By Onuoha Ukeh
WHEN the
National Assembly passed the N6 trillion budget for 2016 and submitted same to
President Muhammadu Buhari, many Nigerians had heaved a sigh of relief,
thinking that the end of waiting for the legal instrument on spending money had
ended. Those who thought so were wrong, as this turned out to be the beginning
of a drama, which has held the country to ransom. First, President Buhari said
he would not assent to the budget until he got details therein. And when the
details were presented, he said he would study them before signing the budget
into law. After studying the details submitted, the president declined to sign
on the grounds that what the National Assembly approved was different from what
he proposed. Now at the end of the first quarter of the year and close to the
end of the first month in the second quarter, there is no budget.
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*President Buhari presenting the 2016
Budget to the National Assembly |
Ordinarily, the budget for a
coming year ought to be passed and, perhaps, signed into law before the end of
the outgoing year or at best the first day or first week of the new year. If
the budget, for instance, is submitted in October of the out-going year and the
two houses of the National Assembly do their due diligence, by deliberating on
the document and passing it into law before the year ends, this target would be
on the verge of being met. And if the president receives the details of the
budget so passed, examines it and then assents, say before the year ends or the
first day/first week of the new year, the budget would be in place in the new
year. Had this happened, by now the 2016 budget would be running and the
economy would be a beehive of activities.
It is, indeed, sad that both
the Presidency and the National Assembly are playing politics with the budget
while Nigerians are suffering. Indeed, as the Executive and the Legislature are
standing up to each other, flexing muscle and trying to prove who is right,
Nigerians are in pain. At present, there is hunger in the land. Industries are
comatose. Foreign airlines are relocating their ticketing offices to neighbouring
Ghana.
Cash is not flowing, as they say in local parlance. These are challenges of a
country without budget. If the budget had been passed/signed into law and
government begins to release full allocations, there will not be cash crunch,
as currently being experienced.
Of course, if, for instance,
funds for road construction are released to contractors, they would mobilise
staff to sites and get cracking with the jobs at optimal capacity.
Materials for construction would be bought and paid for. Workers at sites will
receive their daily pay and they will, in turn, finance their personal needs.
And the economy will bubble back to life. This may sound simplistic, but it
underlines the fact that little things matter. And from little things, greater
ones happen or are achieved.
To say the least, the impasse
between the Executive and the Legislature regarding the 2016 budget should not
have arisen in the first place if the two arms of government understand that
they are there to complement each other and not as rivals. It’s the duty of the
Executive to project income, propose expenditure and implement the budget. It
is the duty of the legislature to approve the proposal so submitted and give it
a legal backing. In doing this, there ought not to be an element of ego and
selfishness. This should be done with all sense of patriotism and nationalism.
