Senators knock President, criticise UK medical trip

From Fred Itua, Abuja

There was a mild drama, yesterday, in the Senate during Day Two debate of the 2017 budget. Trouble started when former Senate Leader Ali Ndume raised a Point of Order to protest his exclusion from the list of lawmakers picked to speak on the budget. This is even as Senators knocked President Muhammadu Buhari’s N7.2 trillion budget.

Ndume, who was sacked over two weeks ago as Senate Leader by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Caucus, was overruled by Senate President Bukola Saraki.

“Mr. President, when you announced the debate of the budget, you asked us to write down our names. I wrote my name after Dino Melaye wrote his. I was prepared to speak, but I was surprised when you did not recognise me. I want to know why, Mr. President,” Ndume demanded.

Responding, Saraki said as the presiding officer, he reserves the right to recognise whoever he chooses to, maintaining that Ndume’s name was not listed. He said the list Ndume alluded to, was different from the list he was relying on.

He retorted: “I am the one controlling the affairs of the Senate. The list before me is the list I am following. I do not know the list you are talking about.”

When he was eventually recognised to speak, he condemned the secrecy associated with the budget of the Senate. He said lawmakers are not privy to its contents and called on Saraki, who doubles as Chairman of the National Assembly, to make it public.

He said: “We are here to pass the budget without seeing the details. This is a government of change and this must change. The details of the budget report should be considered holistically. Last year, we had several issues with the budget. In fact to some extent, it was very embarrassing.

Saraki, had in 2015, shortly after he was elected Senate President, promised to make details of the National Assembly budget public. In several fora, he re-echoed the same promise.

Senator Saraki has, however, not fulfilled his promise, despite the mounting pressure from civil society organisations and other interest groups who have often argued that the National Assembly budget is shrouded in secrecy.

Meanwhile, Senators have come hard on Buhari over what they described as the unrealistic projections made in the 2017 budget.

The lawmakers who spoke during the consideration of the budget, said it may be impossible for the Federal Government to get the projected borrowings to fund the budget, maintaining that similar projections which were made in 2016 did not come to fruition.

President Buhari had on December 14, 2016, presented a N7.298 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly. Tagged, ‘Budget of recovery’, he said his government was making more funds available for critical sectors of the economy.

In his contribution, Senator Albert Bassey Akpan, who chairs the Senate Committee on Gas, decried the borrowing plan of the Federal Government. He revealed that the deficit in the budget is the same as the amount budgeted for capital projects.

Senator Gbenga Ashafa urged his colleagues to examine the performance of the 2016 budget before they passed it.

He urged Buhari to disclose how much was recovered so far from looters. He said such disclosure would give Nigerians the clue as to what is happening in the country.

Senator Shehu Sani urged the Upper Chamber to reduce the defence budget, noting that since insurgency has been significantly curtailed, there was the need to divert defence funds to other sectors of the economy.

Senator Aliyu Wammako, a former governor of Sokoto State, said the budget failed to address the issue of diversification of the economy.

The debate ends today. It will be sent to relevant committees thereafter.