Confab wants government shut down for budget impasse

Delegates at the national confab ongoing in Abuja on Thursday resolved that the operations of the government should be shut down in situations where either the president or the national assembly fails to meet preset timelines for the passage of the appropriation bill.

The delegates therefore recommended the amendment of Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution — which deals with authorisation of expenditure in default of appropriation — to stop any expenditure by government when budget is not passed within established timelines.

This was one of the decisions of the delegates, who were rounding off debate and adoption of resolutions on the Report of the Committee on Public Service, chaired by Engineer Ebele Okeke.

Earlier, the confab had agreed that appropriation bill for the coming year must be presented to the national assembly on or before September 30 of every year, while the process of passage by the national assembly must be completed within two months for presidential assent in December.

As part of its recommendations, the committee had suggested the amendment of Section 59 (3) of the 1999 Constitution to include that where the national assembly fails to consider and pass the appropriation bill within the stated time frame, the bill shall be sent to Mr President for his/her assent.

They also recommended that failure to adhere to the time frame stated for the presentation of the appropriation bill shall form part of the definition of misconduct, as stated in Sections 142 (11) and 188 (11) respectively.

Finally, they recommended that in the event that the budget is not approved by the January 2, government should operate on the basis of 75 per cent of previous year’s budget as an interim measure to avoid shut down.

But delegates rejected all three, insisting that failure to meet the deadlines by either of the parties should result in a shutdown of government, as no expenditure would be allowed as contained in Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution.

They expressed serious concerns that the Executive and the Legislature seem unperturbed by delays in budget presentation and approval, saying that giving conditions in a situation of failure amounts to indulgence.

In the most recent example of the concerns of the delegates, the budget for the 2014 fiscal year was presented by minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, Okonjo-Iweala on December 19, 2013. The senate passed it on April 9, 2014.