The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has called on the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, to explain why his ministry has yet to submit the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) 2025-2027.
Section 11 (2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) mandates the Federal Government after consultation with states “not later than four months before the commencement of the next financial year, to prepare MTEF for the next three financial years”.
Section 14 of the same Act also mandates the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning to, before the end of the second quarter of each financial year, present the MTEF to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for consideration and endorsement.
Thereafter, the endorsed draft is sent to the National Assembly for approval.
The Guardian has reported that the delay in the submission of the document may have stalled the presentation of the 2025 budget.
CSJ in a statement signed by its Lead Director, Eze Onyekpere yesterday, said the MTEF 2025-2027 should have been endorsed by FEC at the end of June and presented to the National Assembly in August.
“However, the Minister is yet to prepare and present the MTEF 2025-2027 to the FEC or the National Assembly about seven weeks to the end of the year,” it said, adding that if MTEF is not ready, the budget estimates would not be ready.
Onyekpere said the failure is a gross violation of the unambiguous provisions of the FRA.
“It is a gross dereliction of duty on the part of the Minister. If the National Assembly had lived up to its duty of representing the interest of Nigerians, the executive should have been reminded, sanctioned and called to order,” he said.
“This process of ensuring the sanctity of the FRA and that it is obeyed to the letter should have been commenced by NASS immediately upon their return from their mid-year legislative vacation.
“By this dereliction of duty, the minister has already laid a solid foundation for the late consideration and passage of both the MTEF 2025-2027 and the 2025 federal budget and their subsequent haphazard implementation.
“This dereliction of duty also paves the way for the budgetary corruption involved in rushed approval and appropriation of funds where wholesale corruption will be cemented in votes that are illegal, inappropriate and wasteful. It also facilitates corrupt procurement and its associated scams to beat deadlines arising from late passage to late implementation of budgets,” the statement read.
