Veto Buhari on Budget Timeframe Bill, Group Urges NASS

• Veto Buhari on Budget Timeframe Bill, Group Urges NASS

The Centre for Social Justice has called on the National Assembly to exercise its powers by recalling the bill on the amendment of Sections 81 and 121 of the 1999 Constitution, which stipulate the timeframe for annual budgets.

The Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, said this during a chat with journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

He said that the bill had been transmitted by the National Assembly to the President for over a month, adding that the delay in assenting to it was an indication that Buhari was unwilling for it to become a law.

The constitution amendment bill proposes that instead of the old order, where the President and governors present budget estimates at any time in each financial year, they will now be bound to present same not later than 90 days to the end of the financial year.

The essence of the amendment is to give the legislature adequate time to examine, vet and approve the budget before the end of the presentation year and the beginning of the New Year.

The amendment also proposes a new subsection 1 (a) to the two sections by giving a timeline to the national and state Houses of Assembly to pass the budgets for the incoming year before the commencement of the next financial year.

Essentially, budgets will no longer be presented late or approved late like it has happened in the last three years. The budget will now be ready on or before January 1 of every year.

Onyekpere wondered why a bill that should have checked the incessant delays in the country’s budgeting process had yet to be assented to by the President despite receiving parliamentary approval.

He said, “If the National Assembly had given the executive a timeline without prescribing one for itself, the President may have had a defence for his refusal to assent. It could have been argued that both the executive and legislature need to regulate themselves by submitting to a constitutional timeline.

“And it will be considered improper for legislators to exempt themselves from the timeframe. In this case, no reasonable person can fathom a reason that makes sense in the company of reasonable Nigerians.”

On how the issue should be resolved, Onyekpere advised the lawmakers to veto the President by approving the bill so that it could become a law.

He said, “The constitution is clear and requires no further elaboration. It is now up to the National Assembly to exercise its powers for the peace, order and good government of Nigeria, and override the presidential veto without any further delay.

“Any other course of action will be a great disservice to the long-suffering people of Nigeria. Nigerians do not expect that the executive/legislative rift should get in the way of such clear-headed amendment.

“There must be irreducible minimum levels of cooperation between the two arms of government no matter the situation; otherwise, the government will need to throw in the towel and call for fresh elections under the doctrine of necessity.”