Money for consultancy, refreshment, others outrageous – CISLAC
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocate (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said yesterday that the amount set aside by the lawmakers for refreshment, consultancy as well as publicity and adverts, fuel and lubricants are outrageous.
He told our correspondent on phone last night that under the current situation Nigerians find themselves, there was no justification for the lawmakers to spend "huge sums on frivolities."
"We thank the National Assembly for answering the calls by Nigerians to make their budget open. How on earth can they say they want to spend over N2bn on fuel and lubricants when individual lawmakers have their vehicles? This shouldn't be, because even the remaining vehicles for the management can't consume such fuel.
"Again, when you look at the amount for publicity and advertisements, it is completely out of place. What kind of publicity or advertisements will they embark on? Also, look at the amount for refreshment. They want to send over N1bn on meals when Nigerians are in hunger and or hospitals have no equipment. In fact, both the Executive and the Legislature shouldn't spend any such money on publicity.
"The consultancy allocation is also funny. What do they have legislative aides for? What is NILS doing? Are they not supposed to tap from the rich experience of the institute and their legislative aides? With all of this, I don't think they have any moral justification to say the Executive shouldn't spend money.
"We support the National Assembly to have adequate fund, but we don't support extravagance," he said.
A member of Daily Trust Board of Economists and a senior lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Mallam Muttakah Usman said if government will fund agriculture, mining, SMEs, and manufacturing, the economy will pick as quick as possible because the money will remain in the system.
However, if the government will spend it on construction of airports, roads and railways the money will go to the foreign companies who will later repatriate same out of the country.
“So what we need to end recession is the money that will remain in the country not money that will leave the shores of the country,” he said.
He therefore urged the government to consider accessing the excess amount in the Treasury Single Account to boost lending to agriculture, mining and SMEs at very lower interest rates instead of stashing it in the CBN.
Prof. Uche Joe Uwaleke, Head of Department, Banking and Finance, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa state said: “I think the 2017 Appropriation Bill has been based on realistic benchmarks and assumptions especially with regard to Crude oil price at 44.5 dollars per barrel (the Executive had used 42.5 dollars per barrel) and oil output of 2.2 million barrels per day. Ditto for exchange rate of N305 to the dollar” he said.
According to him, “Except for Agriculture that got only about N91 billion capital allocation and a few other sectors, the sectoral allocations largely reflect government priorities consistent with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. Power, Works and Housing for instance got the largest share of capital expenditure with Transport also getting a substantial amount.”
The Executive Director of the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA)
Samson Itodo told Daily Trust that in as much as what the National Assembly passed may not be
what was expected from them, it is heart-warming to see them publishing the breakdown of their budget. “I call this the 1st level of budget breakdown. Our current budget management system is very poor. No nation succeeds with this model. We can't be passing 2017 budget in May 2017. It is simply ridiculous,” Itodo said.