Nigeria Content Online

The regional
flagoff of Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign is taking a toll
on the nation’s governance as multiple ministers were absent from the
2011 budget defence at the National Assembly. Budget defence is a
significant annual ritual in the process of preparing the budget and
traditionally, lawmakers do not discuss any ministry or government
agency’s budget without the head of the ministry or agency.

On Monday, a joint
committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Gas called off
the hearing for the Ministry of Petroleum’s 2011 budget defence due to
the absence of the Minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison Madueke.
According to the ministry’s permanent secretary, Goni Musa Sheikh, who
led the delegation, the petroleum minister had returned from a journey
the previous day and was “not feeling too well” to attend the budget
defence session. Mrs. Madueke had been on the campaign trail of the
president, which commenced in Nasarawa state last week, and has since
been on a tour of the nation’s sub-region. Even though the deadline for
the various committees to submit their input for the 2011 budget to the
Senate and House committees on Appropriation was to elapse on Tuesday,
members of the Gas committee postponed the budget defence to Wednesday.

Similarly, the
Senate Committee on Works had on Thursday last week postponed the
budget defence of the Ministry of Works because the minister, Sanusi
Dagash, was attending the president’s campaign in Bauchi state.

“You cannot shave a
man’s hair in his absence,” Igo Aguma, chairman, House Committee on Gas
said on Monday while dismissing the “low level” delegation from the
petroleum ministry.

With the budget defence sessions of the petroleum ministry, the works ministry and a couple of others stalled,

the committees will
miss the submission deadline. The delay will cascade and impede the
passage of the bill at both chambers of the national assembly and
finally, the implementation of the budget.

Stay off Campaigns

At the villa,
official and informal activities had gone into a lull as all attention
shifted outside to the campaign tours. Meanwhile, last week, the
Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting which usually lasts at least
two hours when there are just a few memos, lasted for only 20 minutes,
with one memo discussed.

At the FEC meeting, the president warned ministers not to allow the
campaign to get in the way of their jobs. He had advised that they
attend the campaign rallies in their states and two or three other
states rather than scurrying to join the campaign trail to every state.