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From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, passed a Bill in which the implementation of the capital component of the 2020 Appropriation Act was extended to March 2021.
The Appropriation Act 2020 amendment Bill which was sponsored by Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, was based on an earlier request by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The passage of the Bill effectively altered the restoration of budgets’ life cycle from January to December, a development which the current National Assembly had always counted as its major achievement.
The Senate had to suspend Order 44 of its Standing Rule to pass the First, Second and Third readings of the Bill.
President Buhari had on Tuesday written to the National Assembly to demand a fresh review of the 2020 Appropriation Act.
Giving details of the President’s letter, Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, at a meeting with leadership of the National Assembly, particularly asked the National Assembly to extend the expiration date of the capital component of the 2020 budget.
Ahmed said the Federal Government wanted execution of capital projects in the Act, which were frustrated by the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to continue beyond the expiration date of the fiscal year on December 31.
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The National Assembly had returned the country to a January-December budget cycle with the 2020 Appropriation Act, making this year’s budget to expire on December 31, with the 2021 Appropriation Bill currently before the National Assembly expected to take effect from January 1.
Ahmed also cited difficulties in obtaining Certificates of No Objection from the Bureau for Public Procurement and the slowdown in implementation of capital projects by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
She noted that extending the expiration date of the capital component of the budget would enable government carry on with the implementation of the capital components of the budget beyond December 31, 2020.
She pointed out that if the date was not extended, the government would have to mop up all the funds meant for capital projects in the 2020 budget and return same to government treasury, warning that such would not be in the best interest of Nigerians.
Lamenting the collapse of the budget life cycle, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the restoration of the life cycle of the budget as achieved by the National Assembly early this year made it possible for the country as an economy to have least effect and impact of the complications of COVID-19 on the economy.
Meanwhile, the Senate also stepped down consideration of the Conference Committee Report 2021 – 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The request to step down consideration of the 2021 – 2023 MTEF report till today was moved by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi; and seconded by the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe.
