The House of Representatives, on Thursday, condemned what it described as an over-bloated personnel cost in the 2024 budget.
The House therefore urged the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to summon ministries, departments, and agencies over the alleged over-bloated cost.
A member of the House, Sada Soli, drew the attention of his colleagues to what he described as the ‘over-bloated personnel cost’ of ministries, departments, and agencies in the budget cycles.
At the debate on the general principles of the 2024 budget on the floor of the House on Thursday, Soli, a member of the House of Representatives from Katsina State, described the budget as ‘unique’ in a number of ways.
Most importantly, he called on the House to take a close look at the excessive personnel cost of MDAs, saying, “Let the committees’ chairmen look at the issue of personnel cost because they are over-bloated.
“I know that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission used to summon agencies to come for audits on their personnel cost because it is over-bloated. This is very important and we need to look at it.”
He also spoke about the states and the Federal Government collaboration saying, “For the first time, I am hearing in the budget speech that the President is mentioning collaboration with subnationals.”
He added that such collaboration would encourage states to make adjustments to their budget peculiarities.
He further stressed that the National Assembly should pay attention to the procurement process, describing it as “too cumbersome” even as he urged the Federal Government to “clean up” the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.
The House commenced the debate on the N27.5tn 2024 budget on Thursday, preparatory to passage for second reading.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the budget, House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, commended the President for putting together what he called a holistic budget that was meant to cater for Nigerians of all walks of life.
He said, “In considering the budget of any nation or organisation, you must first consider a few principles. The first is what you have or what are you going to earn. The second is what are you going to spend?
“The third is how your budget did in the previous years. The fourth is what is the difference in this particular budget that you are presenting? And finally, there is the global, domestic, and sub-national context in which your budget is supposed to function.
“The budget drew our attention to the Renewed Hope Agenda so that we have a holistic understanding of where the President was coming from and where he intended to take Nigeria. The budget focused on fiscal challenges in the economy, and the need to tackle insecurity and expand the economic space.
“Special attention was given to education, which particularly made me very happy. The budget tends to look at strategic areas into which the budget will deploy resources.”
Speaking on the security mileage of the 2024 proposed budget, the House Leader said, “I cannot go to my constituency because of the dreaded Auchi-Benin expressway. There is no other way to get there (his village) because of security issues.
“And I am sure, we have moved motion upon motion on insecurity. And I believe that when security is properly tackled in this country, among other things, there will be an increase in the production of goods and services.
“Many businesses today close by 6pm because they are afraid that they will be raided. Many farmers do not go to their farms because of bandits, kidnappers, and assassins.
“Transporters have reduced their fleets to safe areas, similarly, because of insecurity. Even parents have withdrawn their kids from certain schools and are paying double the fees in certain areas that they consider to be safe. The focus of this budget on security as a prime area is a very positive move, for which we must give support.”
That said, Ihonvbere called on his colleagues to give the budget proposal an accelerated consideration.
On his part, a member representing Dambowa/Gwoza/Chibok Federal Constituency, Borno State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmadu Jaha, argued that the 2024 budget proposal was a demonstration of President Tinubu’s readiness to address the infrastructural challenges the nation had been battling for decades.
“By providing a substantial amount of money or a reasonable figure for capital projects shows that the government is serious about embarking on a series of developmental projects.
“As we are all aware, of all evils, unemployment is the worst because an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. By diversifying the economy, there is definitely going to be a development of our population which by extension will give our people a sense of belonging,” he added.
In his contribution, The House Committee Chairman on the Navy, Yusuf Gagdi, called on his colleagues to queue behind the President to realise the goal of his administration.
He said, “The President is ready for business. Our own is to provide robust oversight engagement. We must do this to ensure that we support Tinubu to deliver the dividends of good governance, otherwise, the expectation of Nigerians will not be satisfied.”
Gagdi who represents Kanke/Pankshin/Kanam Federal Constituency, Plateau State commended Tinubu’s prioritisation of capital projects, adding that for no reason should the country borrow to fund recurrent expenditure.
An opposition lawmaker, Isah Ali championed a different cause when he was given the floor to make his contribution. Ali, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party representing Balanga/Biliri Federal Constituency, Gombe State, argued that until the lives of Nigerians are touched positively by the budget, the allocations to sundry sectors make no real sense.
“I want to see a budget where Nigerians will have a sense of belonging. We, as lawmakers, must diligently scrutinise the budget because this is what is important. It is one thing to have a good budget, it is another thing to have it implemented. Let us ensure that at the end of the day, we will have at least 70-80 per cent implementation of the budget,” he advised.
In the upper legislative chamber, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, stated that the appropriation bill would be passed for a second reading on Friday.
The debate on general principles of the budget was led by the leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele ( APC Ekiti Central ).
He said. “The budget is still high on recurrent expenditure at 40% of the budget especially with a deficit of N9.8 trillion that has to be financed from borrowing.
“ The alternative which would be suicidal would be to cut expenditure and shrink the economy as it could lead to massive job loss.”
In his remarks after the debate, Akpabio said, “The budget will be passed for second reading on Friday this week after contributions from other Senators who have indicated interest to do so .”
