Newspaper review: Read the stern warning Senate gave Buhari over controversial budget

– The simmering feud between the presidency and National Assembly over the 2016 budget has blown open

– The Senate condemned the manner the presidency handled the budget, accusing it of trying to cover up its mistakes

– Report has it that the removal of the Lagos – Calabar rail project from budget was done partly to spite Rotimi Amaechi

– A top government official said the presidency has begun an investigation into the level of complicity of heads of parastatals and heads may roll

– The budget of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) was reportedly padded by over N4 billion, possibly to stop the bureau from prosecuting Saraki

Major Nigerian dailies are today, April 12, focused on the fresh controversy trailing the 2016 budget.

It came as a shock when report surfaced that the National Assembly had removed some capital projects including the Lagos to Calabar rail line from the budget and President Muhammadu Buhari refused signing the appropriation bill into law, claiming that the federal lawmakers had doctored it.

The Nation reports that the Senate has given a final warning to the presidency, advising it to come clean on the budget and stop trying to cover up its errors.

In a statement issued by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the chairman, Senate committee on media and public affairs, the Senate maintained that the said Lagos-Calabar rail project was not included in the budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

They challenged anyone who has any evidence to the contrary to present such to Nigerians.

The Senate said since the beginning of the 2016 budget process, they have been at the receiving end of all manners of falsehood and outright blackmail, deliberately aimed at poisoning the minds of the people against the institution of the National Assembly, warning the presidency that enough was enough.

“If the Presidency expects us to return the budget proposal without any adjustments, then some people must be living in a different era and probably have not come to terms with democracy,” the Senate added.

Daily Sun reports that the Senate also took a swipe at Rotimi Amaechi, the minister of transportation.

“The antics of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is reckless, uncalled for and dangerously divisive. Apart from setting the people of the southern part of the country against their northern compatriots, it potentially sets the people against their lawmakers from the concerned constituencies and sets the lawmakers against themselves. We, hereby, demand from Amaechi, a publicly tendered apology if he is not able to show evidence that the Lagos-Calabar road project was included in the budget. Otherwise, he should resign forthwith,” the Senate said.

The Red Chamber also called on the president to sign the 2016 budget without any further delay as every additional day that the president withholds his assent from the bill increases the hardship in the land, which is already becoming intolerable for the masses.

Vanguard reports that insights into how political infighting in the All Progressives Congress and ego by senior officials of the National Assembly led to the extraction of the Lagos – Calabar rail project and other key infrastructure projects of the administration from budget 2016 have been unveiled.

The chairmen of Senate and House of Representatives committees on appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin, were said to be at the centre of the controversy.

The two committees on land transport reportedly contained proposals for the Lagos – Calabar and Kaduna – Idu rail projects which were both removed by the committees of appropriation in both chambers.

A text message was purportedly sent to committee chairmen in the House of Representatives by Jibrin, asking them to defend whatever controversy could arise from the action in the media.

Report has it that besides geopolitical interests, the removal of the Lagos – Calabar rail project from budget 2016 was done partly to spite Amaechi supposedly for distancing himself from his former colleagues in the Senate, notably senators Bukola Saraki and Danjuma Goje.

Meanwhile, The Punch reports that the presidency has begun an investigation into the level of complicity of heads of parastatals, who are suspected to have colluded with the National Assembly to doctor the 2016 budget.

A top government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “Heads may roll because we see it as sabotage.”

According to the source, the executive arm of government was of the opinion that the budget passed by the National Assembly was meant to frustrate Buhari for his decision to be neutral in the current trial of Senate president, Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false declaration of assets.

The source said that investigations had revealed that many of the federal lawmakers were not involved in the production of the budget details presented to Buhari.

The source said it is dangerous for the president to sign the budget in its present state.

“The lawmakers may turn round later to accuse him of non-implementation of the budget and begin the process of removing him from office,” the source added.

The Guardian reports that the budget of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) was padded by over N4 billion while the recurrent expenditure was upped by another N224 million.

Some officials of the presidency suggested that the unsolicited increase of the CCB’s budget is an attempt to stop the bureau from involvement in the prosecution of Saraki over a corruption case.

The presidency has denied reports that the budget had been rejected by Buhari.

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