Budget: N’Assembly to look at grey areas after meeting Buhari

The PUNCH reliably gathered on Sunday that the lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly had deferred further actions on the budget until the meeting takes place this week.

A meeting between the President and the leadership of the National Assembly was initially scheduled to take place on Friday, but it was abruptly called off that day.

The PUNCH had on Friday reported that Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, were expected to lead a delegation of principal officers of the federal legislature to the meeting, which was said to have been planned to start at 6pm on April 22 (Friday).

But the Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, confirmed to PUNCH on Friday that the meeting did not take place after all.

Asked whether Buhari turned the lawmakers away, Gbajabiamila simply replied that the meeting was called off for the purpose of “convenience.”

In a text message to our correspondent, the All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Lagos State, said, “The meeting was rescheduled to a future date. It was for reasons of convenience.”

On Sunday, however, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, gave an indication that further work on the budget by the federal lawmakers would have to wait until after the National Assembly officials met with Buhari.

“As a House, we feel that any actions to be taken this week will be after the meeting between Mr. President and the principal officers of the National Assembly.

“We also know that the meeting will take place this week,” he added.

Also, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor, of the Peoples Democratic Party, noted on Sunday that it was Buhari’s prerogative not to sign, but added that the President was also expected to return the fiscal document with notes on why he had not signed it within 30 days to the National Assembly.

He believed that it was in the interest of the nation for the two sides to resolve the issue amicably instead of flexing muscles.

Ogor added, “I believe what is going on is that the National Assembly and the President want to agree on the way forward.

“The budget has been passed. So, the meeting is supposed to discuss and agree on whether the President will send some amendments after signing the budget.

“It is to know whether to agree on a supplementary budget and so on. The National Assembly can attend to those amendments within days, but he has to sign the budget.

“I believe it is still better to sort out issues peacefully.”

In a similar development on Sunday, the Chairmen of the Appropriation Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Danjuma Goje and Mr. Abdulmumin Jubrin, pleaded with their colleagues to put aside their differences and consider the grey areas of the budget as presented by Buhari.

In a statement in Abuja, Goje and Jubrin insisted that what they packaged and transmitted to the executive were submissions from the various committees of both chambers.

The two chairmen in the statement titled, “2016 Budget: A Time for Statesmanship”, pledged to respond to allegations against them in due course.

They called upon their colleagues in the two chambers to put the controversies over the budget behind them as statesmen and women by reconsidering the grey areas as requested by the executive this week.

The statement read, “Following the transmission of the 2016 appropriation bill and details passed by the National Assembly, there have been all manner of misinformation, misrepresentations and innuendoes about the roles played by the Joint Committees on Appropriation in the course of passing the budget.

“Even though most of the allegations, especially those specifically levelled against the two of us, as chairmen of the committee, are unfounded, we intend to respond to them at the appropriate time.

“For now, what we consider important is to resolve the impasse around the budget and get it assented to so that its implementation can begin in the interest of all Nigerians.

“What is needful right now is a resolution of the differences and to that end, we call on our colleagues in the National Assembly to accede to the request by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, to have a second look at the details and make the necessary adjustments so that he can assent to it.

“This, in our opinion, should not go beyond this week.”

The joint appropriation bosses noted that since there are already ongoing consultations, a debate about who was right or wrong was unhelpful in the circumstance.

Meanwhile, the caucuses of the majority APC and the main opposition PDP at the House of Representatives were hesitant on Sunday in considering the option of overriding Buhari’s apparent veto on the 2016 budget.

The N6.06tn budget was passed by the National Assembly on March 23, over one month ago.

Under Section 59 of the 1999 Constitution, the legislature can begin the process of overriding the President’s veto after the expiration of 30 days of the passage of the budget whether he has written or not, to state why he is withholding his assent.

Investigations by The PUNCH showed that though there had been some informal communication on the “grey areas” in the budget between the Presidency and the National Assembly, particularly the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dogara, it had not translated into an official letter from Buhari.

But, with the expiration of 30 days, the leaders of the House of Representatives were hesitant on Sunday to support any move to override Buhari’s veto.

They said overriding the President was the last resort and not the first option.

They argued that it was better to exhaust all avenues for a peaceful settlement before considering a move to override him.

The Majority Leader of the House, Gbajabiamila, disagreed that Buhari seemed unwilling to meet with the lawmakers.

“This is the first time I am hearing that the President is unwilling to meet with the leadership of National Assembly,” he told The PUNCH.

On whether the National Assembly could begin to consider the option of overriding Buhari’s veto, Gbajabiamila responded, “Though the constitutional provision is available, it does not necessarily mean it must be exercised within 30 days.

“To this extent, I believe veto override is always a last resort, assuming the National Assembly even has the required two-thirds, which I very much doubt.”

On his part, the Minority Leader of the House, Ogor, told The PUNCH that he expected Buhari to be mindful of the constitutional provision to have returned the budget “by now, if he is not going to sign.”