Constituency projects: Presidency rules out conflict with N’Assembly

The Presidency has dismissed reports of strained relationship
between President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly,
saying conflict would not be in any party’s interest.

It noted that Buhari would rather sustain the current “cordial
understanding” between the two sides.

Insinuations of possible tension between the legislature and the
executive showed on Tuesday when Buhari attacked the constituency
projects of senators and members of the House of Representatives,
whom he accused of wasting over N1trn on controversial projects in
the last 10 years.

The attack, which came while the President was addressing an
anti-corruption summit organised by the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other Related Offences Commission in Abuja, angered
some senators and members of House of Representatives.

The President had stated, “Corruption is the cause of many major
problems in our country. It is a catalyst for poverty, insecurity,
weak educational system, poor health facilities and services and
many other ills of our society.

“This government is working hard to overcome such ills.
Corruption generally and public sector corruption, in particular,
inhibits the ability of government to deliver infrastructure and
basic services to the people.

“It is on record that in the past 10 years, N1trn has been
appropriated for constituency projects; yet the impact of such huge
spending on the lives and welfare of ordinary Nigerians can hardly
be seen.”

The National Assembly fired back the next day, saying the
President might have received wrong briefing on the funding and
relevance of constituency projects to the electorate who voted them
into power.

The House Minority Leader, Mr Ndudi Elumelu, said the N1tn the
President talked about was on paper but not funded.

“In the past 10 years, N100bn has been budgeted annually, but
our constituents have not got value for the money spent. Yes money
has been budgeted but the releases have not been up to 30 per
cent,” Elumelu, a former chairman, House Committee on Power and
Steel (2007-2011), said.

Commenting on the development, Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant
on National Assembly Matters, Umar El-Yakub, told our correspondent
that the comments by the President and the response by the
legislature did not indicate there was tension between the two
sides.

He said, “We are handling it. He (President) has said his own
and the National Assembly said theirs; but we have to come to a
point where everybody understands. We don’t want it to snowball
into something else. So, we are handling it.

“We and the National Assembly will have to be on the same page.
Even if we disagree, we have to disagree based on certain
parameters. But as you know, there is a fantastic relationship
between the 9th Assembly and the executive and we will like to keep
that relationship going forward.”

Meanwhile, barely 24 hours after Buhari criticised the N1trn
allegedly wasted on constituency projects, he again on Thursday
accused the 8th National Assembly of slowing down governance by
delaying the passage of budgets.

While the current Senate President was the Senate Leader in the
8th Assembly, while Gbajabiamila was the House Leader.

Speaking at a meeting with the Conference of Speakers of State
Houses of Assembly, Buhari said, “The 8th National Assembly
sometimes kept the budget for seven months. And I had to call the
Senate President and the Speaker then. I told them by delaying
passage of the budget, you are not hurting Buhari but the
people.”

He recalled that in spite of his interventions, the National
Assembly continued to delay the budget.

Meanwhile, Lawan said on same Thursday that the current Senate
would treat any proposal from Buhari expeditiously, saying any
request from him was good for the nation.