in the nation’s petroleum sector after paying huge money as subsidies to oil marketers.

 

On tertiary education, he said that it is unfortunate that students of higher educational institutions have been at home for many months due to strikes by lecturers and asked that the budget for education be translated into reality.

 

Speaking on the budget, Hon Maigari Kasimu from Taraba State said that the main issue is budget implementation which is a huge problem as up to 50 percent of the funds for capital projects go into the pockets of civil servants.

 

He queried how it is possible for the government embarks on such projects when it appropriates N20 million and releases N8 million for a capital project.

Speaking in same vein, Hon Omumunmi Ogunlola from Ekiti State said that the deficit budget is becoming a challenge as the amount of money the Nigerian government is loosing on oil theft is huge and worrisome.

She also lamented that the prolonged strike embarked upon by the university lecturers for eight months is due to underfunding of the tertiary educational institutions.

While urging her colleagues to ensure proper scrutiny of the annual budget of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies MDAs she said that the debt service to GDP ratio in the budget is unsustainable.

Another member of the green chamber Hon.Dr.Tanko Sununu from Kebbi State in his speech said that the previous budgets of the Nigerian government in 2020, 2021, and 2022 were predicted on earnings from oil revenue noting that the oil economy is fast facing out globally.

 

He argued that food security is nationally being challenged as farmers can no longer go to their farms. He also hinted that the impact of flooding and the high cost of farm inputs had affected food production very badly and called for assistance to farming with a budget.

 

In his own contribution, Hon. Ahmed Jaha from Borno State said that the amount of money budgeted for debt serving if care is not taken would affect the economy adversely.

 

He noted that the debt servicing in the 2022 budget had gulped N3 billion and in the 2023 budget N6 billion is being earmarked for it and it’ll continue to rise annually.

 

The lawmaker while asking for proper scrutiny of the budget of MDAs by the relevant committees of the House also said that the government should employ the services of mercenaries to tackle insecurity in parts of the country.

 

Still on the budget, Hon. Marky Elena from Jigawa State said that the N8.5  trillion for recurrent and N5 trillion for capital expenditures set aside by the federal government in this year’s budget is a good move but still leaves much for improvement in these critical areas.

 

He urged the House to ensure that the budget is worked upon painstakingly to ensure probity and accountability of all government agencies and improved life for his constituents and the citizenry.

Also speaking on the budget, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha from Abia State said that the previous assemblies of the National Assembly have been doing garbage in and garbage out on the previous year’s budget.

She noted that in the past, the annual budget was not implemented up to 30 percent but there is now a very remarkable and marked improvement in the implementation of the last budget up to 70 percent.

She added that government agencies must work assiduously to ensure the timely release of their annual budget and the parliament should always review it annually.

 

In like manner, Hon. Sergius Ogun from Edo State said that the House should endeavour to impress on the government agencies the need to abide by the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act FRA 2007.

 

He lamented that there are many wastages ongoing in most MDAs and added that the federal government had been borrowing more than the nation and its citizens can easily pay.

 

In his response the Deputy Speaker Hon. Ahmed Idris said that the lawmakers should not blame the executives for such issues raised in the budget.

 

He assured of proper scrutiny of the estimates of the MDAs during the budget defence session by the relevant committees of the House.

 

Consequently, he referred the budget to the House Committee on Appropriation for further legislative inputs by some of the lawmakers.