•Lagos/Ibadan highway, 2nd Niger Bridge, others threatened
By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi
Ten days after Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, signed the N7.44 trillion 2017 budget into law, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has blown the lid on how the National Assembly inserted projects outside the purview of his ministry.
Besides, Fashola, who spoke with newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, said lawmakers brazenly slashed allocations meant to complete roads across the country.
The former Lagos State governor also disclosed that the ministry is saddled with a 2017 budget that will take care of only primary healthcare centres and boreholes.
Fashola bemoaned a situation where ministries, departments and agencies defend budget allocations only for the legislature to input figures alien to what the Executive submitted for consideration.
The distortions, he noted, were responsible for the delay in Osinbajo signing the budget, which he eventually did on June 12, 2017.
“…That was the meeting we had with the acting president and that was the reason why the budget was not signed on time,” said Fashola.
Besides, the South-east may have to wait a bit longer as funds for the Second Niger Bridge was slashed, same also for the Lagos/Ibadan expressway, as well as some projects in the North.
“We were asked to complete those abandoned projects; the budget of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was reduced by the National Assembly from N31 billion to N10 billion. We are owing the contractors about N15 billion and they have written to us that they are going to shut down.
“Also, the budget of the second Niger bridge was reduced from N15 billion to N10 billion and about N3 billion or so was removed from the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja road budget.
“Everybody is complaining about power supply but they also cut the budget for Mambila Power Project and the Bodo Bridge that connects the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas station was also cut; and all these were also discussed.
“If after we had defended the budget and had gone and the Legislature unilaterally changed the budget, what is the purpose of deliberation?”
The minister also added that apart from the 200 uncompleted roads he inherited from the previous administration, the lawmakers added 100 roads in the new budget.
“These roads are not federal roads and some of them do not have designs. How do we award roads that were not designed, irrespective of the power you have?
“It is unconstitutional for the National Assembly to legislate on state roads.
“A budget is an estimation plan that set in motion what is to be spent, how much will be borrowed and how much will be collected.
“The executive controls all the machinery for collecting taxes and other revenue with relevant data from the ministries of Finance, Physical Planning and the Budget Office and others.
“I am not saying that the legislature cannot contribute to the budget, but, I hold the view that it cannot increase the budget because they do not collect the revenue with which to run or implement the budget.”
Few days after signing the budget, Osinbajo, a law professor, said the National Assembly had no power to tinker with the national budget.
In a swift reaction, Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, Yakubu Dogara replied that the legislature has the power to tinker with budget estimates submitted by the executive.
Senate warned Osinbajo not to mistake its consultations with the executive on important national issues to mean it had ceded its constitutional powers, while the House of Representatives said it would never be a rubber-stamp to the executive.
Reacting to a point of order raised by Deputy Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, at plenary on June 15, Saraki said Senate would continue to defend the Constitution, with regards to appropriation.
“I want to say that there are times we have a number of consultations and I want to make it clear that these consultations we do with the executive will not, at any time mean that we will give up the powers we have in line with the Constitution.