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The House of Representatives has warned Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government against tampering with the 2020 budget.
Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Muktar Aliyu Betara, said in a statement yesterday in Abuja that there were reports of some MDAs trying to adjust the budget to fit into the revised budget following the reduction of the 2020 budget from N10.59 trillion to N10.52 trillion as a result of revenue shortfall occasioned by the Covid 19 pandemic.
He said the National Assembly is the organ constitutionally empowered to tinker with the budget document, adding that the lawmakers would not condone the act of tampering with the document by any agency of government.
President Muhammadu Buhari had requested the National Assembly to consider and approve the revised budget in line with current reality occasioned by Covid 19.
Batera said no MDA has powers to tinker with the budget as only the National Assembly is statutorily empowered to review, adjust, consider and pass budget.
The statement reads: “There were reports that following the downward review of the budget from N10.59 trillion to N10.52 trillion due to the COVID-19 crisis and the dwindling oil prices, some MDAs were already adjusting the budget proposal to suit their needs.
“Such acts will not be condoned by the National Assembly as any MDA or official found to be engaged in such illegal practices will be made to face the music.
“I want to warn that no other arm or department of government has any power over budget, except the legislature which is the National Assembly. It is only the National Assembly that can review the budget and we have begun the process.
“I would like to refresh the memory of those erring MDAs or officers of the executive that sections 80- 84 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) confers appropriation powers on the parliament as well as its responsibilities over the national purse. So, nobody should engage any unlawful act concerning the budget”.
He said further that both the 1999 Constitution and Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 provide for no limitations on the National Assembly’s power to amend the Appropriations Bill.
According to him, “Section 80 (4) specifically provided that ‘no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly’, therefore, we shall not shirk our responsibilities and we will also not hesitate to wield the big stick on whoever goes beyond his brief to tamper with the budget”