The controversy trailing this year’s national budget in the National Assembly ended yesterday as the two chambers revealed the contents of President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to their respective members.
The Senate raised the alarm last week that the budget presented by Buhari to the joint session of the federal legislature had been tampered with, accusing presidential aide, Senator Ita Enang of complicity.
There was a mild drama in the House as Speaker Dogara read the letter yesterday when Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, in his Point of Order, said the President’s action contradicted constitutional provisions and the House Rules.
But in the Senate yesterday, after weeks of fireworks and denial over alleged distortions and doctoring of the original copy of the budget, Buhari and the Upper Chamber settled their rift.
Similarly, the Senate has adopted corrections to the 2016 budget, following Buhari’s letter which made some adjustments to the earlier copy.
Buhari, in the letter addressed to the Upper Chamber through Senate President Bukola Saraki and dated January 15, 2016, said the draft bill remains the same, as there were no changes in the total figures of N6.077 trillion. He urged the Senate to work with the new document.
Soon after the Senate resumed plenary at 10.55am, the lawmakers went into an executive session to discuss the letter from the President. The meeting lasted for about 15 minutes.
Buhari’s letter as read by Saraki: “It will be recalled that on Tuesday, December 22, I submitted my 2016 budget proposals to the joint session of the National Assembly. I submitted a draft bill accompanied by a schedule of details.
“At the time of submission, we indicated that because the details had just been produced, I would have had to check if there are no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule. That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted.
“The National Assembly will therefore, have the details as submitted on the 22nd and a copy containing the corrections submitted last week. It appears that this has led to some confusion.
“In this regard, please, find attached the corrected version. This is the version the National Assembly should work with as my 2016 budget estimates. The draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in any of the figures. Please, accept Mr Senate President, the assurances of my highest regards,” Buhari stated in the letter.
Buhari did not tender any apology to the Senate, following the report of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, which indicted Senator Enang.
Briefing correspondents after the day’s plenary, spokesman of the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, said with the availability of the hard copies of the budget, lawmakers were ready to commence the consideration of the 2016 national budget.
“Nigerians are interested in only one thing and that is our progress. The Senate is marching forward. We want to debate the budget. Regarding the differences in the budget, we cannot say. As things emerge from the various committees, we will begin to see the differences.
“The differences are from the various ministries, departments and agencies. The changes are bound to be made. We are very committed to our legislative agenda.
“Today, Buhari explained to the Senate in his letter on some of the issues we have been talking about. The debate on the 2016 budget will commence tomorrow (today). We have been directed to collect a copy of the budget from the Clerk of the National Assembly. Let us rest the issue about the missing budget and focus on the hope the budget represents,” he said.
In the House yesterday, Dogara described the document as the “corrected” version of the 2016 budget.
Despite the tension over the contents of Buhari’s letter, Dogara didn’t follow the schedule in the Order Paper for the day in which the Message from the President comes fourth on the list, before motions or bills.
It was after the bill listed as number four on the Order Paper had been debated and passed, that Dogara announced that he was to read a communication from Buhari. It was the same letter sent to the Senate.
Dogara noted that during the December 22, 2015 presentation of the budget to the National Assembly, the President mentioned that the document would be scrutinised and errors corrected if any.
According to him, copies of the budget that were later shared during plenary were the corrected version that would be debated by members. This is even as he insisted that Buhari’s four-paragraph letter was detailed enough to clear the air on the controversies surrounding the budget.
But as soon as the Speaker finished reading, Hon. Ogor raised the Point of Order, arguing that the President’s action goes contrary to constitutional provisions and the House Rules.
Citing Section Section 81 of the Constitution which states that the President or his representative shall lay the annual budget before the National Assembly and Section 91 (page 51) of the House Rules, Ogor said it was wrong to present an “amended” budget after another version of the same document had passed First Reading.
Ogor, whose comments were hailed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, argued that at the stage of the budget passing First Reading, it is strictly the duty of committees to handle any amendment sought by Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
In his response, Dogara said he had noted Ogor’s, Point of Order even as he stated that no-where in the President’s letter was the issue of amending the budget was mentioned. This is even as he wondered why the Minority Leader was departing from tradition by wanting to debate a letter. “Technically, there is a difference between a correction and amending the budget,” he stated.
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