The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, has said the National Assembly is empowered by the Constitution to make input into the budget proposal by the executive.
Mr Bagudu stated this on Thursday during a press briefing on the controversy surrounding alleged budget padding by the National Assembly.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported the storms that the allegation of budget padding was generating following an interview granted to BBC by Abdul Ningi, a senator from Bauchi State.
Mr Ningi, who was suspended by his colleagues on Tuesday, alleged an “unprecedented” level of insertion of projects into the 2024 budget by the lawmakers.
Speaking on the uproar over the padding allegation, Mr Bagudu, who is also a former senator, said there is nothing new about lawmakers inputting projects into the proposed budget. He explained that a past administration had approached the Supreme Court for an interpretation of the Constitution on the matter, however, it was later settled out of court.
“There has been a long debate and a former President went up to the Supreme Court to define the appropriation power of the executive and the National Assembly.
“Later, there was an out-of-court settlement. Till now, this issue has not been resolved. So, what is the power of the National Assembly as regards the budget? There is no Supreme Court judgment and the choice of our democracy is that the National Assembly has the last word. Even when they pass an appropriation that assent is refused, after 30 days it becomes law,” Mr Bagudu said.
Speaking further, Mr Bagudu said the lawmakers already exercised the power to make input into the budget by increasing the proposed budget from N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion.
“The president submitted a budget to the tune of N27.5 trn and the National Assembly, in its wisdom, increased it to N28.7 trn. When we presented the budget, it was at an exchange rate of N750 to a dollar but the Assembly increased it to N800 to a dollar. That created more revenue.
“The Assembly also appropriated that the Government Owned Enterprises contribute more revenue. Then there was the increase of the budget of the judiciary, legislature and executive,” he said.
ALSO READ: Alleged Budget Padding: Senate explains N3trn provision, denies N500mn constituency fund
The minister claimed that President Tinubu acknowledged this power when he was signing the 2024 budget into law.
“The President in signing the 2024 Appropriation Act acknowledged that in democracy, institutions have their power and the National Assembly has the last word.
“The evolution of constituency projects and projects by National Assembly members, which did not begin now but since 1999, is a reflection of the challenge that elected persons are facing,” he said.
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