The mild controversy over how the 2017 Federal Government budget recently passed by the National Assembly is to be signed and assented to reflects the growing lack of coordination in the processes of the Federal Executive arising from the uncertainties unleashed by the ill-health of President Muhammadu Buhari. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, perhaps kicked off the drama when he was reported to have said that the budget would be signed by ailing President Muhammadu Buhari who is on health leave in London while the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, would be expected to take it up from there for implementation.
Though Senator Enang has since stated that he was reported out of context, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, maybe in an effort to clarify what was reportedly said by Senator Enang, added in another report, which he and his office have since also denied, that he was of the opinion that the executive was yet to decide on who would sign and assent to the passed budget as the decision would only be made after the passed budget was received officially by the executive from the National Assembly. The Office of the Acting President followed later with its own clarification to the effect that the Acting President would assent to the budget after being satisfied by its provisions.
The truth is that this needless controversy is a reflection of lack of proper coordination in the workings of the Federal Executive Council and suggests an urgent need to get the processes of the government aligned. We would have thought that both Senator Enang and Alhaji Mohammed, as officials of the executive, would have needed and received proper briefing on the position of the executive before making public pronouncements. The idea that the Office of the Acting President would need to countermand them and clarify an issue on which they have made public pronouncements suggests that they did not avail themselves of such proper briefing and were only making personal opinions through their public pronouncements. It could also mean that the government has not been functioning as it should under the Acting President with officials perhaps not knowing where and how to receive proper briefing.
Whatever the case may be, a situation in which different officials of the same government speak embarrassingly in discordant tunes does not reflect well on the government and does not infuse necessary confidence in its processes. More important, however, is that the issue under reference is such that does not invite speculation or discordant tunes as the laws of the country are very clear that the Acting President performs all the functions of the President. We are, therefore, at a loss as to why both Senator Enang and Alhaji Mohammed would have problems recognising this fact and why they would attempt to foist a different and confusing interpretation of the law on Nigerians.
The framers of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are very clear about preventing a lacuna in governance where the President is on vacation or medical leave as currently obtains with President Buhari. This is why there is provision for Acting President who would perform all the functions of the President in his absence and it should not be difficult to see that no function is exempted from the duties of the Acting President. The signing of the approved budget is one of the duties of the President or Acting President and we do not believe that this should generate any sort of controversy. In any case, it is the Federal Executive Council itself that is inviting and generating controversy through the uncoordinated pronouncements of its members and it should be the duty of the Acting President to ensure that this is corrected swiftly and not repeated.
Government infuses and imparts confidence when it is coordinated and efficient in its workings and we would advise the Federal Executive Council to put its house in order and not envelop the country in unwarranted and unnecessary controversy.
