President Muhammadu Buhari |
The assent
which came more than forty days after it was first transmitted to the President
has, for now, taken attention away from the grossly outrageous anomalies that
bogged down the budget between the Executive and Legislative arms of
government, which lasted for nearly six months.
We must
learn our object lessons once and for all as we look forward to the next cycle
of budget preparation and processing. We must learn from the pitfalls of this
year and ensure we get it right from next year moving forward.
The APC
Federal Government now has enough time to put its acts together, working in
harmony with the two chambers of the National Assembly, to deliver good
governance devoid of the friction, scandals, tensions and groping for
direction, which characterised the past one year it assumed power.
The
distortions we experienced in the process of preparing the 2016 budget stemmed
mainly from the fact that the regime was new, and it did not have enough time
to harness all its organs as a ruling party. To make matters worse, President
Muhammadu Buhari was very slow in putting together his cabinet. He initially
dwelt heavily on the bureaucrats, and by the time the ministers had been
assembled in November 2015, there was little time for them to take charge and
curb the excesses of the entrenched interests of civil servants.
Nigerians
are willing to overlook this chaotic beginning, if only the situation will not
be repeated in the next three years they gave President Buhari to implement his
campaign promises.
Another area
the APC Federal Government must resolve before we embrace the next budget cycle
is the perennial power tussle between the Executive, which proposes the annual
Appropriation Bill, and the Legislative arm, which approves it for assent by
the President.
This problem
has always reared its ugly head every year under successive administrations.
After seventeen years of uninterrupted democracy, we should have been able
to overcome this problem. The Executive must be allowed to draw out and
implement the visions and missions of governance promised Nigerians. At the
same time, the National Assembly must be allowed to perform its legislative,
appropriation and oversight functions to ensure checks, balances and more
accountable governance.
Undue power
tussle between both arms always leads to avoidable waste of time and resources,
and this must stop. (Vanguard)
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