The Presidency yesterday said that President Muhammadu Buhari will not be able to sign the 2016 appropriation bill into law. New Telegraph gathered that the inability of the president to assent to the document is because of the failure of the National Assembly to send details of the budget as passed by both chambers last week.
While the Senate passed the budget of N6.06 trillion on Wednesday last week, the House of Representatives passed the bill retaining the same amount on Thursday before proceeding on an Easter break.
A source close to the president confirmed to our correspondent that Buhari had received the appropriation document, but was constrained by the lapses on the part of the lawmakers in transmitting the full details.
Buhari, according to the source, is afraid not to make the mistake of signing a document that contains figures not in line with the proposal made by the government. “The president has just received the transmission of the Appropriation Bill (2016 Budget) from the National Assembly and is very anxious to sign it into law, but the National Assembly only sent in the highlights without the details of the budget,” the source said. The source explained that “as a result, the president has been handicapped in signing the Bill because he does not know what is contained in the details and what adjustments the National Assembly must have made to the proposal sent to them.”
According to the source, “Although he is anxious to sign the document so that implementation of the provisions could start immediately and ease the tension in the economy and polity, the president is afraid he may later discover, when the details are sent, that what is contained therein is not implementable. “He wishes the National Assembly could send in the details speedily so that it could be considered for assent.
“Ministers are also eager that the budget be signed so they could start implementing their programmes, but they are unable to push the president to sign what has been transmitted because they also do not know what is contained in the details.”
The source also noted that “the ministers are particularly worried that the year is gradually aging and the provision of the law in respect of spending the previous year’s budget is not helping matters because of the low capital provision for 2015. “Because of the low provision made last year for capital expenditure, spending 50 per cent of that provision for the first half of this year will make no impact on provision of infrastructure,” he said.
New Telegraph gathered that as it is, “the Budget Office cannot also work on the budget for implementation because it is the details, and not the highlights, that they convert into implementable templates for the respective ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).”
“This development confirms speculations that the National Assembly either did not complete work on the budget or are playing politics with the documents which affects the life of both the country and its citizens. “The National Assembly may just have passed the bill to pass the buck to the executive and escape the wrath of the public which was gradually suspecting it of sabotage,” it was learnt.
Meanwhile, Buhari will depart Abuja for Washington DC today to join President Barack Obama and 60 other world leaders and heads of international organisations at the 4th Nuclear Security Summit which opens tomorrow. Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, in a statement said Buhari, at plenary sessions of the summit which is dedicated to reinforcing international commitment to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, will insist that while Nigeria will continue to sustain that commitment, world powers must respect the right of other countries to the peaceful use of nuclear energy for development purposes.
The president is expected, at the event, to reaffirm Nigeria’s stance that international efforts to ensure greater security of nuclear materials should maintain a balance between nuclear non-proliferation obligations and the indisputable right of Nigeria and other countries to harness nuclear energy and technology for socio-economic development.
It will be recalled that at a meeting with him in Abuja earlier this month, Buhari told the Director- General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Yukiya Amano, that the Federal Government will welcome greater support from the agency for Nigeria’s aspiration to begin the generation of electricity with nuclear energy.
The delegation is made up of Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, the National Security Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd.) and the Director-General of Nigeria’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency, Prof. Lawrence Anikwe Dim. The president is expected back to the country on Sunday.
