2025 Budget Implementation: NASS Will Be Strong In Oversight To MDAs, Others — Jimbo

We shared a whole lot of responsibilities to make sure we gave Nigerians, and of course the executive, the 2025 budget; we worked round the clock to ensure this. Of course, there is a statement that says necessity is the mother of invention. Yeah, Nigeria is not a country in isolation to other world economies, so we looked critically at what other developed nations are doing, and we equally adjusted our in-house thinking to suit the current realities. Somehow it is a great development, because when you look at what is happening in other developed economies, what we are gaining, what we are having, if we know that those things are not forthcoming again, it calls for us to look inward and see how to make these things available by ourselves. And the president, in his wisdom, has equally looked in that direction by making provisions for funds for us, for our professionals, our health institutions, to look inward and see how to make these things available and for Nigerians. Now, the N750 billion addition, that’s what you’re talking about right now. It cuts across all sectors. Now, looking at that; the Senate did say that the executive should discontinue the single payment system for capital expenditure, and they said that practice contradicts the Public Procurement Act and other existing laws. Why are we going in that direction? Are we progressing in error in the past? It does not come officially to the House. Of course, if the Senate has spotted that out, obviously the House will concur in that respect, as long as it is in conflict with the law, which is the 1999 Constitution. We will equally look at it passionately and see how to align with the position of the Senate. Don’t forget, nobody is omnipotent, nobody is omnipresent, nobody is omniscient. So every day we learn, every day we discover new things. Obviously, the moment it is spotted out, it has to be corrected. And if it is in the wisdom of the Senate, they have spotted this out, then we have to change to what is right. Okay, so let’s interrogate this (2025) budget a bit. There is an increase of 750 billion Naira, different from what the President submitted. And then you have N14.3 trillion for debt servicing and N23.9 trillion for capital expenditure. If you compare this with last budget, some people have said that even though this is considered as one of the highest budgets in Nigeria, or even the highest that we’ve had, but the current situation of things, economic realities, you know, seem to make it even smaller compared to what we’re going through in terms of exchange rates, in terms of inflation, and all of that. If you look at the 2024 budget, already it’s still running. It ends by June this year. The President in his wisdom and executive, named it Renewed Hope Budget. Then you put that side by side with the 2025 that we just passed recently. It is a budget of restoration. I, as a member of the Parliament, whose primary job is equally to look into the details in the budget, as the Deputy Chairman, National Planning and Economic Development, who oversights the Budget Office and the Ministry, it is important we ask ourselves, and to an extent Nigerians, critically, the benefits that the 2024 budget has brought to Nigerians, as regards to where we were, to where we are today. It is as a result of the 2024budget, in my estimation, and the body language of the executive that a lot of positive things happened because the budget of a nation reflects the thinking of the nation. Budget reflects the aspiration of the nation and the good wishes of the executive to the citizens. That singular 2024budget has given birth to the Dangote Refinery that we are currently having in Nigeria, the largest in Africa, if not in the world. That has equally put the NNPCL on their toes to revamp our Port Harcourt Refinery, the Kaduna Refinery, and, of course, the Warri Refinery. That has given birth to the new minimum wage that increased for all our civil servants from N30,000 to N70,000 currently. And that has equally made it possible for us to enact a law for it to be reviewed three years as against five years. That has given birth to other so many increments in ourinfrastructural life. For example, the 2024budget has made us to be self-sustaining in the refining of petroleum products. To the best of my knowledge, it is not up to 20% of the petroleum products we consume in this nation that are imported. So, if you look at the solid mineral sector, the largest lithium mining company in Nigeria has been opened. It’s located in Nasarawa State. That is investors’ confidence as a result of the 2024 budget. So, we can go on and on to list the benefits that have accrued as a result of the 2024 budget. 

Coming to 2025, yes, initially the president proposed a budget of N49.7 trillion. And when we broke the medium-term expenditure framework of all the revenue-generating agencies, we told them very clear that you can do better, you can do more. And when Donald Trump was inaugurated, we all saw all the different steps, economic steps, economic war, that he also proposed and implemented with China, with Canada, with other nations. And since Nigeria is not operating in isolation, whatever happens up there will trickle down to Nigeria. We were completely forced to look inward and tell these big guys that are operating revenue-generating agencies, look, we need to sit up. It is not going to be business as usual. The bread you were having and butter that I brought to you on your bedside to eat is not going to come. If you must continue to eat this bread and butter, we must certainly know how bread is baked. We must know how butter is done. Put it together, then you can save it for yourself and save it for the rest of Nigeria and possibly the rest of the world. Do better. We gave them a new mandate and a new target. And of course, during our budget defense with MDAs and other ministries, many of them, possibly may be they couldn’t put it across to their bosses or even to the executive the challenges they are facing when they appear before relevant committees of the House, we asked them, look, this is not a law court. We are the House of the people, the parliament. Whatever challenge you are facing in your agency, in your MDAs, tell it to us. We can approach the executive on your behalf in order for you to achieve the mandate of your ministry, the mandate of your MDAs, as enshrined in the Act and in the constitution. And they will open up and say, look, the funding is a challenge. The economic system is a challenge. There are so many things they can do, but they are unable to do. 

Let me use an adage that says it is the night that falls. It is not the day that ends. That the current 2024 budget is still running, obviously speaks to our humanity that no one man knows it all. And besides that, the budget of a nation is an estimate, it is a proposal. Even when it is passed into law, it is still a proposal. And don’t also forget, when a budget is passed, except the executive has put all the monies together, like in this case N54.9 trillion, it is still running. If all the monies that Nigeria needs to implement this budget is on ground as we speak, then we can now sit up and say, look, within the fiscal year, this budget has to be implemented to the latter. But it is not the case. The reverse is the case. Because the revenue generating agencies are still putting these monies together. When they gather this money, remit it to the consolidated revenue account, the executive looks at critical items in the budget that must be funded, and they appropriate the money accordingly. Sometimes all what they gather is not enough to go around all the agencies. So when we see that it is not feasible for them to meet up with the deadline, they run to the parliament, and that is why we are there, to extend the time, because they are not cast on stones, extend the time for them to deliver whatever they promise Nigerians. 

That we extend the time limit for the implementation of the budget does not translate to 100% implementation of the budget, because there are still unforeseen circumstances, especially revenue generation. 

Yes, of course, this is where the parliament comes in, especially the 10th National Assembly. By the grace of God, without having to blow a trumpet, we have proven to be very different. Different in the sense that when it comes to oversight function, which is one of the key roles of the parliamentarian, we have been up and doing. And that is where we are going to do more and better in the oversight function, to make sure that every single fund appropriated to any MDA is utilised for the attainment and the purpose for which that money is appropriated for. And we have been doing that already. I’m sure media outfits have covered a lot of our interactions with the MDAs, and you see sometimes the back-and-forth, the executive session, why did you do this, why didn’t you do this? And we are up and doing. And of course, the Public Procurement Act 2027 is equally there. Procurement is also very key. There are laid-down procedures for all the MDAsto carry out their procurement, because most of them don’t do it on time. When they don’t do it on time, it hampers and affects so many other things down the line, because there is a multiplier effect afterwards. So we are going to be very strong in oversight function, especially in this 2025 budget, where many of what we are enjoying are not forthcoming. We need to look inward and see to it that those agencies that are saddled with the responsibilities of making these things available for Nigerians are on their toes.