2016 budget: NASS moves against Aso Rock

LAWMAKERS in the National Assembly are said to be preparing a huge shock for the presidency as far as the final copy of the 2016 budget is concerned.

The lawmakers in the two chambers committed the budget to committee assignments last week after passing the document through the second reading.

Investigations at the National Assembly, however, confirmed that lawmakers are unhappy that they have been made to bear the brunt of all the ills that go with budgetary allocations year after year.

For instance, some of the lawmakers argued that whereas every sector of the budget in the 2016 estimates recorded between 10 and 30 percent increase, the budget of the National Assembly took a downward plunge from N130 billion in 2015 to N115 billion.

The lawmakers are also angry that while the National Assembly has been granted zero capital allocations in 2016, that of the Presidency rose from N8.3 billion and N8.9 billion in 2014 and 2015 to N19.1 billion in 2016.

Some of the lawmakers had also argued that the original budget that can be compared with that of 2016 is actually the 2014 Budget which was implemented in full by the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

They also argued that since the 2015 budget was signed into law in April, nothing concrete was spent from the budget by the previous administration, while the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari also largely sidelined the budget.

“Although some of the votes meant as expenses in the Villa are spread in different subheads,  including in the Service Wide votes, the lawmakers have decided to fish out all the expenses and straighten them as appropriate,” a lawmaker said last week.

For instance, the president, in the corrected version of the budget, moved the N3.7 billion meant for purchase of cars and spread same in the votes for the office of Chief of Staff and the Chief Security Officer to the President. A lawmaker said that the finances are being scrutinised to ensure that nothing untoward is allowed in the budget.

Other subheads already contained in the budget but which are seen as curious include the vote of N3.9 billion for renovation of the Villa in 2016.

The Committee on Inter-Governmental Affairs was already mandated to x-ray the Service Wide Votes and exclude any extraneous figures in the budget.

“Whereas the highest figure for the Villa under the previous governments stood at N33 billion, the current government in an austerity measure proposed a budget of N39.124 billion for the Presidential Villa,” a lawmaker noted, adding that the ingenuous development in the current administration is that various sums to be spent are located in departments outside the Presidency itself.

A source said that in view of the overt attention on the budget of the National Assembly, the lawmakers have decided to thoroughly examine the National Budget and remove any extraneous figures adding that any overhead that is seen as bogus would be reassigned or removed totally.

The media last week revealed the contents of a letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo  to the National Assembly in which he alleged lack of transparency in the budgetary process of the legislature.

He also accused the lawmakers of corruption, adding that their insistence on buying vehicles worth N4.7 billion was insensitive at this time.

However, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki replied the former President, insisting that the National Assembly has imbibed a culture of transparency.