President Muhammadu Buhari wrote the National Assembly on Tuesday to submit the 2016 budgets of 38 of the agencies listed under the Fiscal Responsible Act, 2007.
Among the agencies were the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigerian Customs Service and the Nigerian Insurance Deposit Corporation.
The Act provides that the budgets of the listed agencies should be attached to the national budget and presented to the National Assembly for consideration and approval each budget year.
However, over the years, successive administrations had breached the law, a development that frequently caused frictions between the National Assembly and the executive.
The administration of the late President Umar Yar’Adua had forwarded the proposals of the agencies to the National Assembly in 2009.
The documents came after the budget of the year had been passed.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan also complied with the provision on one or two occasions before his administration too started breaching the provision.
Incidentally, the 2016 budget had also been passed before the President’s letter was read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, to lawmakers on the floor on Tuesday.
However, members admitted the letter.
Meanwhile, the House stepped down a bill seeking to amend the FRA to allow for public participation in the formation of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
The MTEF lays out the government’s spending plan for the next three years.
By the provision of the Act, it is expected to be laid before the National Assembly three months to the end of any running financial year.
PUNCH NG
