President Muhammadu Buhari last Wednesday presented a federal budget of N8.83 trillion for the 2019 fiscal year to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.
However, the budget presentation was marred with intermittent interruptions from lawmakers elected on the platforms of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and major opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
While the APC lawmakers cheered the president, their PDP counterparts booed him and sometimes questioned the sincerity of the figures and number of projects claimed to have been executed.
Embarrassed by their attitude, the president at a time paused his speech to address the lawmakers with a reminder that the world was watching their actions.
One of the opposition lawmakers who openly questioned the president while he read his budget in an exclusive interview with TNG said the motive behind their action was not to embarrass the president as supposed in some quarters, but to put the figures straight and bring to the president’s notice that most of the projects encapsulated in the budget as ‘completed’ were either at their conception stage or not even in existence at all.
TNG reports that aside from what played out during the budget presentation, Hon. Kingsley Chinda Ogundu, representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency of Rivers State (PDP) had also at different times criticized the president and even moved for his impeachment.
However, Chinda maintained that the interruptions was not strictly a PDP affair. He said aggrieved lawmakers from the president’s party (APC) also joined.
In his words: “In the House we have people who believed that the president be given another four years and we also have people who believed that we need a proper change.
When the president came in, rather than allow the normal process commence, he was cheered and he acknowledged it.
That was not the essence of his visit to the House. He shouldn’t have responded to the cheers especially after gaining access to the chambers.
So for those of us who does not believe in him, we had to tell him that we do not believe in him before he leaves with the impression that all is well.
When he was reading out the projects executed by his government, we had to say something because some of the projects were sited in our constituencies and we know that they have not been completed.
When he lists out these projects, you see clapping even from those who do not know where the projects are located.
What do you do? Do you keep quiet for the assumption that these projects had been completed?
What happened during the presentation was not intended to slight the office of the President, no Nigerian will want to do that, but the president must know the truth.
If you allow those cheers to go unchallenged, he would assumed that everything he said was the truth; he wouldn’t bother going back to see the project sites and conduct an on the spot assessment to get first hand information.
But going back, I’m sure he will call for a proper evidence to ensure that those things he read out are correct and he would then see the truth.”
The former Rivers commissioner noted further that aside from contesting the projects as embedded in the budget, the lawmakers also wanted a proper implementation of budgets and not just the yearly rituals of formal presentations.
“The essence of the protest was not what played out at the chambers; some of us felt that budget has become a ritual and that we wanted proper implementation of the budget.
The essence was to say look Mr President, the budget that was passed in 2018 has not being properly implemented.
The level of implementation is abysmally low and it is affecting us as representatives of the people.
When we go to our various constituencies, people want to see Federal Government presence, they do not want to know if it is APC or PDP.
They ask us for constituency projects and we cannot say anything because funds have not been released and local people do not know the grammar of releases not made.
These are the things that does not go down well with us as parliamentarians and these are the things that irritated us.
Budget implementation is very low, and once it is laid, people will start mounting pressure on the legislators forgetting that the lifespan of the 2018 budget runs till June.
The Executive will box us to the corner where it will be us and the people and these things are not good for any system. All arms has to be sincere, consider the challenges and problems and solve them and that is why we need a parliamentary system,” Chinda said making a case for return to parliamentary system of government.
The outspoken lawmaker said the people are fast to condemn the Legislature even when most of the implementing powers rest on the Executive. He noted that if Nigerians truly deserve change, the legislature is the only arm of government that can actualize it.
Hear him: “The National Assembly is the most criticized arm of government even when we stand with the people.
We do not have the resources to go into media war with the executive.
The Senate refused to approve a nominee from the president because of violation of the constitution but the same Nigerians were criticising the senate.
If we stop the budget of any MDA, the same Nigerians would say we want bribe or we are frustrating government.
If resolutions are passed, in other clans, it carries the force of law but in Nigeria, it is not the same way.
What do you want us to do when we have exercised all constitutional powers and we are completely ignored?
Some times, we are forced to look the other way when things go wrong because we have to thread gently owing to the countless cases of blackmail against lawmakers by the Executive.
Whenever we insisted on things being done according to law especially as it relates to the budget, we are blackmailed with budget padding and when it seems like the world is against us, sometimes we are left with no choice but to pass the budget ignoring the obvious inaccuracies.
The bill to introduce a parliamentary system of government was born out of the need for us to try something else because the cost of governance is high.
In the 2019 budget just presented, over 50 per cent is recurrent expenditure and we feel that if we look elsewhere to reduce recurrent expenditure, Nigerians will benefit more.
Parliamentary system of government would solve the constant friction between the Executive and the Legislature.
It would help check the issues of corruption since the Ministers will be part of the parliament and they would be made to account for their spendings.
The parliamentary system will ensure that the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary work on the same page.
Today if you ask some legislators of some government policies, it is difficult for them to clearly understand because the interface between the Executive and the Legislature is not as it should be.
The parliamentary system will iron out all these things and that is why we decided to introduce the bill for Nigerians to study it to see if it can help us address most of our challenges as a nation.”
Reacting to the controversial issue of emoluments of lawmakers, Chinda explained:
I am one and so it might be difficult for people to believe. However, I have worked as a commissioner before in the state Executive arm, what I earn today including the allowances is not higher than what I got as a commissioner.
So truly, if we want to do our job the way we should, what we are paid is not enough to do the job; look at the overhead in the legislature and that of the Executive, I do not think you can compare both, that of the Executive far outweighs that of the legislature.
They are different arms of government and they have their functions but I can tell you that in a democracy, the legislature is the most important arm.
If this country is to move forward, I keep saying that it is the legislature that will make this country move forward.
Every successful revolution in all countries of the world started from the parliament and that is why we are taking this leap of introducing the parliamentary system of government. It is a fundamental change but we must take the bull by the horn.
We must do things differently, we have practiced this presidential system and the criticism is endemic and I do not know if it is a culture of Nigerians but it is difficult for us to change.
We need to cause a fundamental change which is moving away from this very expensive system of government, I do not think Nigeria can bear it as it stands today.
No matter how much we try, we can get the most sincere person as the president but because of the system that we have put in place, it would be difficult to make any fundamental progress,” Chinda said.
