*National Assembly and the 2017 Budget Process*

By Sanni Onogu

The vetting of the 2017 budget by the National Assembly entered a crucial stage last week with a national public hearing conducted by the joint committee on appropriation of the Senate and House of Representatives. The positive appraisal of the National Assembly's handling of the 2017 budget so far is arguably a direct attribute of a reset thinking by its leadership. One thing is clear. Unlike previous episodes of budget consideration, the process this time has witnessed smooth sail.

Right from the day of presentation of the appropriation bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, on December 14, 2016, the budget has remained scandal free. There have been no stories of the budget developing wings and disappearing into thin air; no issues of 'padding' or 'stuffing' or 'insertion'  by unauthorized means; ministers and lawmakers have not been found engaged in hot exchange of words over who did what. The spirit and eagerness  to get things done and done differently for the good of the country has been palpable. Standing committees of the National Assembly have given ministries, departments and agencies ample opportunity to defend their proposals.

The fact that the 2017 budget is cruising home seamlessly is soothing to the heart of all and sundry.  The National Assembly under the solid leadership of its Chairman, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has amply demonstrated its commitment to a paradigm shift in attitudes and mindset by rising above the din of past omissions and commissions to  do things differently.

Courageous innovations were articulated and introduced to smoothen rough edges of the sometimes amorphous budget process. For instance, to avoid the 2016 experience, the National Assembly under Saraki constituted and inaugurated the public sector budget reform committee comprising senators, members of the House of Representatives, members of the executive arm of government, the academia and civil society organizations. Headed by the former Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, the report of the committee and the committee’s recommendations, have in no small measure, contributed greatly to this year's seamless budget defence in the growing understanding between the Executive and the Legislature.

One of the major recommendations of the committee was the opening up of the budget process to members of the public. That may have been informed by the pressure for open and inclusive budget process by Nigerians. The implementation of the recommendation to open up the budget process may have given rise to the hugely successful national public scrutiny of the budget last Monday through Wednesday.

The idea behind the public hearing was to give Nigerians the opportunity to scrutinise the document and air their opinions about the line items. The three-day event has been adjudged successful and rewarding by observers. Issues about the budget and how to make it better to serve and improve the lot of ordinary Nigerians  most especially during a time of economic recession were critically interrogated.

Participants and observers alike have no doubt that the current open process of budget consideration would go a long way to engender transparency and accountability. Transparency and accountability in the budget process, they contended, would in turn aid the fight against corruption - from the roots rather than allowing the hydra-headed monster to fester before attempting to deal with it. That lack of transparency and accountability remained the bane of previous budget exercises which no doubt stifled their implementation.

Another innovation in the handling of the 2017 budget by the National Assembly was that critical standing committees of the Senate and House of Representatives held  joint sessions to give MDAs an unencumbered opportunity to defend their budget proposals. The new arrangement did not only save time and cost on the part of the National Assembly and the executive, it made for greater collaboration between the stakeholders. Above all, the arrangement would also facilitate the early passage of the Appropriation Bill. This is because the two chambers would have nothing to harmonize or reconcile. It also presents early signals that will translate to more collaborative and beneficial working relationship between the Executive and the legislature.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, has already assured Nigerians that the National Assembly is working to produce an implementable 2017 budget. Goje also alluded to the success of the national public hearing for the 2017 budget, saying that a total of 44 stakeholders made submissions at the hearing. He added that the 2017 special budget hearing was the first of its kind in the history of parliamentary/legislative practice in the National Assembly.

The level of excitement and enthusiasm shown by stakeholders, especially Civil Society Organisations, he said, was quite unprecedented and encouraging. The pension, health, education and agricultural sectors, Goje said, came up and were given serious emphasis as the areas the country should pay urgent attention to. The challenge in the areas of pension payment, administration and general matters of non-performance, he added, was so clear and must be accorded top and effective priority.

What may be described as the clincher of the novel exercise was the point Goje said was repeatedly made that “the National Assembly must reassert itself as the possessor of the power of appropriation in order to produce the budget of the people at all times.” He further said that “all proceedings we took have been properly documented and will be presented and considered by the joint committee to enable the National Assembly produce an implementable budget for Nigeria and Nigerians.”

While declaring the public hearing open, Saraki did not lose sight of the observations of some stakeholders. “As most of you may have observed, while government has made efforts to ensure that provisions in the budget proposal align with the arching goal of pulling the economy out of recession and laying the foundations for diversified growth, certain provisions are clearly off the path. The budget must address the critical issues setting back our national growth and development," Saraki said. Apart from assisting to pull the economy out of recession, Saraki was equally particularly interested in seeing the budget help in the creation of jobs and promotion of the non-oil sector.

For the Senate President, “On a more specific note, the 2017 capital budget proposal is intended to support activities that will help to speed up the diversification of the economy and the promotion of the non-oil sector, as well as create jobs for our youth. Accordingly, it is expected that “Made-in-Nigeria” (that is, domestic production of food, materials and other commodities) will be encouraged. In addition, 2017 capital budget proposal is intended to engender private sector partnership in infrastructure as well as other critical sectors of the economy such as agriculture, manufacturing and services." Indications are that the 2017 budget will perform better. If the budget is passed in March as promised, chances are that implementation of the budget will begin immediately.

The success of the public hearing especially flowing from the quality of interventions made by members of the public and other critical stakeholders has placed the legislative actions on the 2017 budget far above its 2016 counterpart. It must be said that the handling of the 2017 budget has taken a higher ground against the 2016 budget, which was first reported ‘missing,’ padded’ and later said to have been withdrawn. These absurdities are completely absent this time around. It may be argued that the sheer controversies that buffeted the 2016 budget may have affected the overall implementation and performance of the fiscal document as well as other economic variables notwithstanding.

Overall, Nigerians have not only thumbs up for the National Assembly and its leadership, they have called for such open processes and citizens' participation to henceforth be a regular feature when national budget is being considered. They also said that such open house budget hearing should always be held months before the annual budget presentation to a joint session of the National Assembly by the executive. This they reason, would make room for some of the cerebral interventions,  from such array of experts and ordinary Nigerians as witnessed during the just concluded public hearing to be incorporated by the executive during the collation of sectoral allocation for the capital budget and to the various MDAs.

It would make for a true budget document that would be in tandem with the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians, reduce waste, promote transparency, accountability and make for a more implementable budget. There is also a consensus among analysts that the open budget consideration process pioneered by the 8th National Assembly will be one of the glaring legacies of the current leadership of the Eight National Assembly if transparency and openness is thus institutionalized in the budgeting process of the country. That is the way to go!