Stop Blaming Us For Your Failure, Speaker Dogara Fires Back At President Buhari

Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has
blasted President Muhammadu Buhari for always blaming people for
his personal failings.

Buhari, while speaking, on Monday in an interview broadcast on
the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA said “I asked them how they
felt to hold the country at ransom for seven months without passing
a budget. Unfortunately, they were not hurting me; they were
hurting the country. So, really, in terms of patriotism, I think I
rated them very low indeed.”

Reacting to the allegations in a statement on Tuesday, Dogara
said: “His first budget was the 2016 budget, which was submitted on
December 22, 2015, exactly nine days to the end of the fiscal
year.

“The minimum time the National Assembly requires to pass a
budget is three months. But he presented it just nine days to 2016’
and that ‘what Nigerians didn’t know and the President won’t say is
that the Executive through the various ministries continued to
propose additional projects to be included in the 2018 budget even
as at April and May which further delayed the passage of the 2018
budget. These were communicated officially and if anyone is in
doubt, the letters are there with the dates they were written and
received. But here’s Buhari blaming the National Assembly.’

“President Muhammadu Buhari a few days ago, in his usual
characteristics of self-righteousness, and buck-passing blamed
tardiness in the passage of budgets by the National Assembly for
the delay in the completion of projects across the country by his
government.

“To be precise, the president said, ‘If the National Assembly
takes seven months to pass a budget, then we should be commended
for the much that we have achieved, and can still achieve. I
personally feel very disappointed. I spoke with the leaders of the
National Assembly on the issue that seven months is a long time to
work on a budget.”

“Even though buck passing and blame game is not new to Buhari as
it is now his stock in trade; in the past few days and weeks, there
is no day that passes without the President blaming others in a
desperate move to exonerate himself from any blame or failure of
the Executive under his leadership to execute projects across the
country.

“In fact, very recently, Buhari blamed all his predecessors for
failing to build infrastructure. And I wonder why? It was the
general consensus that the former employees didn’t perform as
expected and that was why Nigerians hired him for a job he has
sought for four conservative times but here he is blaming the same
people he replaced. If you are the boss of ” Nigeria limited”, what
will you do this employee?

“Some weeks ago, he even blamed the media for failing to
showcase his achievements.

“I’m very disappointed with the Nigerian press. They didn’t give
this government the credit of the go back to the land programme,”
he said on 26 October. Time and space would not permit me to list
all his “blaming”.

“However, it is disingenuous for President Muhammad Buhari to
blame the National Assembly for his government’s inability to
implement budget and execute projects that affect the lives of
Nigerians in the last three years.

“To set the record straight, this is a President who, from the
inception of his government didn’t show any sign that he was well
prepared and ready for the job he sought for four times in 16 years
and for which we voted for him.

“For instance, it took him six months, yes six months not six
weeks to form his cabinet. It also took him two years to appoint
board chairmen for most government agencies. This is was his
greatest undoing and was principally responsible for plunging
Nigeria into recession because activities in Ministries,
Departments, and Agencies of government were brought to a half for
the period since civil servants could not take decisions due to the
absence of political heads in a country where public sector
spending drives the economy. At a point, he even said he was
happily working with civil servants because ministers or
politicians were noisemakers because “they are only there to make a
lot of noises”, he told a French television station in September
2015.

“Now, after three years, with the election in three months, the
President is at it again, exonerating himself from the apparent
failure of his government thereby throwing the blame right at the
doorstep of the legislature. But facts don’t lie and they could be
stubborn and here are the facts.

“Since his assuming office, the president has been unable to
present the budget on time. His first budget was the 2016 budget
which was submitted on December 22, 2015, exactly nine days to the
end of the fiscal year.

“The minimum the National Assembly requires to pass a budget is
three months. But he presented it just nine days to 2016.

“Again, the 2017 budget was presented on December 14, 2016, just
17 days to the end of 2016. ‘The earliest he presented budget was
on November 7, 2017, which was the 2018 appropriations bill. It was
less than two months to the end of the year.

“However, his ministers refused to appear before National
Assembly committees to defend the budget for five months thereby
delaying the passage.

“It was after the leadership of the National Assembly sought the
President’s intervention on March 16, 2018, that the ministers
reluctantly appeared before the committees, an exercise that takes
at least one month to complete.

“In fact, some of them who felt they were super ministers sent
in their permanent secretaries.

“What Nigerians didn’t know and the President won’t say is that
the Executive through the various ministries continued to propose
additional projects to be included in the 2018 budget even as at
April and May which further delayed the passage of the 2018 budget.
These were communicated officially and if anyone is in doubt the
letters are there with the dates they were written and received.
But here’s Buhari blaming the National Assembly.

“Violation of Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 ‘Since the
inception of the Buhari administration, it has been in constant
violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which stipulates that
budgets should be presented in early September. The wisdom or
import of the FRA is that the National Assembly will have at least
three full months to work on the budget bill.

“Intact, the Executive admitted its failure and inability to
abide by the law on August 24,2018 when former minister of Budget
and National Planning, now minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed
disclosed that the Federal government will present the 2019 budget
in September in a bid to restore the budget circle from January to
December but here we are in November without the budget estimates
before the lawmakers. See link
https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/fg-to-submit-2019-budget-in-september-267246.html.

“Buhari’s Failure/Refusal to assent to budget submission Bill
‘In a bid to address the issue of late budget presentation and
passage, the National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment
bill that requires the President to submit the Appropriation Bill
not later than 90 days to the end of the financial year but
unfortunately, very, unfortunately, the president has vetoed the
bill.

“Veto of National Assembly Budget Office Bill ‘In an effort to
improve the institutional capacity of the Parliament to process and
pass budget expeditiously, the National Assembly Budget and
Research Office (NABRO) establishment Bill was passed into law. It
was loosely modeled after the American Congressional Budget Office
(CBO). Again, President Buhari has also vetoed the Bill.

“Lack of Adequate Consultation ‘Under a Presidential system of
government like ours where the doctrine of separation of powers and
principles of checks and balances is well enshrined in our
constitution, wisdom presupposes that the Executive at all time
engages the legislature on all issues that requires legislation in
order to have their buy-in even before it is presented to the
parliament formally.

“The three President’s before Buhari, from 1999 -2015, Olusegun
Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan despite their
failings sustained this tradition which is necessary for harmonious
relations between the Executive and the Legislature and smooth
running of government. Under this, it is expected that the
President meets with the leadership of the two chambers (Body of
Principal Officers including members of the opposition) and brief
them on the details of the budget and key projects he would want to
execute. They, in turn, would brief their colleagues while the
MDA’s will then engage the committees over sighting them in
pre-budget session. President Shehu Shagari used to hold such
meetings monthly.

“Doing this would have helped in reducing the time it takes to
pass the budget because even before it is presented, the MPs would
have been well informed about it and their inputs are taken into
consideration at the preparation stage by the various MDAs.
Unfortunately, this too has not been done in the last three years.
“National Assembly Not A Rubber Stamp Parliament”

“The National Assembly has repeatedly challenged the Executive
to approach the Supreme Court to seek interpretation on the
constitutional powers of the legislature over budget, but up till
now, they have failed to do so. Until then, the judgment of the
Federal High court in FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2014 delivered on March 9,
2016, which was not appealed by either party stands.

“This is what his lordship, Hon Justice Gabriel Kolawole said in
delivering judgment in the suit by Femi Falana SAN “the National
Assembly was not created by drafters of the Constitution and imbued
with the powers to receive ‘budget estimates’ which the first
defendant is constitutionally empowered to prepare and lay before
it, as a rubber stamp parliament. The whole essence of the budget
estimates being required to be laid before Parliament is to enable
it, being the Assembly of the representatives of the people, to
debate the said budget proposals and to make its own well informed
legislative inputs into it.”

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EFCC Arrests Proprietor, Students of Internet Fraud
School

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal
Office, has arrested the proprietor of a Yahoo Yahoo training
school in Lagos, Frank Chinedu.

Chinedu, 22, was arrested alongside eight students of the
unnamed training centre located at 14, Animashaun Street,
Progressive Estate, Ojodu Berger, Lagos, while receiving lectures
in internet fraud activities.
The students are: Ahmed Musa, 24; Desmond Eze, 29; Preye Kingsley,
23; Benjamin Irabor, 21; Benjamin Opah, 19; Akapo Prosper, 22;
Innocent Paul, 20 and Olamide Edun, 20.

The suspected internet fraudsters were arrested under cover on
May 22, 2019, following intelligence reports received by the
Commission about their involvement in alleged criminal
activities.

Items recovered from the suspects at the point of arrest include
nine laptops, 16 mobile phones, an Airtel modem, Orange Wifi and
one Toyota Camry with registration number EPE406FN.
The suspects will soon be charged to court.

Tony Orilade
Ag. Head, Media & Publicity