By Baron Ike
The House of Representatives yesterday, July 4, summoned the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to come and explain allegation that the National Assembly ‘padded’ the 2017 budget and, that specifically reduced the budget of the 2nd Niger bridge from N15 billion to N10 billion even after the cost had been defended and agreed on.
Sadiq Ibrahim, a lawmaker from Adamawa State moved the motion during plenary and was unanimously agreed on.
Fashola had alleged that instead of allowing the budget to go, the National Assembly reduced the budgets of critical projects of the ministry and inserted projects that have nothing to do with the ministry.
The former Lagos State governor also alleged that NASS inserted projects outside the purview of his ministry in the 2017 Appropriation Act by the National Assembly, noting that the development was unfair to the Executive arm for the inclusion of such projects after public hearings on the budget and defence of the fiscal estimates by the ministries.
Fashola told some Editors last week that “What I have in my budget now is primary healthcare centres, boreholes.”
He added: “That was the meeting we had with the Acting President and that was the reason why the budget was not signed on time.
“We were ask to complete those abandoned projects; the budget of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was reduced by the National Assembly from N31 billion to N10 billion.
“We are owing the contractors about N15 billion and they have written to us that they are going to shut down.
“Also, the budget of the 2nd Niger bridge was reduced from N15 billion to N10 billion and about N3 billion or so was removed from the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja road budget.
“Everybody is complaining about power supply but they also cut the budget for Manbila power project and the Bodo bridge that connects the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Station was also cut and all these were also discussed.
“If after we have defended the budget and we had gone and the legislature unilaterally changed the budget, what is the purpose of deliberation?”
Fashola said it is unfair to Nigerians after public hearings were conducted with tax payers’ money and consultations with the lawmakers only for the budget to be altered, cut or padded. The minister said that apart from the 200 uncompleted roads he inherited from the previous administration, the lawmakers added100 roads.
He explained:“These roads are not federal roads and some of them do not have designs, how do we award roads that were not designed irrespective of the power you have?
“It is unconstitutional for the National Assembly (NASS) to legislate on state roads.
“A budget is an estimation plan that set in motion what is to be spent, how much will be borrowed and how much will be collected.
“The executive controls all the machinery for collecting taxes and other revenue with relevant data from the Ministries of Finance, Physical Planning and the Budget Office and others.”
“I am not saying that the legislature cannot contribute to the budget, but I hold the view that it cannot increase the budget because they do not collect the revenue with which to run or implement the budget,’’ the minister said, adding that the National Assembly “might mean well and not do the right.’’