Nigeria’s president to present 2012 Budget 

President Goodluck Jonathan

Nigeria’s president to present 2012 Budget 
Latifat Afegbua, Abuja

Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, will on December 13 present the 2012 budget estimates to the joint session of the National Assembly.

This was contained in a letter sent by the President to both chambers of the National Assembly and read on the floor of the House by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.

President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to present an estimate of 4.8 trillion Naira 2012 budget to the National Assembly.

Unsolved issues

The expected presentation is coming amid unresolved issues on the propriety of the removal of the oil subsidy.

The House of Representatives had been vocal in its opposition to the removal of oil subsidy, while a cross section of eminent Nigerians had also kicked against the idea. The inability of the Presidency to secure the assurances of the National Assembly on its proposal to remove oil subsidy next year had earlier stalled presentation of the 2012 Appropriation Bill.

The new budget was scheduled to have been presented in the last week of November, but had to be shelved because of conflicting signals from the National Assembly.

To ensure that the budget gets a safe landing, last month, the Presidency embarked on a public relations blitz with the National Assembly after a similar meeting with all 145 committee chairmen in the NASS failed in October.

Another enlarged meeting of all the 469 members of the National Assembly ended in a deadlock as the House of Representatives seized control of the meeting and told the President to forget any idea of removing oil subsidy.

Thereafter, the Presidency opted for a phased consultation with the National Assembly. The first set of lawmakers to see the President were 16 led to the meeting by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, and were told that future meetings would also be in batches.”

It has, however, emerged that having failed to present the budget in November, the Presidency, in consultation with the leadership of the National Assembly and key chairmen of some committees had picked a tentative date of December 13.

A National Assembly source said: “For now, we have agreed that the President should present the budget on December 13, though the oil subsidy issue had not even been resolved.”

On the oil subsidy debacle, the National Assembly source confirmed that, there were still some consultations. In his words, “the matter is still there, that’s why it took them long to even contemplate bringing the budget.”

Barring any change, President Jonathan is expected to present a 4.8 trillion Naira budget with a revised oil benchmark of $70 and exchange rate of 155 Naira.

Medium Term Fiscal Framework

Senate spokesman, Enyinnaya told reporters after plenary that there might not be a way forward for the 2012 budget unless the Medium Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) was put in place.

The upper legislative chamber debated the MTFF for the first time on Tuesday, December 6; two months after the President forwarded the document to the National Assembly.
Senator Abaribe also explained that until the joint committee mandated by the Senate to work on the MTFF submitted its report to the whole house, there could be no budget.

He added that the new budget was part of the MTFF as well.

“We have just considered the Medium Term Fiscal Framework and once we pass it, after the committee that was referred to work on it brings the report back, that would give the basis for discussing the budget,” Abaribe stressed.

He stated further that the National Assembly had reached an agreement with the President not to work on one year, but for over a period of time, hence, why the issue of the Medium Term Fiscal Framework is important to the budget.

“You will recall that we are in agreement with the President to do things, not just for one year, but over a period of time and the MTFF is up to 2015.

“So, the budget will be a part of the framework. I believe that once the fiscal framework that will span for four years is put in place, we will then begin to talk about the budget. “We don’t have too much of a problem regarding it now because the underlying assumption for the budget is also the underlying assumption for the Medium Term Fiscal Framework,” said Abaribe

Williams