Buhari committed to Fiscal Responsibility Act —Presidency

THE Presidency has assured that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which came to power on the plank of anti-corruption and good governance, will fully comply with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and other extant laws as they relate to the submission of budget proposals of Federal Government agencies and corporations to the National Assembly.

According to his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who spoke to newmen in Abuja, on Monday, the president had lived up to this commitment of accountability and transparency with the recent submission of the proposed budgets of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and others.

He said: “The transmission of budgets for the MDAs to the National Assembly, particularly those regarding the CBN and the NNPC behemoth is clearly unprecedented.

“The president is determined to make the budgeting process more transparent and participatory.

“It is all part of the re-engineering of the entire processes of governance for the benefit of ordinary citizens.”

The presidential spokesman affirmed that the Presidency had transmitted a letter to the National Assembly on the matter.

According to Garba, the president strongly believed that good governance and transparency were integral to the nation’s progress and key to the Federal Government’s programme to revamp the economy.

He said by responding positively to the demand of the National Assembly that MDA budgets be laid before it for scrutiny, a demand he said was mostly ignored by past administrations, “President Buhari has, indeed, given a clear indication of his commitment to an open, transparent and people-oriented government for Nigerians.’’

The presidential spokesman added that the current administration had also demonstrated its respect for the parliament, as a principal arm of government in a constitutional democracy.

“Our hope and expectation is that the National Assembly, acting in the best interest of the nation, will allow the immediate operationalisation of the MDAs budgets, so that the momentum of growth of the economy which has begun to build up will be sustained,” Shehu said.