The Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, on Friday described the current altercation between a former Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, and the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on alleged padding of the 2016 Budget, as a mere media hype.
He said what lawmakers did to the budget was to “add, subtract and adjust” according to their constitutional duty.
Ndume spoke with State House correspondents when he joined five other lawmakers to observe the Jumat prayer with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said if federal lawmakers were not empowered by the constitution to tinker with budget, there would not have been any reason for the President to submit the document to the National Assembly.
He described the current controversy in the House of Representatives as a fallout of personal differences between Dogara and Jibrin.
He, however, said that was not how issues are resolved in the National Assembly.
Ndume said, “The issue of budget padding is more of a media hype than reality. We are not doing budget now, we only have Appropriation Act which is a law and you know the process of implementing a law.
“I do not know where the issue of this budget padding we are talking about is coming from. If we are not to tinker with the budget as submitted by the President, then there would not have been the need to submit it to the National Assembly.
“We have the constitutional duty to add, subtract and adjust. That was what was done. This is the first time we did a budget that was collectively produced in the sense that it was done in such a way that the Senate, House of Representatives and the Executive played different parts.
“This time, the President took his time to ensure that he did not only sign on the budget, but also signed on budget details that he was satisfied with.
“What is happening now is a fallout between individuals, it is more of personal thing between Dogara and Jibrin.
“That is not the way differences should be settled. We have an in-house process that is followed if we have such issues.”
The Senate Leader said he had been reaching out to the parties involved in the crisis with the aim of settling the disagreement amicably.
Ndume said with the war against insurgency almost over, the current challenge in the North East was how to eradicate hunger and malnutrition.
While saying government alone cannot solve the problem, the federal lawmaker urged non-governmental organisations and individuals to come to the aid of the people of the region.
“The fight against Boko Haram, with the commitment of the present government, is almost over.
“We are currently facing another war: that is fight against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Government is also bracing up to that. We are crying out for help in the North East, particularly in Borno.
“The aftermath of the issue of insurgency which is almost over, is the issue of hunger, poverty and malnutrition as a result of three years that our people who depend on subsistence farming did not go to their farms.
“Government alone cannot feed the whole of North East, though it is doing what it can. We are calling on NGOs, individuals and international community to help us,” he said.
Ndume said he and other members of the National Assembly decided to worship with Buhari as part of efforts aimed at improving the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature.
He said, “We are trying to improve the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature. Part of the way is for few selected members of the National Assembly to join the President in prayers on Fridays. That is why we are here.
“As you can see, there are three members of the House of Representatives and three members of the Senate. You will be seeing more of this in the near future in order to cement our relationship.”
PUNCH.
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