In what looks like a patriotic anger over the non-compliance of 31 agen¬cies of the Federal Government to submit budget proposals, culminating in the delay of the passage of the appropria¬tion bill, the House of Representatives has threatened to stop work on the 2011 budget. Here we go again...the country always drifts in circles.

Last year, the House noted that it had become a tradition for the Executive to delay the presentation of the proposed budget to the National Assembly until it is too late in the year. This year, 31 Fed¬eral Government agencies simply refused to comply with relevant laws, which re¬quire that their budget proposals be sub¬mitted to the National Assembly for leg¬islative vetting.

We commend the forthrightness of the National Assembly on this matter. Its in¬sistence on the rule of law and strict ad¬herence to due process is noted. Indeed, it would amount to 'double illegality' were the lawmakers to pass the national Appropriation Bill without due recourse to the relevant laws. However, beyond the hue and cry of the representatives over the misdemeanour of these agen¬cies, it is perplexing that the National As¬sembly could not sanction any of the err¬ing agencies. This is one of the systemic challenges facing the country.

Two critical issues are worthy of men¬tion here. First, budgets are supposed to provide guide into the anticipated financial dealings of governments and or its parastatals for a given year. This includes the revenue pattern, and the expenditure details of each agency (as provided for by law) without which any of them could function. The point is, why would any government agency not be enthusiastic about preparing its budget proposal? Unless, of course, for motives that are neither noble nor transparent, budget preparation should be an exciting pas¬time of technocrats in government agen¬cies. In addition, members of staff of the 31 agencies in question have all been paid salaries up to the new fiscal year, even when the current budget is yet to be prepared. To forestall this kind of na¬tional embarrassment, the National As¬sembly must sanction the heads/minis¬ters in charge of these erring agencies.

Secondly, it is reasonable to assume that this deliberate administrative lapse has been the practice in the recent past, and this is really shameful. It partly ex¬plains the yearly abysmal failure of budg¬ets in the country. It is completely unac¬ceptable that any of the Federal Govern¬ment’s ministries, departments and agen¬cies would not have prepared, and be ready to defend their budgets by the 11th month of the running fiscal year.

If the National Assembly has to dissi¬pate so much energy on mere prepara¬tion of budget proposals and passage of the Appropriation Bill, at what time do we begin to talk about the effective monitoring and implementation of the budget? When do we begin to address issues of national development, which the budg¬ets are supposed to serve as road maps for?

The late President Umaru Yar'Adua once lamented the low performance of the 2009 federal budget, which was put at 43 per cent then. Since his exit, what has changed? There are no two ways about it, for the country to move forward, budget must be used for the very pur¬pose for which it was designed. For the umpteenth time, we call on the relevant authorities of the Executive arm of the Federal Government to respond appro¬priately to the allegation of budget pres¬entation delay by the House of Repre¬sentatives.

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