…Says no pending FG loan request
From: FRED ITUA, Abuja
The Senate, on Thursday, countered the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, over claims that the National Assembly was yet to approve President Muhammadu Buhari’s borrowing plans needed to fund capital projects in the 2017 budget.
The Senate said there was no pending loan request currently before it. It said all requests from President Buhari were approved before the National Assembly embarked on its annual recess, in July.
Senate President Bukola Saraki, who dismissed the allegation, said the claims by the Minister, last Tuesday, were false.
The Senate President said: “There is no request before us about borrowing we have not approved. We approved all the requests before we went on break. I needed to make this explanation because of what the Minister of Finance said that the National Assembly is holding on to borrowing requests sent by the executive.”
Mrs. Adeosun had, on Tuesday, while giving a report on the level of the implementation of the 2017 budget, before a joint committee of the Senate on Appropriation and Finance, claimed that the Federal Government cannot fund capital projects because the National Assembly was yet to approve borrowing plan requests from the President.
Chairman of the Senate committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje, had countered her. He had maintained that the Senate was not in possession of any loan request from the executive. But Adeosun had insisted and blamed the low pace of the implementation of the budget on the non-approval by the National Assembly
Meanwhile, the Senate has indicted some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, claiming that they do not remit revenues generated into the Federation Account.
The claims were made in a report, presented by the chairman, Senate committee on Appropriation, Goje, on the level of implementation of the 2017 budget.
Although he did not reveal the identities of the MDAs, he said the revenue leakages must be blocked and agencies involved sanctioned to guide against a repeat in the future.
President of the Senate, Saraki, who presided, warned that the executive must ensure that the 2017 budget is implemented. He also warned against selective implementation of the budget.
Saraki said: “The executive must carry out the implementation of the budget in line with what is passed. They should not go about selective implementation of the budget. If they want to borrow, they should not hesitate to send their requests.
The Senate President also proposed that since the executive may not implement more than 50 per cent of the 2017 budget, it should consider increasing the 2018 budget to N10 trillion.