The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu
Dogara, on Thursday said that the National Assembly has powers to alter
national budget according to the desire of the citizens.
He stated this during plenary after Rep. Abubakar Lawal
(APC- Adamawa) drew the attention of the lower chamber to Acting President Yemi
Osinbajo’s remarks.
Osinbajo’s was reported in the media to have said that the
power of appropriation was vested with the executive.
According to Dogara, it is left to the judiciary to
interpret which arm of the government has the powers to alter the budget
according to the Constitution.
“This issue is left to the judiciary to interpret to us as
to what arm of government has power to do what. For me, this is not an issue we
should dwell so much on.
“I don’t want to believe that the Acting President made that
statement because when it comes to the budget, the power of the purse rests
with the parliament.
“The executive is just one man; every other person in the
executive arm is answerable to the president alone. The relationship is that of
master and servant, but for the parliament, it is that of equals.
“Even, when the president hasn’t said anything, everyone is
trying to read what the body language is; the basis of democracy is collaboration.
“In the case of the budget, if the parliament disagrees with
the executive, the worst that would happen is that they will refuse to sign the
budget.
“In that case, we can override the veto of the President and
pass it into law.
“The worse the Executive can say is that they will not
implement. The question then will be, is that the law of the land? Anyone with
honour, who is in the seat, should know the right thing to be done.
“In case of the executive, everyone knows the consequence
and I don’t want to mention it by its name.
“This house is not going to be a rubber stamp to the
executive arm.
“In the United States where we borrowed our Constitution
from, once the president walks into the chamber with the budget proposal, it
becomes dead on arrival.
“It is therefore what the parliament decides that brings it
back to life.
“The priority of the people may not be that of the
executive. This kind of talk is not helpful, so we shouldn’t even take a debate
on the issue,” Dogara said.
Earlier, mover of the motion, Lawal, stated that the acting
president’s speech had undermined the powers of the national assembly.
“I read in the media where the acting president was quoted
as saying that the national assembly does not have the powers to alter the
country’s budget.
“This will undermine the powers that sections 4, 5 and 9 of
the Constitution have given the National Assembly, the power to make laws.
“Order 12(19) spells out the procedure, so for someone to
come out and say that we have no power, it’s a breach of our privilege,’’ he
said.
Osibanjo had while signing the 2017 Appropriation Bill on
Monday stated that the alteration of the budget by the national assembly had
distorted the plans of the executive in implementing the 2017 budget.
(NAN)
