Is budget a tool of underdevelopment?

In his latest article “Budget as a tool of underdevelopment” published, a popular journalist writer, Simon Kolawole, backed President Muhammadu Buhari’s protest that the 2018 budget was severely distorted by the lawmakers with the reduction in allocations to priority projects and addition of over 6,000 new projects.

According to him, “the representation function of the parliament comes into bold relief in the budgeting process. While the president is representing the whole country, legislators represent individual constituencies, and they have a responsibility to factor in the interests of their constituents ―and in a way balance the national and the local. Four, the constitution empowers the national assembly to make laws for “peace, order and good government of the federation”. Appropriation offers a powerful opportunity for them to do this.” But SK questioned if the NASS has ever done anything in the national interest. How wrong can he be?

However, when a lawmaker implements a constituency project or facilitates a project to his constituency, in whose interest would such project be? Apparently he and his immediate family might not be direct beneficiaries. As its the case of other members, since becoming a member of the Senate and as a Senate President, the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, for instance, has facilitated construction and reconstruction of abandoned federal roads in his Senatorial district than the Federal Government itself had thought of implementing. We may need to mention this two recent federal roads – Afon/Aboto/Oyo state boundary road and  Michael Imodu/Afon Junction in Ilorin.

Already captured in the 2018 budget, as facilitated by the Senate President, is N250 million for the rehabilitation of township roads in Omu-Aran, Kwara state, in whose interest would such project be when implemented? This is one of the insertions the President was talking about, but he and his handlers would want the world to believe the funds for the projects were inserted to be channeled into pockets of lawmakers. SK got it wrong there.

Also, under the 2016 and 2017 budgets of the constituency project of the National Assembly, Saraki alone facilitated the construction of about 100 classrooms in Kwara State, through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), other lawmakers are not left out when it comes to facilitating projects to their constituencies. Yet SK wants us to believe such projects are not in national interest?

In response to the question, on “why despite all the budget defence by the MDAs, the budget still comes out heavily distorted?” It has to be so because ordinarily such projects inserted into the budget by the lawmakers never get the attention of the Federal Government if lawmakers who are closer to the people don’t make case for them and include them in the budget.

Year in, year out, we hear lawmakers who are closer to the people at the grassroots than the Federal Government, lament over the failure of the budget to capture sensitive infrastructure in their various constituencies. Of what benefit is a lawmaker to his people, if he cannot offer responsible representation by advocating and attracting developmental projects to his constituency? These budgets are compiled and presented by the executive, this is where we may want to ask, who conducted the NEEDs assessment in the various constituencies and largely neglected them in infrastructural projects? In the face of flagrant display of lackadaisical attitude towards implementation on 2017 budget, who among the lawmakers needs a prophet to tell him that the incompetency of the executive would rub off on their set out goals for their constituencies?

Allegations of bribery by MDAs to lawmakers to pass budgets, in this era where the fight against corruption has become a slogan, couldn’t have been swept under the carpet if such truly exists in this present dispensation.

If truly budget is a tool of underdevelopment, then the executive has more questions to answer, we may also need to ask if MDAs are unquestionable that Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) fail to  step forward to defend their budgets and also give ‘progress reports’ on what their offices have done with their capital votes?

What the 2018 budget has shown to us is that, the failure of the Federal Government to provide sustainable developments for the people, has forced the lawmakers to thinker on way to provide palliative measures in form of constituency projects for their people at the grassroots. It is actually not new, but the one who alleged is only trying to play politics and appeal to emotions of the public.

The lawmakers may definitely have their shortcomings and excesses which cannot be taken away from any human, but records have shown that the present NASS has surpassed past records in legislative achievements. Whatever issue SK has to join with the national assembly cannot take away the joy felt by people at the grassroots who are direct beneficiaries of infrastructural projects facilitated by the lawmakers, it can also not erase the huge number of bills with great impacts that this present NASS has successfully passed into law, the highest in the history of this nation.

Ahmed Lawal, Abuja.