Stop lying to Nigerians to justify your distortion of the 2018 budget - Budget director slams NASS

macfranc007 June 28, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Onyirioha Nnamdi

- The director of budget, Ben Akabueze, has said that the National Assembly was not sincere about its dealings with the 2018 budget

- Akabueze said that the legislature was feeding Nigerians with lies in a bid to justify its distortion of the budget

- In response to Akabueze's allegation, a member of the legislature in the committee on Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Yunusa Abubaka, said that the the National Assembly met with the executive arm before passing the budget

There was a faceoff between members of the executive and legislative arms of the federal government over the recently signed 2018 budget.

The clash was between the director of budget, Ben Akabueze, and a member of the House of Representatives committee on Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Yunusa Abubakar, Vanguard reports.

Akabueze was accusing the National Assembly of feeding Nigerians with stories in a ploy to justify the alleged distortion of the budget.

He also accused the legislature of reducing the allocations for vital federal infrastructure and directing the fund to personal projects at local and state levels, adding that there was massive introduction of projects that were unknown to the executive into the budget, which made a mockery of the entire budget.

In reaction to the accusations, Abubakar, said that the lawmakers discussed and got the consent and approval of the executive before introducing new projects and adjust some allocations in the budget.

Although confirming the fact that the legislature consulted with the executive on the project introduction, the budget boss said that what the National Assembly finally passed did not reflect either the discussion or the resolution, including the benchmark price of crude oil which was agreed at US$50 per barrel.

Akabueze explained that in April, 2018 the National Assembly advised the executive of its decision to raise the oil price benchmark from $45 per barrel proposed by the executive to $50 per barrel.

They also indicated intention of using US$2 from the increase to fund their own project and therefore requested the Executive to submit a list of additional projects it wanted considered for appropriation to cover the resultant balance of US$3.

Responding to this, the executive decided that from its share of the US$3 increase it would use US$1.75 for new projects and the remaining US$1.25 to reduce deficit in the budget.

Akabueze communicated same to the legislature and therefore submitted projects which amounted to N152.6bn and further requested them to consider applying at least N109bn of the extra revenues toward reduction of the budget deficit.

He said while the executive submitted its request including the list of new major projects which could not be included in the initial budget, the National Assembly jettisoned the list from the Executive, applied only a small fraction to finance deficit and the remaining went into their own projects, as well as increasing the allocation to the National Assembly.

He emphasized that the projects sent by the executive are not included in the list of new projects inserted into the budget by the National Assembly. Akabueze also pointed out that although the National Assembly discussed increasing the crude oil benchmark from US$45 to US$50, it went ahead to increase it to US$51 without the knowledge of the executive.

He claimed the executive only had knowledge of the increase to US$51 after the budget must have been passed by the National Assembly.

While also dismissing as untrue Abubakar’s position on the issue of counterpart funding for the affected capital projects, the director general also disagreed that the National Assembly increased allocation for the eastwest road, a claim Abubakar immediately withdrew, saying he intended mentioning a different road.

The budget director had claimed that the National Assembly approached the executive on the need to increase the oil price benchmark when it was obvious that oil price was enjoying favourable rise in the global market.

He said both the executive and the National Assembly agreed on both the increase and the sharing formula between the two arms of government.

While giving the impression that the Executive was in full knowledge of what the National Assembly intended to do with its own share, he added that the legislature decided to cut allocations to some critical national capital projects to fund local projects after careful consideration of the component counterpart funding agreements on those projects.

He also explained that some of the critical projects including the East West Road had their allocations increased from the original allocation by the Executive.

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Akabueze, in response said: “I can say without any iota of equivocation, that there is no truth in what he has just said. What he has just narrated is not in tandem with the facts on ground.” He did not also agree with Abubakar that the ministry of budget and national planning draws up budget plans and allocates funds for government operations.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com reported that the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) workers (NUPENG) had taken issues with the National Assembly over allegations by the presidency, that the legislative arm of government cut N11.5 billion from allocations to critical infrastructure like roads in the 2018 budget.

The body made its feelings on the matter known in a statement signed by its president, Prince Williams Akporeha, which was released.

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