target inflation rate of 11.2 per cent.
Folarin added: "The operation of the revenue sharing formula and total revenue for the Federal Government budget is forecast at N2.517 trillion. There is a deliberate expansion in budgeting expenditure over that of previous fiscal years to counter the effect of the credit crunch on the economy as well as to reduce the infrastructure gap."
Anthony Agbo (PDP, Ebonyi State) submitted: "The appropriate committee of the Senate should be directed now to conduct a public hearing on budget implementation to allow us diagnose the ailments of this government that makes it unable to execute budgets. Yearly, budgets are passed by the National Assembly, but we never get to see them implemented. It is a known issue that non-implementation of budgets is a punishable offence. Some people are even saying that it is an impeachable offence.
"Everyday, we keep talking about Vision 20:2020. Are we merely doing so for propaganda purposes? If we are serious about reaching this target, we must change the ways and manners we have been doing things because there has been no significant positive change so far."
And the Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Olorunnimbe Mamora, argued that there were no signs that having failed to make substantial progress in the implementation of the 2009 budget, the Executive arm of the Federal Government would be able to implement the 2010 budget when passed.
"I am worried about the size of this budget because nothing shows that having failed to implement the 2009 budget, which was even smaller than this, the government would be able to execute a bigger one."
Patrick Osakwe (Accord Party, Delta State) was angry over the growing decay of the nation's infrastructure as a result of poor budget implementation.
He said: "Where is the money we have approved for infrastructure in the past? For instance, just take a look at the Benin-Ore Road for which huge sums of money have been voted. This is a shame. Let us look at our security system. A situation where government is losing its capacity to secure the people is sad. The Police Force is becoming too weak financially to perform its duties. Have you seen where our policemen live? How do we expect the best from them when they are not living well?"
Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi State) declared that the Senate should not be debating the 2010 budget when the 2009 budget it passed a year ago had not been implemented up to 30 per cent.
He said: "Why are we talking about budget 2010 when we could not implement the 2009 budget. The Minister of Works should be asked to come and explain what had happened to the money we appropriated for roads last year. My frank submission is that the Senate should summon the courage to ask President Yar'Adua to flush out ministers who are not performing as a way of redeeming the image of government on this issue of budget non-performance. Worse still, the issue of unemployment is growing at an alarming rate when enough budgetary provisions were made in previous budgets to take care of these."
Uche Chukwumerije (PPA, Abia State) expressed concerns that the expenditure pattern of the 2010 budget proposal was high on overheads and low in investment and sustainable economic projects.
According to him: "The observation from this is that we need to tighten our belt further to secure faster pace of economic development than hitherto."
Chukwumerije equally drew attention to the decreasing budgetary priority to anti-graft agencies, pointing out that this did not show that government was seriously interested in continuing the war against corruption.
"Nothing in the budget indicates that the regime intends to give more priority to the fight against corruption. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Financial Crimes Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency and State Security Service should get at least twice what they are allocated," he said.
The lawmaker lamented the poor allocation to sectors that could enhance the welfare of the less-privileged.
He added: "What scale of social priorities does the budget project? The low allocations to health (N162 billion) and labour (N7 billion) along with the low allocation to women (N2.5 billion) and youths (N46 billion) do not portray the government as particularly obsessed with the goal of improving the lots of the under-privileged and the low-income in the society. More can be done for the low strata of the society."
Nafada said that funds were being allocated without proper scrutiny. He gave an instance of some projects that had been completed but were still being allocated funds in the budget.
"It even appears that some of these government officials do not know what they do about budget or that they are not prepared to work with commitment. For example, I discovered that the sum of N30 billion was put in the budget for projects that had been completed in the last budget. What it means is that they don't know which project has been completed and which is ongoing," he said.
Nafada canvassed the deletion of the clause in the 2009 budget making it mandatory for ministries and other government agencies to seek approval of the National Assembly before implementing any virement of funds allocated in the budget. He argued that it had become imperative because government agencies were using it to defer constituency projects chosen by members of the National Assembly.
Leading the debate on the principle of the 2010 budget on the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday, the Majority Leader, Tunde Akogun, said it was a stimulus package against the backdrop of the global economic recess. He added that the budget as proposed by the Executive aims at realising the Vision 20:2020 and contains measures to cut costs.
"The budget targets sustainable growth and inflation rate. I will advise appropriation committees to ensure equity in distribution of projects," he said.
The Chief Whip, Emeka Ihedioha, said the budget is an expansion of the 2009 appropriation, which shows that the Executive has remained focused. The budget, he further said, would enhance development and reduce poverty while the issue of Niger Delta is properly captured in the proposal.
"The proposal to raise power generation to 10,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity is laudable. We are encouraged by the plan to enhance transportation. And there is an effort to address the issue of hunger and security. The budget should increase the benchmark to $60 per barrel," he said.
The Deputy Minority Whip, Suleiman Kawu, however, disagreed saying the last budget was not implemented and therefore, the House should not touch the 2010 budget.
"When we allow the budget to be passed, we are contradicting ourselves. We have blamed the Executive for not implementing the budget. The government that prides itself on due process is not obeying it but instead resorted to rascality. When we go to our constituencies, we cannot justify our action if we pass this budget.
Insecurity is on the rise, the 6,000 mw is yet to be achieved. When the Minister of Works went to inspect roads, he was confronted with complaints. Contractors were paid but no job done. If we pass the budget, we are contradicting ourselves. Elections are coming and people are blaming us. It is our responsibility to correct things. We should reject the budget proposal", he said.
Gbenga Oduwaye from Ogun State urged the House to look at the budget critically and ensure that those things that could have immediate impact on Nigerians were put in it. "We should take a deep look at the budget and see that those things that will add value to lives of Nigerians get higher allocations. We should give attention to those areas that will impact directly. We should see the President and see how we can achieve at least three areas of the seven-point agenda", he submitted.
Chinyere Igwe representing Port Harcourt 2 Federal Constituency in Rivers State said: "The PDP administration has impacted on Nigerians. We should ask how the last budget added value to the country. In Rivers State, the Niger Delta Ministry has failed Nigeria. The money voted for Niger Delta has not yielded any visible results. The money voted last year is yet to be seen. We should take a serious look at the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)."
Leo Ogor from Delta State noted that the amount voted for capital projects in the budget needed to be increased.
"The capital expenditure vote, for instance, is worrisome because it is lower than the recurrent. The issue of non-implementation should worry everybody. Let us look at the revenue profile whether it is achievable," he said.
Patricia Etteh from Osun State said next year would be crucial in the politics of Nigeria and some items of the President be selected and applied so that there could be tangible results before the next general elections.
"2010 is a crucial year and so we should concentrate on those things that can touch the lives of Nigerians before the campaigns for 2011. We are talking about seven-point agenda, we should look at two or three areas that can make impact. We appreciate what the government is doing and we should be in the vanguard of explanation of government activities. We need to look at the performance of the 2009 budget before allocating resources", she said.
Terngu Shegba urged the House to give proper attention to security in the budget. "Security of lives is very important. The budget has provided enough for security and we should ensure everything is done to improve the security because elections are coming. The issue of domestic debt is being addressed which is commendable. Some ongoing water projects should be completed. We should commend the budget", he said.
The Deputy Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, urged the House to thoroughly discuss the non-implementation of last year's budget and provide for sanctions for non-implementation of the future budgets.
"We have not talked about the non-implementation of last year's budget. My fear is that failure of budget is becoming a yearly thing. It is not the paper work that matters. We should have additional clause in the budget about implementation. We should provide for sanction for non-implementation otherwise we will come back here next year to talk about the same thing. Let us have that all important clause. The increase should have favoured capital development. The recurrent is so high. We should not have N20 billion for statutory transfer. We are not implementing the budget because of wrong priority. There is only N300 billion increase for capital development. I hope that the government has not secretly increased the price of petroleum products. There is no provision for subsidy. I hope deregulation has not been done without consulting the Legislature. The relevant committees should investigate and ensure that the proper thing is done", he said.
John Halims Agoda representing Ethiope Federal Constituency in Delta State regretted that since 1999, no budget had been implemented faithfully.
"While the budget is working in other countries, why is ours not working? Do we need to go abroad for budget course. We have over the years sat and done good budget but at the end, we target 30, 40 per cent performance. Do we need performance index? We need to do something. I have gone through this ritual since 1999 and it is sad," he said.
The Chairman of the Committee on Finance, John Enoh, said that implementation of the budget had improved as more funds had been released for capital projects.
His words: "The N500 billion for capital projects which was in the Central Bank on Nigeria (CBN) has come to N300 billion. At the end of the year, the budget would perform at 60 per cent. Out of the N1 trillion, only N300 billion is left, the other part has been released. The supplementary budget will perform up till March next year by which period the entire capital projects would have been fully implemented''.
Before putting the question for voice vote on the debate, the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, said there was no time left for the lawmakers and charged all the committees to go after ministries and parastatals and ensure that they implement the budget faithfully so that lawmakers could have things to show during the campaigns for next general elections. "If we pass the new electoral law which says that all petitions must be concluded in six months before swearing-in, the election will hold in September and we have less than eight months to go. This is the time to ensure that all ministers and permanent secretaries perform their duties", he said and put the question and the bill was committed to committees on Finance and Appropriation.
The PDP secretary expressed the concern of the party over the crisis in the two Chambers over the presentation of the 2010 budget to the National Assembly and blamed the situation on the opposition.
"We seize this opportunity therefore to reveal to the public that there are desperate antics by the opposition against our party, especially as 2011 is fast-approaching."
He added: "It is our belief that these unrelentless attacks on our party through fifth columnists in the media will remain futile. No amount of desperation by the opposition will coerce and cajole the Nigerian people to choose any other party than the PDP. Nigerians love our party," he said.
"Some vested interest in our midst is working in tandem with the opposition in stoking these fires in the party" and further alleged that the ultimate plot is to frustrate the on-going electoral reforms.
"We hereby assure all our loyal and committed members that we will soon smoke out those hobnobbing with the opposition under the guise of names as 'founding members, elders of the party, stakeholders, party leaders, their activities shall be investigated and culprits will be penalised in accordance with our party constitution".
"As we had always suspected and discovered in the past, the opposition is currently acting out a script aimed at frustrating on-going electoral reforms through precipitating fear, violence and disharmony to invalidate coming elections. On the raging arguments between both houses on the venue for the presentation of the 2010 budget, it is our considered view that the seeming disagreement, though unnecessary, is a conventional matter. It is not constitutional.
"While the constitution is very clear on who presides at joint meetings, the issue over venue of the budget presentation is conventional. It is a tradition that we have held for about 10 years in the life of our democracy.
"It is in line with our democratic principles as a means by the President to address both Houses, the nation and the entire world at the same time. For the avoidance of doubt, Section 81(1) of the Constitution says: 'The President shall cause to be prepared and lay before each House of the National Assembly, at any time, in each financial year, estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the federation for the next following financial year.'
"Flowing from the above, it is very clear to all and sundry what the constitution has stipulated. In the event, however, that a disagreement arises over where the President shall present the budget, the constitution does not mandate a venue.
"Rather, what it makes mandatory is that the President 'shall lay before each House of the National Assembly,' the budget."
