National Assembly to Veto Budget as Presidency’s 30 Days Expire

The National Assembly might be flexing  its muscles really soon as it is about to make good its threat to the presidency following the expiration of the 30-day constitutional window which requires President Muhammadu Buhari  to sign the budget bill within 30 days of receiving it or have his veto overridden if the budget remains unsigned.

Legislators had dismissed the option of a supplementary budget and claimed the budget with the President cannot be rewritten under the law.

The Nation’s legislative arm is embroiled in crisis which stemmed from the election of  Senator Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy President of the Senate.  The lawmakers had suggested that the president sign the budget presented to him on March 23  and forward an amendment bill on the 2016 appropriation bill to take care of the critical projects such as the Calabar – Lagos rail line, which was  removed by the Senate and House Committees on Appropriation, led by Senator Danjuma Goje and Abdulmmumin Jibrin respectively.

Vanguard is reporting that  the 2016 Budget which is at an impasse is further worsened by the provision of the constitution which does not provide a leeway for rewriting a budget that had already been passed and gives the President a maximum of 30 days to give his assent to the budget bill.

Section 59(4) of the Constitution states thus: “Where the President, within 30 days after the presentation of the bill to him, fails to signify his assent or where he withholds assent, then the bill shall again be presented to the National Assembly sitting at a joint meeting, and if passed by two-thirds majority of members of both houses at such joint meeting, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

Sources disclosed that a meeting which was to hold this weekend between the Presidency and the National Assembly leadership to address the concerns of both arms of government, did not hold. The essence was to make the President realise that the only option available to him was to sign the budget and forward an amendment bill.

“There is no provision in the constitution that would allow us to incorporate those projects again,” a very senior legislator told Vanguard. “A supplementary budget is only proposed when there is a shortfall in revenue for a project, but what is workable in this case is for the President to sign the budget as sent to him and then send an amendment bill to the 2016 Appropriation Bill to address areas of concern to him,” another source said. “You can see that there are no other legal options available to get out of this situation,” he disclosed.

Yesterday at the launch  of the book, “Each Man, His Time: The Biography of an Era” by former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh in Nasarawa State, Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, noted that change was not feasible now because the country is still being run with the 2015 budget prepared by the former government of PDP. According to him, change cannot come, if the All Progressives Congress, APC, is not using the 2016 budget which must be signed and implemented by the federal government. He said:  “Change won’t come until the 2016 budget is signed. What we are using now is the 2015 budget which was not done by us. Our President has restored our image to the position of repute, so let’s support him.”
Source: Vangaurd