Senate Awaits C’ttee Report on ‘Missing’ Budget Thursday

Chairman, Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe
 

• Speaker, Senate spokesman insist it's not missing

Omololu Ogunmade and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

After denials by the National Assembly and presidency that the 2016 Appropriation Bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 22, 2015 was not missing, the Senate more or less admitted wednesday that the document was withdrawn without its knowledge.

Consequently, it is awaiting the report of its ad hoc committee set up to unravel the mystery behind its disappearance.

The report of the committee is to be deliberated at a closed-door session of the Senate thursday.

The disclosure followed a point of order raised by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, when he demanded the whereabouts of the budget.

Abaribe had raised Order 42(1) of the Senate Standing Rules which borders on matters of urgent public importance and confirmed that the matter of the missing budget was the thrust of the Senate’s closed-door session which lasted for 90 minutes on Tuesday.

According to Abaribe, senators had been inundated with calls from their constituents, requesting the whereabouts of the budget, adding that he and some of his colleagues were concerned about the whereabouts of the budget.

Abaribe’s point of order contrasted with the announcement made earlier by Senate President Bukola Saraki that copies of the budget would be circulated to senators wednesday.

Abaribe said: “The matter that I refer to is what is in every newspaper today and everywhere on all the talk shows on radio of a missing budget and therefore Mr. President, I want to bring to your attention and all my colleagues that yesterday in our closed-door session, this matter also came up and some of us who were worried.

“We were also inundated by messages from our constituents who are really worried about what their fate will be in 2016 and are asking us ‘where is our budget?’ That is why Mr. President, I think it is definite and it is urgent that we look into this matter.”

Abaribe’s point of order validated the claim that the budget was missing, but was strenuously denied by the Senate, House of Representatives, presidency, and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, on Tuesday.

But Saraki, in his reaction to the point of order, only confirmed THISDAY’s exclusive report yesterday that the matter of the missing budget had been referred at the closed-door session of Tuesday to the committee for investigation.

Saraki, who initially said he took exception to Abaribe’s point of order, perhaps because he did not discuss it with him, as is usually the case before raising it on the floor of the chamber, asked Abaribe to wait for the presentation of the report of the committee saddled with the responsibility of probing the “missing” budget thursday.

According to Saraki, the report of the committee would be considered at another closed-door session thursday.

“Because of the importance of this, I will take an exception. You know we were all part of the decision at the closed-door session yesterday and part of that decision is we are still waiting for those we have referred to carry out the assignment to come back to us.

“I think they will come back to us by thursday and we will go into a closed-door session and finish up the report and we will be able to debate it properly,” he said.

Abaribe’s point of order confirmed that the budget was indeed missing. His revelation also put a lie to Senate Leader Ali Ndume’s statement on Tuesday when he insisted during a phone conversation with THISDAY that the budget was not missing.

He also denied that there was a discussion on the missing budget during the closed-door session of the Senate.

However, THISDAY’s exclusive report yesterday that the budget was secretly removed from the Senate by the president’s aide on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, was confirmed by another senator who did not want to be named.

The senator said Enang withdrew the budget on the order of the presidency, adding that it was released to the presidential aide by the acting Senate Clerk, Mr. Nelson Ayewoh.

The source said neither the Senate President nor the Clerk of the National Assembly was aware of its withdrawal.
He explained further that Enang took the document on the order of the presidency during the Christmas break with the aim of swapping it with a new one but time ran out on the executive.

The development was said to have come as a shock to the Senate President whom the source said came to the National Assembly on Monday only to discover that the budget was no where to be seen.

He was said to have invited the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, to inquire about the budget.

THISDAY was also reliably informed that both Enang and Senator Udo Udoma who had vehemently denied that the budget was missing were at the Maitama, Abuja home of Saraki at 8 am wednesday to apologise to him over the mysterious disappearance of the budget.

However, barely three hours after the Senate President announced at the Senate plenary that the panel set up to investigate the “missing” budget was yet to submit its report, the Chairman, Senate Committee, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, at a press conference yesterday said the budget was not missing.

According to Abdullahi, no statement made by any senator during the plenary yesterday could be interpreted to mean an admission that the 2016 budget was missing.

Insisting that the budget was not missing, he added that the Senate would today distribute copies of the budget to all the senators so as to enable them properly contribute to the debate which would take place between Tuesday, January 19 and Thursday, January 21 on the Appropriation Bill.

He said all senators had confirmed that they would make contributions to the debate on the budget.

The Senate spokesman explained that during yesterday’s plenary when Senator Abaribe sought for clarification on stories in the media that the 2016 budget submitted to the Senate was missing and sought to get an update on the issue, the Senate President replied that the issue he (Abaribe) mentioned and all issues emanating from the executive session were being looked into by the ad hoc committee and that all senators should wait for the committee to submit its report.

His said: “We have reeled out our timetable for working on the budget. So how can the same budget be missing? The Senate President never said or admitted that the budget is missing and there was nothing that he said while presiding over the plenary that could be logically interpreted to mean an admission that the budget is missing.

“The media should please avoid unnecessary sensationalism. We assure Nigerians that our timetable for completing work on the budget by February ending remains sacrosanct and we will work assiduously to achieve it.”

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives maintained its stance wednesday that the budget was not missing despite the revelation during the Senate plenary that it had been whisked away.

In an effort to reinforce its position, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori, displayed the document during plenary.

But it was believed that what was displayed were duplicate copies that the executive had delivered to the National Assembly before its withdrawal.

Over 400 of the duplicate copies were said to have been moved by the executive to the National Assembly before its removal by Enang.

After the document was displayed, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, announced that copies of the budget proposal were available for members to pick up at the secretariat of the House Committee on Appropriation.

The Speaker added that the document would only be given to legislative aides of members upon presentation of identification cards, even as he lamented the claim on the missing budget, saying it had led to allegations that the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly was broken into.

“None of their offices was broken into. But on social media, it is there that the budget was stolen and some newspapers also published that. It is necessary to clarify before going to press with such stories,” he said.

Speaking on the revelations made in the Senate, the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Orkev Jev, said the development over the budget proposal in the Senate had no implication on the House.

“Even if the budget is missing in the Senate, it has no implication for the House. The joint session of the National Assembly normally takes place in the green chambers for the simple reason that we have more room, so it took place here.

“The one document contained copies that were given to the Senate and the House of Representatives,” he said.

Jev added that if for any reason the Senate misplaced its own copy, they should have reached out to the Clerk of the National Assembly, who oversees both chambers, for a copy.

“That will not stop the commencement of consideration of the budget proposal next week as scheduled both in the House and Senate,” Jev said.
Also, the Chairman, House Committee, Media and Publicity, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, in a text message to THISDAY said both chambers would commence work on the budget.

“Our copy is not missing. We demonstrated that in the chamber today by publicly displaying the copies of the budget. As far as we are concerned, the National Assembly will do its constitutional duty by working on the budget,” Namdas said.