On April 10, the House of Representatives passed the 2014 Appropriation Bill. It approved N4.695trillion, an amount N53billion higher than the N4.642trillion estimate submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan on December 19, 2013, through the co-ordinating minister of the economy and minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The previous day, a similar ritual had played out in the upper legislative chamber, when the Senate approved a total budget package of N4, 695,190,000,000 for the 2014 fiscal year. This sum approved by the senators was N52.230billion in excess of the initial N4, 642,960,000,000 proposed by President Jonathan and N292 billion less than the N4.987trillion of 2013.
It is curious that the legislature does not see the tardiness of its approval process. Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa said on Monday, that the 2014 budget would be sent to President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday (yesterday) for his assent. We wonder which version of the passed bill was sent to the president, considering the fact that the two chambers were more concerned about going on Easter break than discharging their constitutional responsibility of vetting the proposed budget before hastily passing it. Since there was no harmonisation that took place in the interregnum between when the two chambers passed different versions of the budget, went on a three-week leave and now, what he forwarded to the president could throw up some controversy.
We are worried that the present government is treating a serious instrument of governance like the budget with kid gloves. It’s really baffling that the hush-hush arrangement is being contrived to save the fallout of running Africa’s largest economy without an Appropriation Act. A critical review of the budget as presented showed sloppiness in conception, as there were many grey areas, duplications and inherent fraud-laden sub-heads. Do those in critical positions of leadership in this country know why a budget is so important, a sine-qua-non for transparent governance and an effective mechanism for development? If they did, they would not have seen it as a mere constitutional requirement, but a moral compass for effective mobilisation, allocation and scrupulous economic management imperative. On the surface, it may seem like a tedious financial exercise, but a good budget is invaluable, especially for those who prize keeping spending on track and even freeing up more money to channel towards developmental goals.
It is a strange phenomenon that the budget is being treated with such disdain by the two arms of government under this administration. Oversight responsibilities are ignored such that corruption has become a by-product of legislative ineptitude and adrenalin for an executive to perpetuate impunity and humongous fraud against the treasury and the people. The laxity is exemplified by this year’s budget that did not go through due process and yet will become law. There is no gainsaying that implementation will be, as previously, a monumental failure. Implementation cannot be expected to score more than 40 per cent when efforts at putting it together have been less than salutary.
