Beware Of Okonji-Iweala`s Advice : Reps warns Jonathan

There seems to be no end in sight to the wrangling between the House of Representatives and the Presidency over the poor implementation of the 2012 budget, with the House throwing barbs at the Executive yesterday.

Nigeria has left

the military era behind, House spokesman Zakari Mohammed said at a special media briefing where the House faulted the Executive’s claim that the National Assembly’s input into the budget delayed its implementation. The National Assembly is no longer “a toothless bulldog”, Mohammed said.

          

       

          

The House also, in a direct reference, warned President Goodluck Jonathan against the kind of advice he gets from Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other “un-elected appointees”, which might put his administration in more trouble.

Mohammed said: “The idea of
the National Assembly distorting the budget is incorrect. The National Assembly cannot distort a budget which it has full powers over. There is no law that says the budget must be returned to the President exactly the way it is forwarded to the National Assembly.

“They (Presidency) seem to be suffering from military hangover where budgets were announced after a meeting of the Supreme Military Council (SMC). The Federal Executive Council (FEC) is not the equivalent of the SMC. The National Assembly has replaced the SMC.

“If the Appropriation Act is to be sent back to the Executive the way it is presented, then, it is better that the National Assembly is abolished. In a constitutional democracy, in the budgeting process, the National Assembly exercises the constitutional responsibility of taking care of the interests and aspirations of Nigerians from every constituency.

The House spokesman, who read from a prepared text entitled: “2012 Budget, Non-Implementation: Okonjo-Iweala Should Address the Real Issues,” accused the Finance Minister of breaking the law by not adhering to the letters of the 2012 Appropriations Act.

According to the House, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s claim that the executive arm has implemented 56 per cent of the 2012 budget as widely reported, “is not true,” as only “about 34per cent of the budget has been implemented.”