TheCable

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, says it is frustrating to pass budgets yearly without unlocking their full potentials.

Dogara said this on Wednesday after President Muhammad Buhari presented a N7.298 trillion budget to a joint session of the national assembly.

“It is certainly frustrating that we go through the annual Budget cycle/process: of budget presentation by Mr President, processing of same by the National Assembly, passage and signing into law every year, without unlocking the full potentials of such Budgets for our citizens,” the speaker said.

“This is because implementation and execution of the agreed Budget is always a major challenge year in year out. Sometimes, implementation rate is as low as 30%; most times it is never higher than 50% at the best of times.

“This has led to unacceptably high rate of abandonment of projects and distortions in Nigeria’s economic planning. Of course, this is an inherited problem for Mr President as he has only effectively passed through one budget cycle.

“As I counselled last year, an Appropriation Act must be allowed to run for an uninterrupted period of twelve months, for the Executive to have enough time to execute it. This means that both Mr. President and the national assembly must find a way to continue the execution of the 2016 budget especially the capital component till May 6, 2017, which is twelve months from the date Mr President signed the 2016 Appropriation Bill. This is also the clear intendment of the definition of a Financial Year in Section 318 of the Constitution.”

He said it was time to ensure that the change promised to Nigerians “is reflected in our budget processes.”

“We cannot really make appreciable progress as a nation without significant implementation of the Capital component of the budget,” Dogara said.

“The real challenge before us is to make our annual budgets work for all our citizens, especially the poor and the vulnerable.

“This is a task all of us must be supremely devoted to. It was President J.F Kennedy, who in his timeless and resonating admonishment to the rich and powerful reminded us that, ‘if the society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich’. Sadly, this is fast becoming true of our society right now.”

While assuring Buhari of the parliament’s partnership to revamp the country’s economy, Dogara said: “History will judge us harshly if we act as a stumbling block on the part of progress for our dear nation.”