SAN FRANCISCO, January 20, (THEWILL) – The start of deliberations on the 2016 Appropriation Bill submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari pitched members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly against each other along party lines on Wednesday, with the opposition calling on the federal government to withdraw the document.
This was as senators elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and that of the All Progressives Congress, APC, disagreed on the content of the budget. While the APC senators described the budget as that of change, their PDP colleagues mocked same, stressing that it was unreasonable for government to borrow to fund the budget.
While making his contribution to the debate on the budget on the floor of the senate on Wednesday, former Senate spokesman, Eyinnaya Abaribe, a PDP senator representing Abia south, categorically described the 2016 budget as “dead on arrival”.
According to him, “this budget is indeed unique; after the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done.”
“It is a budget of change I agree but it is a change in the wrong direction; I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified.”
“Mr President, a budget that increases spending up to 30 per cent based solely on borrowing, in what way is it justified? That is the question we want to ask the people who brought this budget as change.”
“We know what is going on in the global economy: this budget is predicated on an oil benchmark of $38 per barrel and I can now say that with oil being $28 today, this budget is dead on arrival.”
“The job of the opposition is to help the government to get its priorities right so I want to please urge this government to withdraw this budget and go back to the drawing board.”
“Mr President, a budget that moves domestic spending within Aso Villa from N580m to N1.7bn cannot be a budget of change.”
“We were told that in the revised budget there was an adjustment due to error, we agree but what has happened is that the money up to N7 billion were moved from buying vehicles to being spread in offices.”
“It also increases the spending that is due to renovations within the Villa; they are going to renovate the Villa with N3.9bn. What else do you want to renovate there that Nigerians will see in the year 2016?” he asked.
On his part, the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, who is of the PDP stock, called for the reduction of the budget by 30 percent, urging his colleagues to see the budget as one for all Nigerians; neither for the PDP nor the APC. He reminded them that there are over 30 political parties in Nigeria.
According to him, “For the first time, I want to appeal that we should reduce this budget by 30 percent; whether we like it or not, we are going through a recession.”
“Instead of financing the budget through borrowing, we should devise a means to finance the budget by raising the revenue. We should reduce the cost of governance, we need to concentrate on existing projects.
“My consolation is that this parliament has the final say on it. We have 35bn on information or we are providing for propaganda?”
While making his contribution to the debate, an APC senator from Yobe north, Ahmed Lawan, said: “The problem is and has always been corruption and corruption. For 16 years, Nigeria was subjected to impunity.”
“This is the first time a budget is not depending on oil; it is an opportunity for this administration to make sure that we diversify the economy,” he stated.
