Dogara expresses NASS frustration over poor budget implementation

SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara, on Wednesday expressed National Assembly frustration over poor implementation of budget passed by the lawmakers, saying that implementation and execution of the budget has always being a major challenge year in year out.

The Speaker however suggested that capital component of the 2016 Budget should be allowed to run till May 6, 2017.

The Speaker in his remark after the presentation of 2017 budget however thanked President Muhammadu Buhari “for the lofty goals enshrined in the (2017) Budget document just presented, which is designed to take Nigeria out of economic recession and achieve significant economic growth for our nation.”

The Speaker also urged President Buhari to “add distorted budget cycle and abandoned capital projects /white elephant projects, to the list of things, in addition to corruption, that he must kill.

“This calls for creativity, which cannot be realised if we do not lose our fear of being wrong. By being creative in this area, Mr President will build a new order that makes the existing order obsolete. There is no better way by which real change is attained.

“The real challenge before us is to make our annual budgets work for all our citizens, especially the poor and the vulnerable. This is a task all of us must be supremely devoted to,” he maintained.

On non-implementation of budget, he said that, “It is certainly frustrating that we go through the annual Budget cycle/process: of Budget presentation by Mr President, processing of same by the National Assembly, passage and signing into law every year, without unlocking the full potentials of such Budgets for our citizens.”

He then noted that, “implementation and execution of the agreed Budget is always a major challenge year in year out. Sometimes, implementation rate is as low as 30 per cent; most times it is never higher than 50 per cent at the best of times.”

On the need to allow the capital component of the budget to run till May 2017, he said that, “as I counselled last year, an Appropriation Act must be allowed to run for an uninterrupted period of 12 months, for the executive to have enough time to execute it. This means that both Mr President and the National Assembly must find a way to continue the execution of the 2016 Budget especially the capital component till May 6, 2017, which is 12 months from the date Mr President signed the 2016 Appropriation Bill.

“This is also the clear intendment of the definition of a Financial Year in Section 318 of the Constitution. The problem is that most often the recurrent component of the Budget is implemented to an appreciable level, but the capital component execution is very low.  It is crystal clear that the capital component of the 2016 Budget cannot realistically be implemented for only six months period considering the time required for procurement processes and the raising of the revenue including loans by government”, the Speaker stated.

To this end, he said that, “Except something is done, this will result in yet another failed budget. A vicious cycle repeated every year”.

The Speaker further stated that, “We must therefore put on our thinking caps and ensure that the change promised Nigerians is reflected in our budget process, as we cannot really make appreciable progress as a nation without significant implementation of the Capital component of the Budget”.