2016 Budget Faces New Hurdles As Buhari Withholds Assent

PMB-SigningThe high hopes that greeted the announcement of the passage of the 2016 budget by the National Assembly last week is gradually giving way to despair as President Muhammadu Buhari has withheld his assent to the bill.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, on Sunday said Buhari withheld his assent due to the fact that the National Assembly only sent highlights, not the budget details.
Confirming the development to selected journalist on the condition of anonymity, a highly placed government official on Tuesday said the president is withholding his assent because he does not know what modifications the National Assembly must have made to the budget proposal he presented on December 22, 2015.
The official said the scenario currently playing out has confirmed the suspicion that the Senate and House of Representatives either did not complete work on the document or are playing politics with an issue that is of utmost concern to the entire country.
He, however, stressed that Buhari was anxious to sign the budget so that implementation could start immediately in order to ease the tension in the economy and polity.
He said with this development, the president was afraid that when the details were sent, they might not be implementable.
The official said the National Assembly might have “passed” the budget to shift the buck to the executive and escape the wrath of the public, “which was gradually suspecting it of sabotage”.
He also said ministers too were not ready to plead with Mr. Buhari to sign the transmitted document because they also did not know what was contained in the details.
He stated: “The President has just received the transmission of the Appropriation Bill (2016 budget) from the National Assembly and is very anxious to sign it into law, but the National Assembly only sent in the highlights without the details of the budget.
“As result, the president has been handicapped in signing the bill because he does not know what is contained in the details and what adjustments the National Assembly must have made to the proposal sent to them.
“Although he is anxious to sign the document so that implementation of the provisions could start immediately and ease the tension in the economy and polity, he is afraid he may later discover, when the details are sent, that what is contained therein is not implementable.
“He (President Buhari) wishes the National Assembly could send in the details speedily so that it could be considered for assent.
“Ministers are also eager that the budget be signed so they could start implementing their programmes, but they are unable to push the President to sign what has been transmitted because they also do not know what is contained in the details.
“They are particularly worried that the year is gradually ageing and the provision of the law in respect of spending the previous year’s budget is not helping matters because of the low capital provision for 2015.
“Because of the low provision made last year for capital expenditure, spending 50 percent of that provision for the first half of this year will make no impact on provision of infrastructure.
“The Budget Office cannot also work on the Budget for implementation because it is the details, and not the highlights, that they convert into implementable templates for the respective ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
“This development confirms speculations that the National Assembly either did not complete work on the budget or are playing politics with the documents which affects the life of both the country and its citizens.
“The National Assembly may just have passed the bill to pass the buck to the executive and escape the wrath of the public which was gradually suspecting it of sabotage”.