IN a bid to avoid a repetition of budget fraud allegations which plagued the 2016 budget, the details of the 2017 N7.3 trillion budget would be debated and passed openly at plenary and during proceedings by the House of Representatives.

House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.


The Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, in his welcome address at the resumption from the Christmas/New Year recess tuesday, reiterated the House’s commitment to the budget reform process.
He described the 2017 budget as a major tool to rejig the national economy.



“We must brace up and work assiduously and conscientiously to give Nigerians a budget that will not only lift us out of recession but kick start the needed expeditious journey into Nigeria’s prosperity. We pledge to reform the budget process,” he said.

“To this end therefore, we would ensure that the procedure and process of consideration and passage of the 2017 budget is transparent, inclusive and professionally handled. The details of the budget should be debated and passed in plenary to avoid those needless pitfalls that normally characterise the budget process,” Dogara added.

The practice before now was that budget details were debated at relevant committee levels, with each committee presenting recommendations to the House at the plenary.

Dogara, three principal officers, and some committee chairmen had been accused of budget fraud by a former Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin, who accused them of inserting projects in the 2016 budget.

Each item in the 2017 budget would therefore be discussed openly at plenary for approval or rejection by the lawmakers.

The Speaker in his address harped on the need for passage of critical bills for economic stimulation, before active politicking starts.



He listed the bills to include Public Procurement Act amendment, Federal Competition Bill and Petroleum Industry Bill.

“The recent fiscal measures including import prohibition of certain items and the increase or decrease of tariff on some items should receive appropriate legislative scrutiny to ensure that the economy and the interests of our people are protected. We must ensure that we take no prisoners in accomplishing this task,” Dogara said.

iamawara:
Shiooooor. It will take them ages to finish that thing. I no longer have hope in this government......... Na so we been dey suffer up and down, so y'all think 2017 budget will make a change ? Patiently waiting for 2019

9jakohai:
Hmmmm

The issue is not whether they pass budget openly or in camera....but whether Nigerians can change their mindset of government as some sort of place where people go to eat and get fat.

Change that mindset.....and I guarantee you there will be no budget padding, no ghana must go bags, etc.

Nice to be FTC!

herbeedar:
I thinks is high time we combine the two house of assembly to be one...... To save cost tho

9jakohai:


You should start praying for oil to go up to $100 and above....so that you can ''enjoy''.

And even at that...Nigeria won't be earning enough money. We should be passing budgets of 20 trillion naira and above.....

Jwonder:



for d records oil price ain't our problem

Jwonder:



For the records oil price ain't our problem. The reason we are having the naira decline against the dollar is because of CBN policies. The are holding back the sufficient dollars we have and auctioning rations of it to selected fews, and pumping in Naira into the economy, every year CBN spend millions in cleaning excess liquidity which was caused by them. Have you ever asked yourself why dangote went to build his refinery in a trade free zone

9jakohai:


As a follow up to my prevous comment....re CBN.

Emefielle did the same thing Soludo did in 2008/9...when oil prcies dropped. The differences between both situations was

1.Soludo had at least $40bn in the reserves. Emefielle had $28.

2.The oil price drop during Soludo's time was a temporary drop. Once prices rose again in late 2009, HRH the Emir of Kano (who by then had taken over)...relaxed dollar controls. Emefielle had constant oil price drops for much longer...to as low as $28...which Soludo and HRH never faced.He had no choice.

3.HRH could also afford to relax controls when he was in office because oil prices were between $90-140 when he was in office.Emefielle took over when oil was heading down from $70 to $28 ....and at a fast rate.Again....Emefielle had no choice. Nigeria was running out of dollars.

4.Dangote gets preferential treatment because he is a big contributor to the economy. And slightly off topic,...Bubu is also relaxing things a bit for local manufacturers.