…As APC Senator ignores directives again
BEVERLY HILLS, CA, January 28, (THEWILL) – The Senate on Tuesday commenced consideration of the 2014 budget bill with Senators of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) ignoring their party’s directives for the second day.
However, the debate polarised Senators. along party lines.
APC Senators as expected faulted some aspects of the budget with some of them calling for the resignation of the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala.
Although Senators from the APC participated actively in the debates, it can be seen from the tone of their contributions that they were opposing the budget.
APC had last week directed its members in the National Assembly, to block all “legislative proposals, including the 2014 Budget and confirmation of all nominees to military and civilian positions to public offices until rule of law and constitutionalism are restored in Rivers State in particular, and Nigeria in general
However, Senators Ahmad Lawan, Sadiq Yar’ Adua, Babajide, Omowarare; all from the APC in separate contributions declared that the 2014 budget is the worst deal for the Nigerian masses and has no place for the poor.
Senator Ahmad Lawan( Yobe) in his contribution, faulted the allocation given to the Northeast in spite of its present security challenges compared to the allocation to the Niger Delta region
He also stated that budget should be targeted to protect the citizens and the vulnerable in the society , adding that the implementation of the 2013 budget is less than 40percent.
“This budget is the worst deal for the masses of Nigeria, how can you alleviate poverty with this kind of budget?,” he said.
Lawan further said only N400billion goes to the Nigerian masses out of N1.2 trillion and called for more funds to be allocated to security to enable the agencies t properly fight the insurgents .
“N2billion for the whole of North east, we totally reject that, N163 billion is going to the Niger Delta alone through the amnesty programme, NDDC,. The whole Ministry of Defence is getting N4.8 billion, are we serious? We must fund the security personnel properly, we in the North east cannot be pushed out of Nigeria, ” he said.
Countering their objections, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia) sarcastically ‘praised’ the APC Senators for their contribution, saying; “I am impressed with the APC, let us copy from APC. Two weeks ago, an APC government in Rivers passed a budget in one hour, so let us copy the APC and pass this budget, I maintain that we don’t need to continue to debate this budget, we need to copy the precedence already set by APC and pass this budget without a debate and the President signs the budget,” he said.
Senate President David Mark challenged the lawmakers to view the budget through a national periscope and not reduce it to partisan politics
In the lead debates, Senate Leader Victor Ndoma- Egba ( SAN) explained that the bill seeks to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum N4,642,960,000,000 only as against the 2013 budget of N4.9 trillion.
He further explained that the 2014 budget is designed to build on the successes of the 2013 budget with emphasis on fiscal consolidation, inclusive growth and job creation .
“The budget is premised on the 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy Paper which takes into consideration the heightened global economic uncertainty in 2013 which forecast put the US economy to grow by 1.7 percent, Euro zones growth to contract by 0.6 percent while growth in emerging and developing economies is forecast to average 5.1 percent ,” he said.
According to him, “The budget not only takes into consideration the global economic challenges and potential impact of increasing exploitation of shale oil gas by major oil importers as well as the rising oil output by hitherto oil importing countries but the challenges of oil theft, pipeline fields resulting in reduced oil revenue.”
In his contribution Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu stated that the 2014 budget is key as it is the last budget before the election and it is important for it to be fully implemented so that the masses can enjoy its full benefits.
Senator Victor Ndoma – Egba called for more allocation to the judiciary, saying the judiciary has a great role to play. He also said the contributions from SURE- P comes from all Nigerians and there should be equity in the execution of their projects.
Senator Babajide Omowarare( Osun APC) noted that the budget belongs to the Parliament, saying “ It is for us to tinker with it. While population is increasing, jobs are not being provided for, I am of the view that we will see initiative on how to create more jobs as this budget is not friendly to the people .”
BY EMMA UCHE, ABUJA
