The House of Representatives will today begin the investigation into the implementation of the N700.78 billion component of the N4.4 trillion approved in the 2015 Appropriation Act by the major federal ministries.
During the consideration of the budget proposal sent by the executive, the Senate and House of Representatives unanimously resolved to reduce the recurrent expenditure from N2.616 trillion to N2.584 trillion and increase the capital expenditure from N633.53 billion to N700.78 billion.
The investigative public hearing was sequel to the motion titled “Non-implementation of capital projects as Contained in the 2015 Appropriation Act; Federal Government budget and serial breach of the Fiscal Responsibility Act by the Federal Ministry of Finance and threats to my effective representation of my constituency,” sponsored by Patrick Asadu (PDP-Enugu).
During the consideration of the motion, the lawmakers expressed concerns over the report that over 11,000 projects were abandoned across the country and cautioned that due to time value of money, further delays in the implementation of the 2015 budget will expose the country to higher eventual expenditure on the same projects.
Sequel to the adoption of the motion, Speaker Yakubu Dogara inaugurated an ad-hoc committee chaired by Ahmed Pategi (APC-Kwara) that should ascertain the level of implementation of the capital expenditure of the 2015 Appropriation Act.
The committee is also expected to assess the performance of Federal Ministry of Finance in carrying out its mandate as contained in the Appropriation Act and Section 30(1,2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, and report back to the House on resumption, which is about the last quarter of the 2015 financial year.
In his lead debate, Asadu expressed concern over non-release of funds for the implementation of the capital components of previous Appropriation Acts.
“By sections 81 and 82 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the Federal Government expenditures must be either as direct charges on the constitution, as contained in the Appropriation Act or supplementary Appropriation Act where applicable or as may be specifically prescribed by the National Assembly.
“While Section 30(1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act clearly mandates the Minister of Finance through the Budget Office to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the annual budget, and assess the attainment of fiscal targets and report thereon on a quarterly basis to the Joint Finance Committee of the National Assembly and to also publish same in the mass and electronic media not later than 30 days after the end of each quarter of the financial year.
“Since there has not been any constitutional amendment adjusting the financial year by the National Assembly nor has any public announcement has been made by the Ministry of Finance in any mass and electronic media on the implementation of the budget and attainment of fiscal targets,” he said.
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