The Senate on Wednesday considered a bill to modify the 2022 budget.
The amendment in the bill is to make a provision of N106.1 billion for capital spending and N43.9 billion for recurrent spending, without increasing the budget deficit.
The bill, sponsored by Senate Leader Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), went to second reading.
President Muhammadu Buharihad explained in February the need to eliminate all capital projects that were replicated in the 2022 Appropriation Law.
It revealed that 139 of the 254 projects in the budget totaling N13.24 billion had been identified for elimination. He requested that the National Assembly allocate an additional provision of N2.557 billion to finance the gasoline subsidy in the 2022 budget framework, which was revised to fully provide the PMS subsidy.
Mr. Buhari also requested the National Assembly to reinstate four capital projects totaling N1.4 billion in the executive proposal of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources; and N22 billion cut from the provision for the Sinking Fund to withdraw overdue loans necessary to meet the government’s obligations under Bonds Already Issued.
The bill had been considered and passed when Nigerien Senator Binos Yaroe raised a point of order drawing the Senate’s attention to the fact that he and other lawmakers do not have a copy of the bill they have just considered.
He also accused Senate President Ahmad Lawan of ‘thwarting’ his opinion by approving the bill before allowing him to raise his point of order.
“We’re supposed to have a copy of the bill, according to our Standing Rule, study it before considering it.
“The bill was read for the first time yesterday. And I was here and I don’t have a copy of the bill.
“How can we amend the bill if we haven’t received it?”
He was quickly interrupted by Mr. Lawan, who asked the Senate leader for an explanation.
In his reaction, Abdullahi explained that the legislation came in the form of a letter from the president and contained all the details.
These details, he said, were contained in the previous session’s votes and procedures that he hoped the entire Senate would have studied before the second reading.
“The letter was in the voting and processing. It was not a substantive bill, it was a letter.
“We took note of the content of that letter and drafted it into an amendment bill that will now go to the Appropriations Committee for further work… They don’t come in the form of a substantive bill.
“I listed the areas that the Executive complained about and requested the intervention of the Senate. We are now alerting the committee to investigate those areas,” he said.
Thereafter, Mr. Lawan asked his colleagues (who are not part of the committee) “to trust that the panel will do a good and thorough job.”
Deliberation
Leading the debate, Mr. Abdullahi highlighted the key points of the amendment to include 11 areas, such as funding to cushion the impacts of the recent suspension of the removal of the Petroleum Motor Spirit subsidy; and address the adverse implications that some changes made to the 2022 Appropriation Act could have for the successful implementation of the budget.
Others include: Restoring provisions made for several key projects in the 2022 budget proposal to ensure that critical projects that are cardinal to the administration are implemented and to ensure that those nearing completion do not suffer setbacks due to reduced funds and the reinstatement of the N25.18 million cut from the provision for the Electricity Sector Reform Program.
Some other areas are: reinstate the four Capital Projects totaling N1.42 billion in the Executive Proposal for the Federal Ministry of Water Resources; restore the N3 billion cut from the provision made for the payment of most of the long outstanding Local Contractor Debts; and the transfer of National Assembly expenses totaling N16.59 billion in the Broad Vote Statutory Transfer of Service provision to the National Assembly.
The amendment, he said, seeks to reinstate the cut of N22.0 billion of the provision for the Sinking Fund to withdraw Past Due Loans; reinstatement of cuts made to the provisions for the recurrent expenses of the Nigerian Foreign Missions; reinstatement of reductions in provisions for allowances payable to personnel of the Nigerian Navy and Police Formations and Commands; and removal of all capital projects that were replicated in the 2022 Appropriation Act; following the identification of 139 out of 254 such projects totaling N3.24 billion for removal from the budget.
In his contribution, Gabriel Suswam (PDP, Benue) lamented the high fiscal spending in the 2022 budget.
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“Tax expenditures are exemptions granted to natural or legal persons. If you look at fiscal spending in 2022, it’s about N1 trillion and totally unnecessary.
“It’s not just what the president has sent here, let’s consider those areas that can help them save money, because we might decide to cut those tax expenditures,” he said.
After the second reading, the bill was referred to the Appropriations Committee to continue its work.
The Committee was given a week to report back to the House in plenary session.