NASS members’ ego stalls budget presentation, PDP wades in
President Umaru Musa Yar’adua yesterday postponed the much-expected presentation of the 2010 Appropriation Bill before the joint session of the National Assembly owing to the cold-war between the two chambers.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Abba Aji, said the President was ready for the presentation but had to call it off to allow the resolution of the rift between the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The two chambers on Wednesday insisted that the budget presentation should be done at their respective chambers.
Aji said the executive respected the principle of separation of powers and would allow the two chambers to resolve their differences without interfering.
``We are allowing them time to put the House together. I have not come here to discuss the problem of the two chambers. I am sure they are capable of resolving their differences.
``It is not new, it happens in bicameral legislature all over the world. They are capable of discussing it and resolving it very soon.”
Aji said, however, that ``the budget was ready a long time ago, including the President’s speech; we don’t need excuses such as this, we are ready with the budget.
``It is a budget that has taken all sides, everybody’s input. It is truly a national budget. Efforts are being made by both the party and on our side to resolve the matter as soon as possible.’’
The adviser denied insinuation making the rounds that Mr President was not healthy enough to make the public presentation, saying ``Mr President is in good state of health and ready with the budget presentation.’’
NAN reports that the two chambers later sat at their plenary sessions and considered slated bills and motions on their respective order papers.
The Senate has 109 members while the House has 360 members.
The sitting capacity in the Senate is for about 150 members while the House of Representatives chamber has capacity for more than 500 persons.
Section 53 of the 1999 constitution says at any joint sitting of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate shall preside and in his absence, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall preside.
But the section is silent on the venue of such joint meeting which was the subject of controversies between the two chambers.
The constitutional provision as contained in Section 81 (1) allows the President to lay the
budget before the two chambers of the Assembly.
According to the constitution, ``the President shall cause to be prepared and laid before each House of the National Assembly at any time in each financial year’s estimates of the revenues and expenditures of the Federation for the following financial year.’’
Meanwhile, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP yesterday in Abuja waded into the feud between the two chambers of the National Assembly, which forced the postponement of the 2010 budget presentation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NWC held consultations with the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives at the party’s national headquarters, after which it moved over to the Presidential Villa to brief President Umaru Musa Yar’adua.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had disagreed sharply over the venue for the budget presentation, with the Senate insisting that the presentation this time around, should be in its chambers.
Many Senators argued that the Senate President, as head of the national legislature, exercised the prerogative to determine the venue of the joint session of both chambers.
Prof. Rufai Alkali, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, who briefed newsmen on the outcome of the meeting with the lawmakers, said the party leadership urged them to put their house in order to enable an early presentation of the budget.
``Our party invited the leadership of the National Assembly on why the budget presentation could not hold, since all members of the NWC were expected to have witnessed the presentation ceremony.
``We asked them to put their house in order so that the President can present the budget.
``We know that the National Assembly is made up of people of integrity, who are working for the people of this great country,’’ Alkali said.
According to him, ``we know that budget presentation is largely done in the House of Representatives' chamber because it is larger, but the Senate President presides.''
He added that Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, the party’s National Chairman, had led other members of the NWC to the Villa to brief Yar’adua on the outcome of the party’s consultation with the federal lawmakers.
NAN reports that Mark and Bankole led principal officers of the two chambers of the National Assembly to the consultative session with the PDP leadership.

Everyone knows that the senate is a notch above the house of reps, but since Bankole was propped up from nowhere to become the speaker, he has allowed his bloated ego to take the better of him and thinking that he will always compete with the senate.

mekusxxx:

Everyone knows that the senate is a notch above the house of reps, but since Bankole was propped up from nowhere to become the speaker, he has allowed his bloated ego to take the better of him and thinking that he will always compete with the senate.

I think on this matter it is David Mark and his ego or should I say childish behaviour.

The senate has only 250 seats. The house of representative has nearly 500 seats. There 439 or so members of the house of assembly. The event has always been held in the House of representative chambers becasue of space but, it is always the senate president that leads the joint session. So why is David Mark saying this time it must be held in the Senate, were are people going to sit ?

naija2day,
Thank u for that input. Only an uninformed will look at that stat and agree with the senate. Maybe they want Bankole to know who is the boss.

Why are these people fighting over nothing, joint sessions are normally held in the house of rep chambers, everybody's ego is destabilising.

they have lost their sense of responsibilities, now they are losing their common senses

sayhi2ay:

they have lost their sense of responsibilities, now they are losing their common senses

No sense and no responsibility towards nobody. They are a bunch of opportunists whose ideology is that of drunken sailors.

sayhi2ay:

they have lost their sense of responsibilities, now they are losing their common senses

Very True!!! Same stupid reason our faulty constitution will not be amended. Can somebody please tell me what exactly they have achieved to justify the billions they received annually