Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, yesterday, passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill, presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, last week, for second reading.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila referred the bill to the House Committee on Appropriations, with all the standing committees sub-committees.
Earlier, lawmakers, during the continued debate on the general principles, expressed divergent views with some of them urging the government to pay keen attention to job creation, infrastructural development among other measures that will stimulate the economy.
Bamidele Salam (PDP- Osun) in his contribution noted that the most pressing issue was job creation.
He said the level of unemployment, apart from being a security concern, was also a threat to democracy.
The lawmaker explained that the vision of the Federal Government to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years presupposed that 10 million citizens would be lifted out of poverty every year.
He said nothing suggested there was a tangible plan by the government to create 2 million jobs through the 2021 budget.
“The most important issue today in Nigeria is the need for us to work seriously on job creation. Unemployment has become a threat to our security and democracy. I’d you look at the budget, we are borrowing over N4 trillion to fund this budget. There is nothing that suggests that we can create 2million jobs.”
Chairman, House Committee on Loans, Treaties and Protocols, Ossai Nicholas Ossai, dismissed the 2021 Appropriation Bill as a “budget of hardship.”
“A lot of people describes this budget as a budget of recovery, but I see it as a budget of hardship, because the projected revenue is N7.8 trillion. We are servicing the 2020 at three point something trillion and in 2021 we are servicing at N4.2 trillion, is that a budget of recovery? That’s a budget of hardship.”
Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Babajimi Benson, decried the deficit of infrastructure, stating that all hands must be on deck to actualise plan to address the infrastructural challenges.
Similarly, Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli, commended plan by President Buhari to focus on the completion of ongoing projects in the 2021 fiscal year.
He, however, raised concerns about the cumbersome nature of the procurement process, stating that it must be addressed for the government objectives to be actualised.
“The budget must invest in our manpower. If don’t invest in our man power, we cannot be competitive.”
Nevertheless, the lawmaker expressed worry over the deficit in the 2021 budget, noting that it was inconsistent with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).