Reps ask executive to implement 2017 budget in full

THE House of Representatives, on Tuesday, kick-started debate on the general principle of 2017 budget with caution that full implementation of the budget should be carried out when passed into law.

The Majority Leader of the House, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, who moved for consideration of the bill for second reading on the first alloted day, urged his colleagues to support the passage of the bill.

Leading debate on the bill, Honourable Gbajabiamila said: “Prior to now, we ran successive budgets averaging N4 trillion at a time when this country was earning far more than it is now at $100 to $120 a barrel. The last two budgets of this administration have upped the ante to N6 to N7 trillion at a time when oil dropped to $30 and rose to $50.”

According to him, “This is ambitious but ambition is the precursor to success. Prior to this time, capital allocation in our yearly budget was way below 30 per cent and now this administration has raised it to over 30 per cent.

“Before now, budget performance has been about 30 per cent but somehow with little resources available, this administration hovers around the mid 50 per cent range in terms of budget performance.

“We are not there yet, 50 per cent is not even good enough but it’s important to know where we were coming from to understand where we are and are going. That’s the story of this administration. How has this administration been able to achieve this?

“It’s blocked leakages, aggressively pursued and broadened its tax base and collection, introduced reforms such as TSA, zero based budgeting and eliminated ghost workers.

“Recession is a word that describes the downward turn in a country’s economy. Nigeria has been hit as has many oil producing countries. This budget seeks to reboot the economy with a massive dose of capital injection and payment of local debts to contractors which will help stimulate and reflate the economy.

“The government continues to lay emphasis on diversification of the economy particularly in the areas of agriculture and solid minerals. There is hope for the manufacturers as power ministry is allocated a substantial part of the budget. Hon Colleagues it is because of these reasons that this budget has been christened Budget of Recovery and Growth.

Honourable Mark Gbillah, in his own contribution, said internally generated revenue should be looked at critically.

The chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Honourable.Abdulrazak Namdas, in his own contribution, called on the Federal Government to prepare appropriate framework to take care of the surplus from the sale of crude oil, stressing that there was need to block leakages.

Honourable Frederick Agbede, while making his own input, said “my worry is that we are a country of more consumption than production, because most of our refineries are no more working,’’ noting that urgent steps should be taken to address the development.

Honourable Ossai Ossai, who condemned the exchange rate of N305 to a dollar, noted that such projection was against the economic reality, but Honourable Gbajabiamila quickly cautioned him, saying the figure was passed by the National Assembly and warned him not to make reference to what had been passed.