Again, Jonathan fails to present budget

FROM ADETUTU FOLASA-DE-KOYI, ABUJA

 

Inability of both chambers of the National Assembly to agree on an acceptable oil benchmark for the national budget has forced a postpone-ment of the 2014 Appropriation Bill presentation. Twice in one week, President Goodluck Jonathan shelved the formal presen-tation of the N4.77 trillion 2014 estimates to a joint sitting of the National Assembly.Plenary was delayed in the Senate till 10:58am to receive the President’s correspondence on the postponement.

Before its announcement, the National Assembly was in a tight security lockdown. Vehicular and human movements were re-stricted. All of.cers on Grade Levels 01-14 were asked to stay off their of.ces till the afternoon. Commercial activities, including banking services within the Na-tional Assembly complex were cancelled for the day.Journalists were not spared, as only a few were allowed into the complex.

Those whose names were not on a list checked off by an of.cial of the Department of State Security (DSS) were po-litely turned back.Senators, who had arrived the premises for the scheduled budg-et presentation were, however, surprised that the exercise was postponed. Daily Sun gathered from lawmakers that with the lat-est postponement, the President may now send either a minister or an aide to present the 2014 budget estimates to the two chambers, “should the oil benchmark remain a knotty issue to crack.”Some minutes before 10 am, when the President’s letter call-ing off the budget presentation arrived the National Assembly, workers were seen rolling up the red carpet which had been laid from the front foyer of the com-plex to receive the August visitor and his entourage.

The red carpet had earlier been rolled from the foyer into the House of Repre-sentatives’ chamber.In a letter dated November 18, but received in the Of.ce of the Senate President yesterday, President Jonathan explained that the postponement became necessary to allow both chambers harmonize and agree on an appropriate oil benchmark.President Jonathan was to present the budget last week but was shifted till yesterday to allow the House of Repre-sentatives pass the 2014-2016 Medium-Term Fiscal frame-work.

While the Senate last week approved an oil benchmark of $76.50 for the 2014 budget, the House of Representatives, at plenary, recommended $79 as the benchmark. There has been no conference committee to harmonise positions of the two chambers.The President proposed $74The Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007) stipulates that both chambers of the N-tional Assembly must approve the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strat-egy Paper (FSP) before the President presents the esti-mates of any new budget.With the latest postpone-ment, no speci.c date has been agreed upon for t

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