President Goodluck Jonathan won’t sign Budget 2013 as passed by the National Assembly yet, Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said yesterday.

There are disagreements between the Presidency and the lawmakers over the budget.

A statement by her spokesman, Paul Nwabuikwu, said she has “clarified that the talk of the President signing the budget this week is premature.”

The statement noted that “discussions between the Executive and the National Assembly are ongoing in a cordial atmosphere, it is not yet clear when they will be concluded as much work remains to be done.

“Against this background, reports stating that the President will sign the budget this week are therefore not realistic” the statement added.

Senior lawyers yesterday added a fresh twist to the dispute between the Presidency and the National Assembly over the Appropriation Bill, arguing that the President may have lost his power to assent the Bill.

Chief Felix Fagbohungbe, Mr. Joseph Nwobike and Mr. Femi Falana (all Senior Advocates of Nigeria) argued that by the provision of Section 58 (4) and (5) of the Constitution, the President can no longer assent to any Bill passed by the National Assembly, 30 days after it had been transmitted to him.

The lawyers argued that the lawful way out is for President Jonathan to return the Bill to the National Assembly for its “rework.”

Sub-Section 4 reads: “Where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall, within 30 days thereof, signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.”

Sub-Section 5 reads: “Where the president withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-third majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.

Fagbohungbe agreed that by virtue of the constitutional provision, the President cannot assent to a Bill after 30 days of its tranmission to him.

“That is the position of the law. If the President goes ahead to sign the Bill, his belated assent will render such resulting Act a nullity.

“I know the President will not act unconstitutionally. I believe if he notes that the prescribed 30 days has lapsed, he will return it to the National Assembly for the necessary actions,” he said.

Fagbohungbe cautioned that “we should first ascertain when exactly the Bill was transmitted to the President before we can start counting.”

Nwobike said: “Even if the constitutionally-prescribed 30 days have lapsed, since the National Assembly has not exercised its power of veto, by passing it with two-thirds majority, as required by that section of the Constitution, the President can proceed and assent to the Bill.

“As it stands, it is still a Bill because neither the President nor the National Assembly has exercised the powers conferred on them by the Constitution in a situation like this.

“The National Assembly can only override the President’s assent by exercising its powers of veto before the President assents to the Bill,” Nwobike said.

He noted that the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act came into effect by virtue of the National Assembly overriding the President’s assent.

Falana argued that “having not assented to the Appropriation within 30 days of the receipt of the receipt of the Bill, the President is mandatorily required to present the Bill to the joint sitting of the National Assembly which may decide to pass it by two-thirds majority.

“However, in order to resolve this lingering constitutional crisis, President Jonathan should request the Supreme Court to determine the extent of the powers of the National Assembly to rewrite the budget,” he said.


Source: THE NATION

House of rogues vs executive looters.