Oguwike Nwachuku
It is embarrassing that the ripples of the 2016 Appropriation Bill which Nigerians thought had been resolved have resurfaced.
With its submission to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent last week, expectations were quite high that the comatose economy begging for attention because of the budget delay may begin a gradual recovery.
Nigerians had thought that the huge time already lost in the nattering away at each other by the legislature and the executive over the budget would have by now been recovered.
It was their desire that the jigsaw they were treated with by the executive and the National Assembly (NASS) be consigned to the past and efforts made collectively to restore hope.
Unfortunately, the more it looks like the budget passage saga has been fully dealt with, the more and wider the controversy rages.
Buhari insists on scrutinising the budget without putting a time lag on when he would finish, and the public is being fed with the conundrum of the Calabar-Lagos railway project, the latest in the controversies over the budget.
The bone of contention is whether the project was submitted to the NASS along with other capital projects.
The Senate has denied that the project, estimated to cost N60 billion, was included in the budget by the Transport Ministry.
Senate Media and Publicity Committee Chairman, Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi, spoke for the Senate leadership, and Land Transport Committee Chairman, Gbenga Ashafa, corroborated his views, stressing that Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, corrected the omission during the budget defence.
Sabi said: “This latest antics of this particular Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is reckless, uncalled for and dangerously divisive.
“Apart from setting the people of the Southern part of the country against their Northern compatriots, it potentially sets the people against their lawmakers from the concerned constituencies and sets the lawmakers against themselves.
“Reprehensible mischief has no place in a democracy. We hereby demand from Amaechi a publicly tendered apology if he is not able to show evidence that the Calabar-Lagos rail project was included in the budget. Otherwise, he should resign forthwith.”
From all indications, those who ought to have included the Calabar-Lagos railway project in the budget for appropriation did not do so. Perhaps they forgot due to how the document was shoved around between the NASS and the Presidency.
Going by the time so far wasted on the 2016 budget, one may as well agree with the NASS which accused the executive of incompetence.
Rather than revel in another bout of controversy, the executive should be more concerned about the time it has taken to get an Appropriation Bill signed into law.
There is nothing the government wants to tell Nigerians about the NASS and budget padding that is new.
Buhari and his government will be wasting our time dwelling on the padded budget by the NASS when the public knows that the lawmakers always do so in connivance with other arms of government, the executive in particular.
Views canvassing for Amaechi’s resignation for being mischievous over the project may not be founded.
If he is the minister of transport, who is the minister of state (if there is one for that ministry) who is supposed to assist in matters of this nature given how busy the substantive minister ought to be?
Besides, how come nobody is focusing attention on the career civil servants responsible for packaging the ministry’s budget? Or is the minister no longer supposed to rely on them and consultants not withstanding that the ball stops at his table?
If the inclusion of the Calabar-Lagos railway project escaped Amaechi due to work load, how come his key lieutenants, the civil servants who probably saw the omission, looked the other way?
What exactly did they brief him on regarding what they saw in the budget proposal for the ministry?
If mischief was intended here, rather than Amaechi as the NASS and his political traducers believe, it was hatched by civil servants in the Transport Ministry who must have assured him that everything was in place.
Another possibility is that the bulk of the civil servants must have been taking a second briefing from someone else rather than Amaechi and that could be political, ethnic or what have you.
It is easy for those versed in mischief making to resort to matters like this to undermine a minister they think is becoming powerful or close to the president, if they do not like his face.
Who knows what their relationship with Amaechi who is fighting several battles, national, state and local government is?
Therefore, Amaechi’s “desperation” or insistence on having the Calabar-Lagos railway project appropriated by the NASS must be understood from the point of view of its economic relevance to the country in general and the zone where the project will crisscross in particular.
Though public opinion is that the executive is pursuing campaigns of calumny against the NASS, particularly the Senate, in a most dangerous hide and seek game, that is not enough to throw away the baby with the bath water.
The question is, whether our failure to do the right thing is enough reason for us not to do it at all?
Yes, Buhari has had cause to make amends in the budget, who says he cannot continue to tinker with it to accommodate projects that are dear to his heart and would impact the public positively?
I agree that rather than resorting to baseless calumniating, a tactic of members of the executive, they should spare a thought on what the standard of living of Nigerians is a month into one full year they voted for change.
The NASS, the Presidency and Amaechi will not gain anything by not finding a common ground to deal with the Calabar-Lagos railway project.
But they will gain everything if it is accommodated whether in the already passed budget or in the supplementary budget if Buhari takes the window of opportunity the Senate has offered, which is constitutional.
Or are we saying that constitutional provision on supplementary budget is in vain?
After a closed-door session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 12, Sabi reiterated that the way forward is for the executive to submit a supplementary budget.
“That the Calabar-Lagos project was not in the budget does not undermine its importance. The National Assembly is open; whenever the executive brings the supplementary budget regarding the project, it will be honoured ….
“We know it is an important project and we are ready to honour it. The way forward is that we have passed budget, and we are saying bring a supplementary Appropriation Bill,” Sabi said.