Nigeria’s 2016 budget fiasco seems to have taken another turn, after it appeared to be over. The National Assembly, after taking several weeks for the appropriation committees of both houses to agree on the budget, finally submitted the draft to the president, without the relevant details of the changes they made. President Buhari demanded for the details before he signed it into law, a demand that seemingly caused the National Assembly to fidget, asking for extra time to collate the details. They eventually re-submitted the budget last week, to the relief of Nigerians, however, news emerged yesterday suggesting that once again, the budget has been changed and padded, this time by members of the National Assembly.

Here is what we can deduce from the latest episode of the ‘2016 budget series’:

Ethnocentrism in the Nigerian National Assembly?

Yesterday, the media was abuzz with news that the National Assembly, through its Budget Appropriation Committee had re-allocated money from one MDA to another in the budget or within MDAs, especially in the Ministry of Transport. Budget allocation for the construction of a railway that would link the south-east and south-south states of Nigeria through Calabar city to the commercial hub, Lagos, was diverted to another rail construction project, one linking Lagos to the northern commercial capital of Kano state.

According to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Dogara and Abdulmumin Jibrin, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, no part of the budget included the Lagos-Calabar railway project. However, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, claims that the federal government actually made provisions for the rail project and it is surprising that it was not in the bill submitted to the president. Who is at fault here, the Executive or the distinguished members of parliament?

Does the National Assembly have the authority to make changes to the budget WITHOUT the permission of the Executive?

Yes it does, according to a 2012 report by Ekeocha Chukwuemeka, a fellow at the National Institute of Legislative Studies in Abuja, Nigeria. The preparation of the budget is a shared responsibility of the Executive and Legislative arms of government. Nigeria’s budget, unlike company budgets, is the Appropriation Act and hence, behooves the National Assembly to check assiduously, especially the expenditures which the Federal Government has to defend.

“The budget, which is officially referred to as the Appropriation Act, is introduced by the Executive, approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the President.”

But like every bill, the Budget Appropriation bill/act, after deliberation by the National Assembly has to be scrutinized by the president before it is signed into law. The Appropriation committees in both houses recommend changes, which might take the form of “allocating, re-allocating, removing, adding, increasing, reducing or retaining revenue and expenditure heads” then they forward these changes to the president to sign, with the details.

While the NASS has the powers to allocate, re-allocate, remove, add, increase, reduce or retain revenue & expenditure heads…

— Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 11, 2016

However, it seems the National Assembly tried to blindside the president by forwarding the budget to him to sign into law without the relevant details. By doing so, they deny the Executive its responsibility of communicating its displeasure or approval of the changes made to the allocations in the budget back to the National Assembly within the customary 30-day-period. Although it looks like the Nigerian Senate has done no wrong with re-allocation, do they really have an ulterior motive concerning this 2016 budget? Also, did Nigerians elect a group of competent people into parliament?

The Executive seems to ‘not know’ what it is doing

How can we leave out the unprofessional behaviour of the presidency? The media silence by Nigeria’s Minister for Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, is disturbing. Perhaps he ‘knows not what he is doing,’ and is dancing to the tune of his pied piper, President Buhari. Buhari’s apparent inexperience in budget matters, as shown by his actions since he went into the National Assembly to announce it last year, brings us to one conclusion; the National Assembly and the Executive lack effective coordination.

Nigeria’s budget implementation get as e be this year. Abeg if you ask us now, na who we go ask?