Legislators’ Constituent Initiatives Push Back The 2023 Budget
The National Assembly’s continued conflict with the executive branch of government has hampered the development of the 2023 budget.
The conflict was made worse by the N819.5 billion Supplementary Budget Bill, which was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, failing to address prior objections made by the members over projects in their constituencies.
The destiny of the 2023 budget was made worse by the executive’s failure to fund for the completion of numerous Constituency projects, according to many MPs who were outraged by the “selective implementation” of prior financial arrangements for important infrastructure projects.
Many of the senators, who are also members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, accuse the Ministry of Works of refusing to include their constituents’ projects in the N819.5 billion additional budget Buhari presented on Wednesday.
Outrage from resentful legislators was evident during an emergency meeting of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to discuss methods to resolve concerns of members.
Sen. Jibrin Barau, the committee chairman, was compelled to postpone the meeting, and MPs urged that there must be a private session where candid discussion of the concerns could take place.
He recommended allowing all of the Works and Housing subcommittees to work on the budget measure legislatively and submit a report to the Appropriations Committee today.
The fate of the 2023 budget measure now depends on how well the Appropriations Committee can resolve the complaints of the members.
Meanwhile, the Senate has attributed the 2023 Appropriations bill’s inability to pass, as originally planned, on several mistakes made by the executive branch.
The absence of the budget report from yesterday’s parliamentary proceedings’ Order Paper provided an indication of this.
A few while after the about 15-minute plenary, the MPs entered a private meeting.
Following the meeting behind closed doors, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said that the Appropriations Committee’s inability to finish its work on the budget report prevented the 2023 Appropriations Bill from being approved on time.
He criticized the executive branch of government for delivering the flawed budget plan so late.
He claims that in order to propose the report for passing on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, the two chambers must harmonize the document.
Lawan also guaranteed that the budget’s implementation will still start on January 1, 2023.
