By Samuel Ogidan

House of Representatives expressed their minds on the signing of the 2018 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Commending President Buhari for the signing, the lawmakers said that the Legislature is not expected to be a rubber-stamp by simply approving the Executive proposals and returning the budget to him, adding that the additions the President complained of in his speech are justifiable.

The lawmakers said that they are on the same page with President Buhari in his desire to return budget cycle to January-December, adding that by the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, the budget estimates should be with the National Assembly around September of the year.

The lawmakers, in a statement by the Chairman, House Committee on Media & Publicity, Hon Abdulrazak Namdas, explained that from 2015, their budgets have taken a downward turn, adding that they have reduced their budgets by several billions.

The lawmakers observed, “That the budget is usually a proposal by the Executive to the National Assembly, which the latter is given the constitutional power of appropriation to alter, make additions, costs or reduce as it may deem necessary. The Legislature is not expected to be rubber-stamp by simply approving the Executive proposals and returning the budget to Mr President. Therefore, the additions Mr President complained of in his speech are justifiable.

“We are on the same page with Mr President in his desire to return our budget cycle to January-December. By the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007, the budget estimates should be with the National Assembly around September of the year. In the case of the 2018 budget, the estimates came behind schedule in November 2017, even though this attempt was seen as one of the earliest in recent years. Going forward, we urge the Executive to speed up the reporting time to the National Assembly by complying fully with the FRA.
“Besides, there were delays that should be blamed on the heads of MDAs. Mr President will recall that he had to direct ministers and heads of agencies to go to the National Assembly to defend their proposals. This came after the National Assembly had persistently raised the alarm over the non-cooperative attitudes of these government officials. On this grounds, the delay in passing the budget cannot be blamed on the legislature.”

Speaking on new projects in the budget, the lawmakers said, “We have to remind Mr President that we are representatives of our people and wish to state that even the common man deserves a mention in the budget by including projects that will directly affect his life positively. Some of the projects designed by the executive, as high-sounding as their names suggest, do not meet the needs of the common man.”
On the National Assembly budget, they said that “before 2015, the budget of the National Assembly was N150 billion for several years. It was cut down to N120bn in 2015 and further down to N115bn in 2016. In 2017, the budget was N125bn and N139.5bn in 2018. This means that the budget of the National Assembly is still far below the N150bn in the years before 2015.

“While we commend Mr President for a good working relationship, we also wish to state that we have a job to do, which requires adequate funding as well. The additional costs and projects to the budget were done in good faith for the sole purpose of improving the lives of Nigerians.”

The lawmakers said that they welcome the proposal by President Buhari to forward a supplementary budget to the National Assembly to address other areas of pressing demands.

They, however, commended the President and the entire executive arm for a cordial working relationship.


http://authorityngr.com/2018/06/20/budget-signing-were-not-rubber-stamp-to-executive-reps/

These people don't have the interest of Nigeria at heart at all. How can 360 HoR members and 109 Sinators be greater than 170 million people is what I don't get.

If the Federal Govt drills bore holes and purchase motorcycles to locals, what would the State and Local Govts do with their budget?

.

Ahmed0336:
These people don't have the interest of Nigeria at heart at all. How can 360 HoR members and 109 Sinators be greater than 170 million people is what I don't get.

That is why they are called Representatives

By law, they represent the 170 million people, so if you cannot hold your representative to account, then it's your failure as a citizen

If the executive have a problem with what the NASS, let them sue them to court. If they can't, then there complaint is baseless.

Some people are asking Saraki's campaign office to provide information about projects tagged constituency projects in Kwara central zone. Tracka Nigeria has been directed to ask UBEC for the location of these projects. A familiar pidgin proverb says: "Na overskill dey kill ninja". Soon the time of reckoning will come for these persons.

Culled from @Tracka.ng on twitter

We tracked the construction of a standard motor park and N.U.R.T.W office at Mahuta, Fakai LGA, Kebbi state for N38m. The project has been completed. The residents of Mahuta community informed the Tracka team that the project is a misplaced priority to the community.

Above is an example of a 'constituency project'.