Okonjo-Iweala lied to Nigerians on budget – Reps

The House of Representatives on Wednesday called the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a liar.
It said the minister lied to Nigerians on the implementation of the 2012 budget by claiming that government had achieved 56 per cent performance.
“It is very clear already that she (Okonjo-Iweala) lied; she has lied to Nigerians”, spokesman for the lower chamber of federal legislature, Zakari Mohammed, said on Wednesday in Abuja.
Contrary to earlier submissions by the finance minister that the budget had recorded 56 per cent implementation, documents submitted to the Senate by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday indicated that performance of the budget as  of July was a mere 12.6 per cent.
The percentage was indeed lower than the 34 per cent performance the House had scored the budget which had angered the Reps and on the basis of which they had given President Goodluck Jonathan up to September to achieve 100 per cent or face impeachment proceedings.
The documents before the Senate now show that though N324.5bn (34 per cent) was cash-backed last month, only N184.84bn (12.6 per cent) was really available to Ministries Departments and Agencies of government for capital projects as at July 20.
The total capital provision in the budget is N1.5tn.
 “The minister should just go and make the appropriate adjustments. It is very clear already that she lied; she has lied to Nigerians,” Mohammed said in a reaction to the new revelation on Wednesday.
However, the Federal Government has said that the controversy over the 2102 budget is a distraction to its implementation.
Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, while briefing journalists after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, on Wednesday said the lingering controversy between the Executive and the Legislature was distracting the government from effectively implementing the budget.
Maku said, “This controversy is distracting the implementation of the budget.
 “The Coordinating Minister of the Economy (Okonjo-Iweala) will appear before the Senate. She is able, she is competent and she has the figure that won’t be contrasted.
“All of us are working. We are implementing the budget because that is what we were appointed to do.”

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