CRP CALLS FOR STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE APPROPRIATION ACT. 

On 14^th of July 2009, a rift brewed between the House of Representatives and the Executive arm of government over the implementation of the 2009 Appropriation Act. The House of Representatives while considering report of investigations into the implementation of the Act insisted on full implementation in line with democratic tenets and the rule of law. The House also rejected claims by the Executive that the budget cannot be fully implemented due to inadequate funding. Accusing the executive of selective implementation of the 2009 Budget, the House posited that despite excess crude oil revenue accrued in the first quarter of the year the federal government still claim it lacks fund. So strong were the passions expressed on the floor of the House that the House subsequently threatened to impose punitive (impeach) sanction on President Yar Adua if he does not revert to full compliance with the Appropriation Act.

Constitutional Rights Project (CRP) commends the measures taken by the House of Representatives towards fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability.  Also, CRP urged the House to rise above partisan politics to assert the rights and aspirations of Nigerians in terms of good governance, infrastructural and institutional development and in defending the Nigerian Constitution in which they (representatives) have sworn on oath to uphold and defend.

Budgets are integral blue prints of development in any institution; therefore, strict implementation is indispensable to achieving even development across the country.  A government that sticks to its developmental blueprint and resolutions demonstrates the fact that it understands the plight of its citizenry, thus political manifestoes are meant to be kept. The Executive should have it in mind that Nigerians have inalienable rights to development hence it is obligatory of those who man the machinery of the State to ensure that budgets are effectively implemented as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, failure to do so breaches the ‘social contract’ between the leaders and its citizenry.

However, in a volte face reminiscent of the ruling party’s flair for settling “family affairs” behind closed doors, the House of Representatives announced that the rift between it and the Executive had been resolved and that President Yar’Adua had responded to calls to fully implement the 2009 Budget. The Speaker of the House of Representative, Hon. ‘Dimeji Bankole was reported to have stated during a recent public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill “the Executive had taken the issue of Appropriation so serious that the level of implementation had improved” CRP commend the House of Representatives and the President over their prompt rapprochement to their disagreement, but we fail to understand what indices informed the Honourable Speaker’s pronouncement that the level of implementation had improved within two weeks in which the two arms of government were at daggers drawn.

Apparently, without intending to put doubt in the Honourable Speaker’s pronouncement, the Federal Executive Council, at about the time of the pronouncement carried out a review of budget executions by MDAs and came up with a distressing report. We must remind ourselves that to uphold democratic tenets of separation of power, the House of Representatives must remain steadfast in asking for probity and accountability on the path of the Executive in implementing the 2009 budget.  Also, the legislature has a responsibility in relation to its oversight function in policy making, budgeting and checkmating financial recklessness especially where it relates to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and President Yar Adua led government’s Seven Points Agenda.

The seeming failure of government ministries, departments and agencies to strictly adhere to the 2009 budget seven months into the fiscal year should be decried in its entirety. We hereby want to draws the attention of all stakeholders to the fact that the Appropriation Act is not only paramount to poverty reduction but it also transcends to national development and crucial to the attainment of other MDG goals which includes universal basic education, healthcare, environmental sustainability amongst others.

Finally, CRP hereby call on President Umaru Musa Yar Adua led government as a matter of exigency to fulfill its promise of reviewing the performance of MDAs every month at the Federal Executive Council meetings and to implement the 2009 budget in accordance with the Appropriation Act. This would go a long way in tackling misapplication, misappropriation, corruption and fraudulent practices in government. Also, the National Assembly should exercise its oversights by addressing the constraints associated with the implementation of the Appropriation Act in order for Nigeria to be reckoned with in the comity of nations.

Constitutional Rights Projects

No. 35 Kwame Nkrumah Crescent Asokoro Abuja.

www.crpnigeria.org

crp@crpnigeria.org