The Senate on Wednesday said the passage of the 2018 budget was delayed because of the neglect or refusal by heads of some government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to honour repeated invitations to defend their budget proposals.
President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki who stated this at the plenary session shortly after the budget was passed, described the trend as unhelpful.
Saraki said, “As you will recall, I had indicated the need for the executive and the legislature to come together, especially in the formation and passage of the Appropriation Bill.
“However, while we may have made progress in the formation stages, there is a lot more that needs to happen, to minimise delays and other stumbling blocks in the process.
“One of the symptoms of the unhelpful aspects of the prevailing culture hampering the process, remains the neglect or refusal of certain agencies of government to honour invitations to budget defence. It is our hope that we will see a major change in this regard, going forward”.
Saraki harped on the need for the nation to steer the economy and the nation’s revenue generating capacity away from oil.
According to him, “The current budget, when signed into law, should help us in this regard, especially with the coming into focus for implementation, the economic reform bills we have passed so far and those on the way to full passage”.
Saraki added that the 2018 budget addressed growth in spending on issues relevant to the welfare and security of the people.
He urged government to reduce spending in areas where the private sector is better placed to handle, saying this will free up funds for education, health, water and sanitation services among others.
“On this note, it is with great delight that I announce that the 2018 Budget has met the threshold of reserving at least 1% of total budget to health. This is historic. We were focused on this commitment of the 1% set aside for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF). We promised, and we have delivered.
“For us this is not a commitment to numbers; it is a commitment to the health and well-being of our people. It is a commitment to making Nigeria stronger.
“We expect that this will continue and even inch upwards as we work to eradicate malaria, and significantly reduce infant and maternal mortality.
“The statistics that show Nigeria as having one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world – is not the Nigeria we want to leave behind for our children. The journey starts now; let us not look back”, Saraki added.
The Senate stressed the need for growth in independent revenue by reviewing agreements that government had signed with the various private sector service providers.
Saraki however observed that some of the agreements were against national interest, saying they were only favourable to the private interests.
“These are important steps toward freeing up funding for our critical sectors, especially now with the increasing need for strengthening our security architecture and capacity across the country to improve on the safety and confidence of our people in government’s ability to provide for their welfare and security.
“It is also hoped that we have put together a Budget that will lend itself easily to the government priority of revamping the economy, creating jobs and fuelling the economic recovery in a manner that has meaning for the ordinary man on the street.
“We would like to see that the process of implementation of the budget starts immediately so that our people will begin to benefit from the objective of the budget and opportunities it opens.
“In order for us to have an efficient budget implementation, we will advise that agencies of government eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and speed up the procurement process”, Saraki said.
