The Center for Social Justice (CSJ) Monday called on the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu to as a matter of urgency immediately submit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) 2025-2027 to the National Assembly to avoid its late consideration and passage.
This is in reaction to the minister’s inability to have submitted the document in line with provisions of S.11 (2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) which mandates the Federal Government after consultation with States “not later than four months before the commencement of the next financial year, cause to be prepared a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for the next three financial years”.
The provisions of S.14 of the FRA mandates the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning before the end of the second quarter of each financial year, to present the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and endorsement.
Thereafter, the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) as endorsed by the Federal Executive Council shall take effect upon approval by a resolution of each House of the National Assembly.
Lead Director of CSJ, Barr. Eze Onyekpere, in a statement in Abuja, said “It is also a provision of S.18 of the FRA that the MTEF is the basis for the preparation of the estimates of revenue and expenditure (annual budget) required to be prepared and laid before the National Assembly under section 81 (1) of the Constitution.
“Also, it is mandatory for the sectoral and compositional distribution of the draft annual budget to be consistent with the medium-term developmental priorities set out in the MTEF.
“The purport and implication of the foregoing provisions is that the MTEF 2025-2027 should have been endorsed by the Federal Executive Council by the end of June 2024 and should have been presented to the National Assembly in August 2024.
“However, the Minister is yet to prepare and present the MTEF 2025-2027 to the Federal Executive Council or the National Assembly about seven weeks to the end of the year and in the middle of November. The MTEF is not ready and the budget estimates are not ready.
“This is a gross violation of the clear and unambiguous provisions of the FRA. It is gross dereliction of duty on the part of the Honourable Minister. If the National Assembly had lived up to its duty of representing the interest of Nigerians, the executive should have been reminded, sanctioned and called to order. This process of ensuring the sanctity of the FRA and that it is obeyed to the letter should have been commenced by NASS immediately upon their return from their mid-year legislative vacation.
“By this dereliction of duty, the Minister has already laid a solid foundation for the late consideration and passage of both the MTEF 2025-2027 and the 2025 federal budget and their subsequent haphazard implementation. This dereliction of duty also paves the way for the budgetary corruption involved in rushed approval and appropriation of funds where wholesale corruption will be cemented in votes that are clearly illegal, inappropriate and wasteful. It also facilitates corrupt procurement and its associated scams to beat deadlines arising from late passage to late implementation of budgets,” the statement charged.
Onyekpere therefore demands, “An explanation to Nigerians about the reasons, if any, informing the dereliction of duty. An apology to Nigerians who bear the brunt of this failure to perform and a formal and substantive guarantee of non-repetition.
