Jonathan sends 2013 budget amendment proposal to N’Assembly

A fresh row  may  brew   between the Executive and the National Assembly  over  the 2013 national budget as President Goodluck Jonathan has  sent back  the document to the lawmakers for amendment. Jonathan, in separate letters to the two chambers of the National Assembly, argued that the  N4. 9tn budget  could “hamper” the works of the Executive if it was implemented as passed by the lawmakers.
The letters which accompanied the returned document were addressed to the President of the Senate, David Mark, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal. They were dated March 14, 2013.
In the Senate, it was read by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary  on Tuesday  and in the House by Tambuwal.
Stating that he  was seeking an amendment to the document  to enable him to improve the lives of Nigerians, the President  said he “ appreciates” the  National Assembly for  passing  the budget  in record time.
But he noted  that certain clauses and provisions in the  budget  were in conflict with the principle of Separation of Powers and   therefore asked  the  lawmakers  to amend them in line with the understanding both sides reached before he appended his signature to the  budget on February 27.
Specifically, the President expressed reservations about the demand by the National Assembly  that the Accountant General of the Federation  should furnish it with budget releases on a quarterly basis.
The letter reads in part, “As noted  in our various consultative meetings with the leadership and various committees of the National Assembly following the passage of the budget, it became imperative that certain provisions, including cuts to personnel cost across the service and provisions for some capital  projects be changed through an amendment budget.
“In this respect, I hereby forward a copy each, of the 2013 Amendment Budget  Proposal. It is my hope that the distinguished members will consider and approve these revised proposals in your usual expeditious manner.”
The President cited  “cuts to personnel cost across the service and provisions for some capital projects” as some of the provisions in the budget that needed to be amended for smooth implementation.
For the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme in particular, Jonathan forwarded amendment proposals to the tune of N273.52bn to  the  lawmakers.
He said, “The 2013 Appropriation Act includes clauses which may be injurious to the spirit of separation of powers and which could hamper the work of the Executive arm of government.
“I therefore request that these should be reviewed.”
Jonathan listed four controversial clauses in the budget, which he urged the lawmakers to review, and gave explanations for his request.
Among them is the clause directing the Securities and Exchange Commission not to spend any funds this year unless in a manner approved by the National Assembly.
The President’s letter reads in part,
a.    Clause 6(H) states that: “The Accountant-General of the Federation shall forward to the National Assembly, full details of funds released to the government agencies immediately such funds are   released while Clause 9 states that, “All Accounting Officers of Ministries, Parastatals and Departments of government who control heads of expenditures shall upon the coming into effect of this Act furnish the National Assembly, on a quarterly basis, with detailed information on the Internally Generated Revenue of the agency in any form whatsoever”. Both clauses run counter to the established chain of reporting;
b.   Clause 7 states that, “The Minister of Finance shall ensure that funds appropriated under this Act are released to the appropriate agencies and/or organs of government as and when due, provided that no funds for any quarter of the fiscal year shall be deferred without prior waiver from the National Assembly.
“This requires the Minister of Finance to seek a waiver from the National Assembly each time the Ministry of Finance cannot make full funds releases to MDAs when due. As you are aware, the nation experiences a shortfall in revenue once in a while and if the minister is to seek a waiver on each occasion, the practice would tie down budget implementation, as this would involve the minister writing a formal letter to the National Assembly, presented in plenary and sent to the relevant committees for discussion. These would create delays and constraints on the budget implementation; and
c.   Clause 10 states, “All revenue however described, including all fees received, fines, grants, budgetary provisions and all internally and externally generated revenue shall not be spent by the Securities and Exchange Commission for recurrent or capital purposes or for any other matters, nor liabilities thereon incurred except with prior appropriation and approval by the National Assembly. Considering the fact that the budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission does not form part of the core 2013 Federal Budget as presented to the National Assembly, I believe that this clause ought not to have been inserted into the 2013 Appropriation Act in the first place.
“Secondly, the import of the clause is tantamount to shutting down the business of the commission with a potential negative impact on the capital market.”
The House had inserted the SEC clause in the budget after Jonathan refused to act on its resolution demanding the sack of the Director-General of the Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh, for allegedly lacking the qualifications to head the agency.
Details of the SURE-P budget showed that the Ministry of Niger Delta would get N42.270bn to augment the funding of the East-West Road, sections I-IV, while the Ministry of Works was given N93.5bn to fund ongoing road projects nationwide.
Some of the roads are the Abuja-Lokoja Road, Benin-Ore–Sagamu Road, Kano-Maidguri Road and Port Harcourt-Enugu-Onitsha Road, among others.
It will be recalled that Jonathan originally proposed a budget of  N4.924tn, but the National Assembly eventually passed a total figure of N4.987tn , thus   raising it by about N63bn on December 20, 2012.
In addition, lawmakers changed the crude oil benchmark of the budget to $79 per barrel, up from the $75 proposed by Jonathan.
They also included the controversial Clause 10 on SEC in a bid to get Jonathan to fire Oteh.
The President has yet to act on this provision.
The President and the lawmakers later had lengthy  disagreements and discussions over the content of the budget for close to 30 working days after the details were transmitted to him.
Amidst threats by the House in particular that it would override Jonathan’s veto, the President signed the budget on February 27.
However, it later came to the fore that he signed the document with the understanding that he would forward an amendment version to the National Assembly.
On reading the letter on the floor on Tuesday, lawmakers merely responded by chorusing “noted”, “ noted”.
They simply continued with other issues listed for discussion.