Amidst mounting concerns over the poor implementation of the 2017 budget in the face of missed revenue projections leading to huge deficits, Senate President Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday announced plans by the upper legislative chamber to review its implementation, beginning from next week.
Saraki who announced this while welcoming his colleagues back from the 2017 annual recess, said ahead of the review, the Ministers of Finance and Budget Planning would be invited to brief Senators on the all-important subject matter.
Recall that the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) recently released its half-year quarterly review showing that the three tiers of government distributed N2.788tr between January and June this year, representing a 40.67% shortfall over the amount budgeted. It however rose 38% above the Federation Accountant Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement in the corresponding period of 2016.
NEITI, in the report titled: “FAAC Disbursement in First Half of 2017: Trends, Issues and Implications,” warned that “the volatility in revenue inflows will adversely affect planning and expenditure of government and thus likely hamper efforts at stimulating growth and development.”
The volatile “nature of disbursements to all tiers of government in the first half of 2017 would suggest difficulty in implementing budgets at Federal, State and Local Government levels,” the report added.
For Saraki therefore, “Nigerians want to see a more significant improvement in the level of implementation of the budget this financial year,” even as he urged members of the concerned standing committees to start “putting together their oversight plan for a close and proper review of the performance of the 2017.”
On Nigeria’s exit from recession, the Senate President agreed that it is not an end in itself, because there is a lot of work ahead, even as he set an ambitious target 7% growth rate or more and creation of millions of new jobs, a reason why, he believes, “the implementation of the 2017 budget is crucial.”
He charged the standing committee to “demonstrate proactivity and readiness to engage government to ensure that at least a significant portion of our annual budget is fully dedicated to local procurement. All committees of the Senate must be involved in this and find better channels to engage our people and enable feedbacks.”
For these efforts succeed, Saraki said it requires that the peace and political stability of the country is maintained, just as the need for to fight to keep Nigeria united and prosperous.
To boost the GDP and the job creation challenge, the Senate President stressed that the standing committee would also be looking at the chamber’s commitment to the Made in Nigeria initiative, which he said is due to enter its next stage, which is “the oversight of implementation to ensure that the policy yields expected gains.”
In the fight against corruption, he stressed the importance of sharpening up the chamber’s “oversight tools to ensure that government remains accountable always. However, I urge us all to, more than ever, operate above board ourselves.
“In the last two years, we have successfully exposed numerous cases of corruption in our agencies and officers of government and as a result saved government enormous amount of public resources. This is what Nigerian people expect of us and we must continue to deliver on this. We must not make the mistake of resting on our oars. I say this to encourage you to keep up with the good works of exposing corruption as you have been doing so far irrespective.
“Yes, like senator Isah Hamma Misau who had the courage to expose deep rooted institutional corruption, you will be attacked, blackmailed and insulted but, unlike any former Senate before this, we will not bow or be intimidated,” he forewarned.