Posted by From JAMES OJO, Abuja on
President Umaru Yar'Adua may have dumped the 2008 budget he assented to in April 2008. Yesterday, he forwarded a 592 page amendment bill to the National Assembly for passage into law.
President Umaru Yar'Adua may have dumped the 2008 budget he assented to in April 2008. Yesterday, he forwarded a 592 page amendment bill to the National Assembly for passage into law.
While the National Assembly passed the 2008 budget in February, the president only signed into law in April, after series of disagreement was resolved.
The amendment bill sent to the National Assembly almost removed additions made by the legislators into the original proposal, which was the reason for the late signing of the budget into law by the president.
A cursory look at the 592 pages amendment showed that the presidency slashed the amount passed into law in some sectors.
For instance, while the 2008 budget voted a sum of N199 billion as capital vote for the transport sector, the new amendment proposed by President Yar'Adua reduced it to N103 billion
The implication is that some of the roads earmarked for reconstruction in the 2008 would be skipped.
For the Federal Capital Territory Administration, (FCTA), the initial budget of N61bilion was slashed to N46 billion, while the budget for the National Sports Commission (NSC) was reduced to N7 billion from N10billion.
President Yar'Adua in the letter read on the floor of the House by Speaker Dimeji Bankole said the cut in the budget was in consistent with the seven-point agenda of his administration.
'Consistent with the seven-point agenda of our administration, the 2008 Appropriation Amendment Bill focuses on the provision of infrastructure, particularly in energy and transportation sectors, and the FCTA, as well as food security, defence and security," he noted.
The president told the lawmakers that the target of spending proposed would further stimulate economic growth and improve service delivery to the people, adding that within the context of a table macro-economic environment, the intention of government would be realized.