Transparency and accountability are the hallmarks of good governance. Unfortunately, these are threatened in Nigeria by the approval and execution of many years’ budgets in one year.  AZIMAZI MOMOH JIMOH reports that the two chambers of the National Assembly are receiving knocks for approving the running of multiple budgets concurrently just to satisfy requests by the executive arm of government.

ONE of the crucial functions of the National Assembly is appropriation of funds for the running of government. It is settled that “Appropriation is one of the key components of legislative oversight, which earns the legislature power of the purse.”

However, stakeholders believe lapses or failures in the process of budgeting or appropriation should be blamed on the National Assembly because, as stated in Section 81(4) of the constitution, “No money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.”
The country’s apex lawmaking organ also has a duty to ensure strict application of fiscal integrity, which dictates that the government and all its organs and agencies comply with financial management, accounting and auditing. It is also to report procedures and facilities management procedures as required by state and federal laws and regulations in a forthright and timely manner.

Consequently, analysts have pointed out that running the budgets for different years, whether three or four years in the same year, is tardy and difficult to justify. It will likely create confusion, limit transparency and narrow the execution bandwidth.
It has equally been argued that the development, unwittingly, reveals that the government is still struggling with the basics of diligent planning and implementation.

A former House of Representatives member and Chairman of the Committee on Privatisation, Tajudeen Yusuf, expressed concerns over the decline in the quality of representation in the National Assembly, a development he noted has affected the value of governance to Nigerians.

“For me, the 10th Assembly is not what it should be because of the manner in which it came, and it is unfortunate. The quality of men and women who are being recruited from Nigerian society reflects where we are as a people. They didn’t come from Ghana; they are Nigerians. So, the quality of representation has been on the decline because those who are coming are ill-equipped.”

The Labour Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, described the implementation of four national budgets running concurrently as a recipe for chaos and frivolity.
He added that it was a flagrant disregard for fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability.
According to him, “All available evidence has confirmed that the Nigerian government was implementing four national budgets concurrently. “This intentional action will lead to frivolous items in the approved budgets competing with essential projects for limited resources, further exacerbating the suffering of the Nigerian people.

“It also indicates that the leaders are out of touch with reality and lack the competence to manage our country’s finances effectively. Unfortunately, this deliberate act of fiscal recklessness is being undertaken by elected representatives of the people, thereby betraying one of the cardinal pillars of democracy. Leaders are elected to responsibly manage public resources in an organised manner. I respectfully appeal and, in fact, demand that this situation be reversed immediately in preference for a more responsible and transparent approach to budgeting. We must prioritise the needs of Nigerians, not the selfish interests of a few.

While Obi insists on a nation governed by leaders who are frugal and responsible in their handling of public resources, the Country Director, BudgIT, Gabriel Okeowo, described as a serious anomaly, the simultaneous implementation of four budgets in the country.

According to him, standard practice should be that projects not catered for within a fiscal year are rolled over to the budget of a new fiscal year. This has been done by previous sessions of the National Assembly. So, why the sudden change of practice? He asked.
A framework for inclusive budgeting adopted at an international seminar organised by the National Assembly in August 2009 clearly pledged commitment to participation, transparency and accountable governance at the highest levels of political leadership, and to address the barriers of extreme hierarchy and top-down power at all levels of society.
It also made a commitment to wage war on corruption at all levels and ensure that budgets are explicit and formulated in a manner that addresses the well-being of Nigerians.

By giving its consent to multiple budgets within one year, the National Assembly also shot itself in the foot by taking an action that negates its decades of efforts to strengthen the country’s budgeting process in such a manner as to promote good governance.
The failure to mete out sanctions against indiscipline in the management of N107 trillion loans so far approved for good governance has increased the country’s economic woes.
The 1999 Constitution that empowers the National Assembly to scrutinise and approve loans for the federal government also empowers it to investigate and sanction cases of mismanagement of such loans.
But for over two decades, the two chambers have been struggling to enact a law to establish the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO).

The Senate Leader, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (APC: Ekiti), while re-presenting the NABRO bill last year, informed lawmakers that the bill sought to create an independent institution with the responsibility of providing a comprehensive analysis and research support related to fiscal matters and budgetary decisions to the National Assembly.
Bamidele explained that the intended goal of NABRO was to provide the National Assembly with a non-partisan analysis of budget proposals, research, economic and fiscal matters, and support lawmakers in their legislative duties concerning budgetary and economic processes.
In December 2023, both Chambers of the National Assembly extended the implementation period for the capital component of the budget from December 31, 2023, to March 31, 2024, along with the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget passed in November 2023.

Last March, following requests made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, both chambers extended the implementation period for the budgetary appropriations from March 31 to June 30.
With just four days remaining until the June 30 deadline for the affected 2023 budgetary appropriations, the two chambers cut short their recess to hold separate sessions to consider further extensions ahead of their previously set resumption date of July 2.

Meanwhile, the 2024 appropriation of N27.8 billion was also running amidst all the extensions, while President Tinubu was already drafting the supplementary budget 2024 for transmission to the National Assembly.
Experts have continued to voice their observations about the danger in the practice of implementing four budgets concurrently.

The principle of checks and balances presupposes that even if the Presidency insists on doing the wrong thing to the financial system, the legislature, which is constitutionally empowered to prescribe how monies are spent, should rise to the occasion and call the executive to order.
Observers of operations in the National Assembly believe that the current set of legislators has taken the idea of collaboration between the executive and legislature to a destructive level.
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), an NGO with a special interest in strengthening the legislature through advocacy, lamented that through the commercialisation of votes and other forms of election manipulation, the wrong people who do not have a thorough grasp of the concept of people’s representation were always elected into parliaments across the country hence the compromise of people’s interests by the National Assembly.

Its Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, observed that excessive and unquenchable greed by politicians has put the interest of ordinary Nigerians in jeopardy.

“For now, forget it. There is nothing like legislators representing their constituencies. They are taking instructions from the executive; that is very overwhelming. They cannot resist anything. If any of the legislators speaks on the contrary, he would be banned or even suspended. So, it is a conquered legislature.
Only through good, transparent, accountable and responsible governance can we get ourselves out of this quagmire,” he added.

In his reaction, the national coordinator of the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, alleged that the National Assembly lost its moral voice the moment it received exotic Sport Utility Vehicles from the executive arm of government.

“The National Assembly is responsible for approving all the draconian policies that have been churned out by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), including the floating of the naira. This led to the weakening of the purchasing power of the national currency, and the immediate implication is multidimensional poverty occasioned by an increase in prices of items and essential commodities.

It must also be stated that this confusing multiple budget approach is a travesty of decisions and traditions, which the National Assembly itself had instituted and operated for a long time.