- Solomon Ita-Enang debunked allegations by some lawmakers that the executive was underfunding the National Assembly 2018 budget to achieve a predetermined objective
- Ita-Enang, Senior special Assistant to the president on National Assembly matters, said the allegation was untrue
- The president’s aide maintained that he federal lawmakers remained the arm of government that had so far received the highest releases of the federal government
The presidency on Monday, December 31, said the allegations by some federal lawmakers that the executive was deliberately underfunding the National Assembly 2018 budget, in order to achieve a predetermined objective was not true.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Solomon Ita-Enang made this known in Abuja.
Ita-Enang noted that the federal lawmakers remained the arm of government that had so far received the highest releases of the federal government based on the revenue accruable to the federation account in 2018.
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The president’s aide advised the federal legislators against taking the issue too far because the percentage of the implementation of the National Assembly 2018 budget was the highest compared to other arms of government in the year.
According to him, “The 2018 budget was assented to in June 2018. We are just six months into the implementation of the budget. It is only the legislature that has been funded fully for the period. No other arm of government has enjoyed such funding. The executive respect and treasure the legislature.”
He also described as untrue, allegations by the federal legislators that the releases made available to them were based on the 2017 budget size of N125bn.
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He said: “The implementation of the National Assembly budget for the current fiscal year is not based on the 2017 Appropriation Act. It is based on that of 2018. What the executive is paying is based on what is realised from the revenue that is accrued to the nation.
“If they compare the percentage of their budget implementation to that of the executive, the judiciary and other agencies that are entitled to statutory transfers, the National Assembly is more favoured than other beneficiaries.”
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported the president of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, described the 2019 appropriation bill presented to a joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday, December 19, by President Muhammadu Buhari as hopeless.
Saraki, who spoke as the director general of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCCO) in Abuja, at a town hall meeting the party’s flagbearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), further argued that Nigerians were safer in 2015 than they are today.
According to Saraki, the budget presented by Buhari “has no future because the statistics do not indicate how it will be funded.”
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