Senator Danjuma Goje
• Doctored budget is a national embarrassment, Fayose tells Buhari
Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja and Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti
A month ago, it was the saga of the “missing budget”, now Nigerians are being regaled with sordid tales of how the 2016 budget was fraudulently altered, a situation which compelled the National Assembly yesterday to suspend indefinitely its initial plan to pass the Appropriation Bill on February 25.
Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja and Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti
A month ago, it was the saga of the “missing budget”, now Nigerians are being regaled with sordid tales of how the 2016 budget was fraudulently altered, a situation which compelled the National Assembly yesterday to suspend indefinitely its initial plan to pass the Appropriation Bill on February 25.
In announcing the suspension, the National Assembly cited several errors, ambiguities and rampant cases of budget padding as its reason for the decision.
Briefing journalists on the decision on Tuesday, Chairmen of the Appropriation Committees in both chambers of the National Assembly, Senator Danjuma Goje and Hon. Jubril Abdulmumini, said the controversies trailing the budget no longer make the proposed passage date feasible.
However, there was speculation yesterday that the sudden change of mind on the passage of the budget might be a subtle protest against last Friday’s judgment of the Supreme Court which threw out Senate President Bukola Saraki’s case and asked him to face trial for false declaration of assets at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
Almost 80 senators loyal to Saraki met at the weekend and insisted that the trial of Saraki before CCT was politically motivated.
The chairmen said their position had been strengthened by the admittance by members of the executive that the budget was laden with errors, adding that the situation implied that they needed more time to do a thorough job and simultaneously ensure that the budget is implementable.
According to them, the situation requires enough time to clear the budget of all its ambiguities, errors and false figures smuggled into it so that in the end, a budget that is acceptable to all can proceed from the National Assembly.
“We are here in connection with the ongoing process of the 2016 budget defence and because these two committees are saddled with the production of the final copies of the budget that would be passed by the two Houses for onward submission to Mr. President for his assent and subsequent implementation, and because with the observed instances that have been reported since the budget’s submission, there are a lot of controversies surrounding the budget.
“We feel that we have to come here, interact with you and make some clarifications so that Nigerians will know the correct situation of things regarding the 2016 budget.
“We designed a timetable for the consideration and passage of the budget and that particular timetable was that we will pass the budget on February 25, 2016.
“But as you are all aware, a lot of issues have come up and gladly even the executive arm of government has also come out to accept the fact that there are a lot of errors in the budget.
“Again, during the budget defence a lot of issues based on the padding of the budget arising from over-bloated overheads and in some instances, cases of over-bloated personnel cost arose.
“But generally, there has been a lot of issues. The Appropriation Committees would look at these issues after the whole budget defence to do a very thorough work aimed at doing a proper clean up of the budget with all the stakeholders to enable us pass the budget that is implementable from the perspective of the legislature and also acceptable to the executive arm of the government.
“So, in summary, the timetable for the passage of the budget is no longer realistic because the Appropriation Committees of both chambers of the National Assembly will need additional time to be able to do a thorough job for the 2016 budget.
“We want to remove all ambiguities. We want to remove all padding. We want to produce a budget that is in line with the constitutional requirement.
“Again, in terms of capital expenditure, there are complaints coming from different quarters arising from the imbalance from the capital allocation and of course disagreements among the ministers and the civil servants in the various ministries that we have witnessed during the budget defence.
“These all together form enough basis for us to sit down and ensure that a thorough job is done before the budget is passed,” they said.
Reacting to the doctored budget, Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to save the country from “national embarrassment” by formally withdrawing the budget and representing it.
A statement by his spokesman, Mr. Lere Olayinka, said on behalf of the governor: “The president should admit that there were avoidable errors in the budget and since he is human and not immune to errors, he should simply do the needful by presenting a new and credible budget to the National Assembly.”
Fayose described the revelation by the Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, that the proposal drawn up by the ministry and submitted to the Budget Office had been doctored and that the “foreign appropriations”, different from what was submitted had been sneaked in, as the height of national embarrassment.
While addressing the Senate Committee on Health during the ministry’s budget defence on Monday, Adewole had stunned the senators when he said: “We have to look into the details of the budget and resubmit it to the committee. This was not what we submitted.
“We’ll submit another one. We don’t want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is not there.”
Continuing, Fayose said: “Last week, we were told that the Senate discovered the sum of N10 billion questionably smuggled into the budget of the Ministry of Education for an allegedly questionable subhead.
“Before now, we were told that a total of N3.87 billion was allocated for capital projects at the State House clinic alone, over N700 million more than capital allocation to all the 16 federal teaching hospitals combined.”
In the statement, Fayose also asked Nigerians to disregard the new “theory” propounded by human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), that he can be prosecuted despite the immunity he (Fayose) enjoys if found culpable of rigging in the June 21, 2014 Ekiti governorship poll.
He said the statement credited to the lawyer, an indigene of Ekiti State, was rather disturbing, adding that Falana’s comments on national issues in recent times have been partisan, especially those involving the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Fayose advised that a lawyer of Falana’s standing should be concerned about his credibility and be consistent on issues, rather “than speaking from both sides of his mouth just to satisfy his stomach”.
He said Falana should purge himself of his personal hatred for him (Fayose) over his inability to govern Ekiti State.
“Even in his Ilawe-Ekiti polling unit, he could not convince his own people to vote for the APC during the election. Was it because he was prevented from voting by anyone?
“Falana himself in an interview in a national newspaper said the election was not rigged and that he witnessed it and also spoke with the people, so it marvels us now that he could turn 360 degrees and say another thing,” Fayose recalled.
Falana was reported to have said that the governorship election won by Fayose was fraudulent and that the governor would have no immunity against criminal prosecution, if found culpable by the outcome of the report turned in by the Major-General Adeyemi Oyebade-led Military Tribunal.
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