2016 Budget: Buhari accuses NASS of sabotage

 Withholds assent

By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday refused  assenting  to the N6.08 trillion 2016 budget passed by the National Assembly, accusing the legislature  of not only playing politics with the  budget but  also sabotaging the executive arm of government.
A top Presidency source revealed  that  Buhari  was surprised that only the highlights of the budget were transmitted to  him through the Clerk of  the National Assembly.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president would not sign highlights of the budget to avoid a situation where the details would not be implementable.

“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 a 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,”  he said.
“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 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 aging 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% 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 MDAs,” the source further explained.
The source also accused the lawmakers of doing a shoddy job to put the executive on the spot.
“This development confirms speculations that the National Assembly either did not complete work on the budget or are playing politics with the documents which affect 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,” he said.