Budget: Senate to cross-check finance ministers’ report

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013 

Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala
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The Senate will ask its relevant committees to cross-check claims by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Nweala, and the junior minister in the ministry, Dr. Yerima Ngama, on the 2013 Budget performances of the Ministries, Departments and various Agencies of government, after their presentation next week.

The two ministers had been summoned to appear before the hallowed chamber next week to update members on the implementation of the 2013 budget.

The junior minister is also expected to clarify  a statement credited to him by a national newspaper  that the budget of the current fiscal year was not implementable.

Ngama and his boss will also  identify causes of the fallen revenues and clarify their claims of overbloated revenue estimates allegedly packed into 2013 budget by the senators.

The Senate Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, told our correspondent that the appropriate senate committees would be directed by the leadership to cross-check whatever facts that would be presented by the ministers.

Solomon explained that the minister must convince the Senate that the internationally accepted indices being used worldwide were employed in the measurement of the budget performance.

He said, “The ministers are expected to come up with facts on how much was disbursed and how much was actually spent. The facts presented must be verifiable.

“If for instance, they claimed that the budget had achieved 60 per cent performance, their submissions must reflect in the records of the MDAs. They are not coming here to express their opinions; they must come with verifiable claims.”

Solomon said the Senate would take a position after the presentation of the ministers had been independently investigated by the committees of the hallowed chamber.

The spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, said any decision by his colleagues on the explanation of the ministers would be taken after their presentations.

He said, “I cannot say what the specific action the Senate will take on the ministers after their presentation because doing so would be pre-emptive.”

The Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi had  moved the motion to invite the ministers on Thursday.

He said the alleged utterances of the junior minister as reported in a national newspaper, “were clearly targeted to blackmail the National Assembly.”

He also noted  that the minister, before making his statement, did not engage in any form of communication with the leadership of the senate.

He said, “We are concerned that such unguarded pronouncement is capable of sending serious negative signals to the Nigerian citizens and indeed, the international community.”

He explained that the National Assembly was considerate enough while treating the appropriation bill by ensuring that figures allocated were not only realistic, but also realisable.

He said the proposed benchmark per barrel proposed by government was $75 whereas the Senate approved the current average market price of $109.

He also stated that the Senate retained the N160 exchange rate to a dollar and left the oil production volume at 2.526.

He said the Federal Government proposed N1,001,699 as Net Customs Revenue but that the Senate augmented it to N1,006,594 because the agency surpassed its projection for 2012.

Ningi added that whereas the Federal Government proposed a revenue of N2,065,493 through the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Senate approved N2,072,753.

He argued that the perceived poor implementation of the budget allegedly blamed on the senators, due to their alleged overbloated estimates by the minister, was unfair because it was the Ministry of Finance that failed to release funds as and when due.

For instance, the senator noted that the finance ministry had released only N855,141,000,000 as against the N1,591,657,000,000 approved by the National Assembly, thereby leaving a difference of N736,466,000,000.