By EricJames Ochigbo
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the leadership of the National Assembly to stop the practice of approving special budget for government enterprises by committees of the parliament.
Buhari made the call when he presented the 2023 Appropriation Bill of N20.51 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly on Friday in Abuja.
The president recalled that the budget of Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) had been integrated into the 2019 budget submission.
According to him, this has helped to enhance the comprehensiveness and transparency of the Federal government budget.
Buhari, however, observed that some GOEs liaise directly with relevant committees of the parliament to have their budget passed and issued to them directly.
“I would like to implore the leadership of the National Assembly to ensure that the budget I lay here today, which includes those of the GOEs, be returned to the Presidency when passed.
“The current practice where some committees of the National Assembly purport to pass budgets for GOEs, which are at variance with the budgets sanctioned by me, and communicate such directly to agencies of government is against the rules and needs to stop.
The president also said that to ensure fiscal sustainability, government will further improve business-enabling environment, accelerate current revenue-based fiscal consolidation efforts and strengthen expenditure and debt management.
Buhari said that to support the realisation of fiscal projections, current tax and fiscal laws/regulations are being reviewed to produce a draft Finance Bill 2022.
“It is our intention that once ongoing consultations are completed, the Finance Bill 2022 would be submitted to the National Assembly to be considered alongside the 2023 Appropriation Bill,’’ he said. (NAN)
