Acting President, Jonathan rejects budget

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan may have withheld his assent to the budget, it emerged yesterday.

His action may have been informed by his dissatisfaction with the 2010 Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly.

The budget, sources told The Nation, has been returned to the National Assembly.

Dr Jonathan’s action is likely to affect the execution of some projects. The Presidency was permitted to spend on capital projects up till last month, pending the implementation of the budget.

The executive and legislature are seeking a way out of the grey areas which have hampered the signing of the budget.

One of these is the removal of some projects from the budget.

Some of the project contracts, it was gathered, were awarded by the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) after they had been cleared by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP). But they were allegedly removed from the budget, without recourse to the affected ministries.

Dr Jonathan yesterday met with some members of his cabinet to sort out the problem, The Nation learnt.

He is expected to hold another meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly today.

Among other issues, yesterday’s meeting also deliberated on the alleged inflation of the budget.

At today’s planned meeting with the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives, Dr Jonathan will explain why he cannot sign the budget as passed.

He will stress the need to make amends, a source said.

President Umaru Yar’Adua on November 23, last year, sent a N4.079 trillion Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly.

But the National Assembly jacked it up to N4.608trillion before passing the bill into law on March 25.

The Executive, it was learnt, was not happy with the increase. It reportedly made its feelings known after extensive consultations with the National Assembly.

Although the bill was sent to Dr Jonathan last week, he decided to summon a meeting of some members of his Economic Team yesterday.

At the session, it was learnt that the Economic Team spotted inflation of the budget and many grey areas in what was passed by the National Assembly.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: "The National Assembly has muddled up the budget in such a way that it is no longer what it is intended to achieve.

"They have included many projects like rural roads, building of town halls, unjustifiable constituency projects and the overhead is much.

"They have also increased the budget deficit without taking into consideration the nation’s revenue profile.

"Deficit is about borrowing to finance the budget. If we are not careful about what the National Assembly has passed, we may need to borrow or source for one-third of N4.608trillion to finance the budget.

"Certainly, the nation cannot afford what the National Assembly has passed. We need to readjust the budget to a realistic level."

The source added that the Executive does "not want any confrontation with the National Assembly."

He said: "In order to resolve our differences, the Acting President and his Economic Team will meet with the Senate and House leaders on Tuesday to identify grey areas and unrealistic aspects of the budget.

"We want to dialogue and resolve the issues amicably. We are hopeful that with the understanding of the National Assembly, the Acting President should sign the budget on or before the end of the week."

Among those at the meeting were Ministers of Finance, Dr Olusegun Aganga, his State counterpart, Mr Remi Babalola, Head of Service of the Federation, Mr Steve Oronsaye, BPP Director-General Emeka Eze and Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr Bright Okuogo, among others.

Series of meetings have also been slated as part of the efforts to find a way out.

Babalola explained that the signing of the budget depends solely on the outcome of the meetings.

Asked of the possibility of Dr Jonathan signing the budget this week, he said: "Maybe this week, maybe not" adding: "This would certainly be determined by the outcome of the meetings planned for this week"

But Aganga said Dr Jonathan would sign the budget "very soon".


By Vincent Ikuomola (Published: 20 April, 2010)