While the House of Representatives in its plenary session accused her of attempting to incite Nigerian workers against the legislature, spokesman of the Senate Enyinnaya Abaribe, in a press briefing, accused her of attempting to pit the National Assembly against President Goodluck Jonathan, following the inability of the legislature to consider and possibly approve several 2013 budget amendments.
The Senate has accused Jonathan of reneging on an earlier agreement: that should he (Jonathan) sign the 2013 budget, the legislators would approve an immediate follow-up amendment he would send to them.
Senator Abaribe said that Jonathan forwarded “voluminous” amendments as opposed to specific alterations agreed under the deal, thereby making legislative consideration protracted.
Okonjo-Iweala had on Monday warned that economic activities may be shut down and the federal government unable to pay its workforce by September if government failed to resolve the lingering problems with the 2013 Appropriation Act, a position the Senate considers alarmist.
Abaribe said, “The National Assembly was perplexed when we heard today about comments allegedly made by minister of finance and the coordinating minister of the economy with respect to the budget. First of all, the Senate does not view the comments made lightly. The feeling of the Senate and of course the National Assembly has always been that we do not expect ministers of the Federal Republic and appointees of the president to make comments that tend to give the impression of a collision course between the executive and legislature, because we are all working towards the same purpose, which is to make sure that we take care of the welfare of Nigerians.
“Therefore, we find it not to our liking when a comment is made that tends to say that government will shut down if the National Assembly doesn’t do anything. We do not agree with that.”
On the new 2013 budget amendment sought by Jonathan, Abaribe said the Senate would consider the request when it resumes from its two-month-long recess in September.
Abaribe said, “What we got from the president, which is actually the third amendment, is a sort of document amending the budget. Now we found that these documents are even larger than the budget itself and there is no way that the Senate and even the National Assembly can consider these amendments until we come back from our vacation this year.
“There is absolutely no way amendments of this nature would be considered for the short time that we have until we go on our national vacation. And the point really is this: it not about the report that there are differences; this was discussed with the presidency — that we take care of the differences and deal with them. Coming to now bring up a whole list of amendments that are even much more than the original that was sent, I do not expect the presidency would say we shouldn’t have enough time to go through it.
“In addition to that, we have other things we would want to deal with. What we would want to appeal is that efforts should not be made to put us on a collision course. We are not on a collision course.
“We are all interested in making sure that the budget as passed would be implemented, and implemented in such a way that everybody within this country will get the benefit of why the budget was passed in the first place.
“We know that in September, as the president has promised, there is going to be a new budget. So, when you bring a budget of this volume and then you bring another budget in September, what do you expect us to do?”
The House, on the other hand, has summoned the minister to appear before the joint committee on appropriation, finance and legislative compliance to throw more light on the statement.
The minister had, in a monitored interview, said the 2013 budget is not implementable and that unless the National Assembly passes the amendment budget proposal sent to it by President Jonathan, government activities will be shut down and government may not be able to meet its financial obligations to Nigerians, including payment of salaries.
The lawmakers also accused Okonjo-Iweala of trying to blackmail the National Assembly into passing the proposed amendment to the 2013 budget by saying the nation’s economy would be on the verge of collapse if the National Assembly failed to pass the N72 billion budget amendment request before it.
Minority whip Hon. Samson Osagie (ACN, Edo), who raised the motion on the subject, accused the minister of consistently insulting the sensibilities of the parliament and inciting Nigerian workers against them, adding that “this assertion is intended not only to blackmail the National Assembly in the performance of its constitutional mandate but also to incite Nigerian workers against a legitimate and not militant institution of government – the National Assembly”.
He reminded the executive that there was a subsisting and valid Appropriation Act duly signed into law by the president, which is the operating budget for 2013, while adding that, “from available field reports, the executive organ of government is deliberately delaying or exercising undue tardiness in the implementation of the 2013 budget”.
The lawmaker expressed worry “that the minister of finance had consistently insulted the sensibilities of the institution of the National Assembly through her constant umbrage and blackmail of this institution”.
He consequently warned that the National Assembly is alive to its responsibilities and would not be stampeded or blackmailed by any appointee of government in the discharge of its duties.
The House last week threw out the budget amendment forwarded by President Jonathan in March on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and lacking in specifics, thereby compelling him to send a fresh request last Thursday.
Source: Leadership
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