National Assembly passes N4.5 trillion budget for 2011

Posted by admin House, Latest Politics, Legislature, Senate Thursday, May 26th, 2011

THE National Assembly yesterday adopted the sum of N4,484,736,648,992 as the amended budget for the 2011 financial year, leaving an increase of 53 billion Naira from the sum of 4.407 trillion Naira requested in the budget amendment Bill sent in by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Earlier, President Goodluck Jonathan had requested the legislature to slash the 2011 appropriation by over N500 billion.

However, the Parliament rather jerked the National Assembly’s budget up by as much as N30 billion from the N120 billion recommended by the President in the amendment Bill.

Also, a major victory was won for the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) yesterday as the House of Representatives finally agreed to create a separate agency to explore petroleum in the Northern part of country.

This settled the opposition, which the Bill has been suffering from Northern lawmakers who had expressed suspicion and fears about government’s commitment to intensify the exploration of petroleum in the North.

Most of the lawmakers had opposed the PIB on the ground that it contained no serious provision that showed any special commitment by government on the issue of petroleum exploration in the North.

Specifically, they had argued that until an independent agency was created to take care of that responsibility, support for the PIB would be difficult.

But yesterday, other lawmakers agreed with their Northern colleagues and section 35 was amended to the effect that a new independent agency would be created to be dedicated to National Frontier Exploration Services.

Meanwhile, Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has charged the CBN’s helmsman, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to live up to his responsibilities by ensuring economic policies that will benefit all strata of the society. He said the claim that the economy was liquid was fiction because the people of this country are still wallowing in abject poverty.

In the Appropriation Bill earlier signed into law by the President last Monday, the National Assembly had a total allocation of 232.74 billion Naira from 111.24 billion Naira earlier proposed by the Presidency, with an increase of 121.5 billion Naira.

But Jonathan in the amendment Bill put the National Assembly’s budget at 120 billion Naira, showing a reduction of N112.7 billion, but the two chambers yesterday adopted the sum of 150 billion Naira for the federal legislature.

Also, against the request for a new capital expenditure of N1.122 trillion from the initial N1.526 trillion, the National Assembly however adopted the sum of N1.146 trillion as capital expenditure for the 2011.

But the total votes for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure of N2.40 trillion requested in the proposed amendment Bill was not tampered with.

In the House of Representatives, the joint committee on Finance and Appropriation to which the Bill was committed turned its report on schedule, as directed by the House leadership led by Speaker Dimeji Bankole.

During the consideration of the motion moved by Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Ayo Adeseun, there was no objection to all the clauses.

President Jonathan had in a letter read to members on Tuesday by Bankole, requested the House to expeditiously alter the Appropriation Act, leaving the new total appropriation at 4.407 trillion Naira.

The President on December 15, 2010 presented an initial budget proposal of N4.226 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly.

A total of N4.972 trillion was passed earlier this year by the parliament.

The National Assembly yesterday bowed to the request by Jonathan for the reduction of the 2011 appropriation but with a caveat that it must be faithfully implemented.

Speaking after the passage of the budget, Senate President David Mark said the Legislature had bent backward to accommodate the position of the Executive and cautioned that there should be no breach in the implementation.

“We urge the Executive that now that the budget has been passed, they should implement and the idea of leaving some projects out in the budget should not arise’’, he said.

Orji, in a statement in Abuja by his spokesman, Ike Ben Onyechere, said: “What may seem as liquidity is the hording of funds by individuals and companies because of uncertainties not knowing what to expect insisting that the tension that was generated by the sanitization of financial institutions has lingered for too long. The current economic policies have not activated nor generated an employment opportunity, which is the major indices to measure growth in any economy. The governor insists that the tax regime must be lowered further to encourage borrowing, which will increase productivity that can engender employment opportunities.

“The governor has concluded plans to make Abia economy subsidy based by giving tax incentives to encourage commerce and industry for which Abia is known particularly in his second tenure which will follow immediately after his inauguration. Referring to America with all the funds in the world, the governor said that their economy is still subsidy based bearing from the huge bail out and sundry relief’s undertaken by the Obama administration. There is therefore need to corroborate the state economies with the CBN policies such that there could be a synchronizing effect in our system. It is very important to encourage and as a matter of urgency concentrate on micro rather than macro system.

“Therefore he concluded that our financial system is far from been saturated what is missing is the will to support mass oriented economic ventures which on its own will mop up the imaginary domiciliation of idle funds.”

-Guardianwp_posts