Debra Ajulo
President Goodluck Jonathan will today in Abuja present the 2015 Budget before the National Assembly even as the initial benchmark of $65 per barrel of oil for the budget estimates will remained unchanged.
However, the Speaker of the House, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, yesterday stopped bid by the Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to cause the House to reject the presentation of the budget by the Minister of Finance on the grounds that it would breach tradition whereby respective presidents present annual budgets before the legislative arm of government.
The President in a communication to the House read by the Speaker to members of the Green chamber had sought its permission for the Minister of Finance to present the budget today at 11am but Hon. Gbajabiamila objected to the request and sought to persuade members to tow the same line of reasoning.
According to him, the President should personally present the budget as is the tradition across democratic climes noting that allowing the minister would not only be a breach of tradition but setting undue precedence.
“It is the tradition across the world for presidents to lay the budget before the House. Though we have allowed the minister of finance to present the budget before us, it is a precedence that should not continue otherwise someday the president will ask one of his aides to come before us and present the budget,” he said stressing that budget presentation is an important national ritual that should be respected.
However, using Section 81 (1) of the 1999 constitution as amended, Leo Ogor, the Deputy Majority Leader, opposed Gbajabiamila’s motion by asserting that the constitution as the supreme law of the nation does not compel the president to personally lay the budget and therefore should he choose to mandate a minister to lay the budget would not be breaching any provision.
Tambuwal, who overruled further debate on the matter, said the provision of section 81 (1) of the constitution was clear on what should be done. “For the purpose of clarity, let me read the section” and proceeded to read and explained that the law only lays emphasise on “cause to be laid and does not suggest that he must personally lay the budget himself. He may cause an officer to do so,” he said and proceeded to overrule Gbajabiamila.
President Jonathan had in the letter requesting the House to grant the Minister of Finance audience today said, “I am cognizant of the fact that the budget estimates are being presented before the passage of the 2015-2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). This is due to the extra-ordinary global circumstances that confronted us in the latter quarter of the 2014 fiscal year.
Jonathan recalled that the MTEF with a budget benchmark of $78 had been submitted to the National Assembly on Sept. 30th, 2014 and discussion on the MTEF and budget construction based on the those estimates began with relevant committees before oil prices plummeted leading to a revision of the oil benchmark prices in the MTEF to $73 a barrel and resubmitted to the NASS on November 18.
He regretted that the decision of OPEC not to cut production to support price led to further precipitous fall in the oil price to below $70 per barrel and thus necessitating a further downward revision of the benchmark price to $65 and a revised MTEF which was resubmitted on December 2.
“The uncertainty of surrounding the global price of crude oil and its continuous fall has occasioned delays in both the submission of a final MTEF and budget estimates, and we are not proposing further revision of the oil benchmark price.
“Though prices continue to be extremely volatile at present and to trend further downwards there are indications based on the price intelligence we have at this time that prices may range between $65-$70 per barrel in 2015,” he said.
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