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The House of Representatives yesterday said it might deny approval for this year’s N4.6 trillion budget, unless the 31 agencies listed in the Fiscal Responsibility Act surrender their spending estimates for scrutiny as required by the law.

While the departments are exempted from routine annual budgeting, the Act demands that their financial plans for each year be tendered to the legislature by the Minister of Finance alongside the rest.

Section 21 of the 2007-legislation requires that the organisations, including mega groups like as the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, lay the proposals before the National Assembly through the Minister of Finance.

Lawmakers say that this requirement has not been followed over the past years, arguing that the failure has been used as a cover by the organisations to unilaterally spend internally-generated funds without approval.

But, in a conflict seen as a highlight of the ambiguity of some federal laws, the 31 bodies, which also include the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Public Enterprise, insist that the laws backing their creation granted them the needed waiver and the authority to spend such funds as they deemed fit.

The controversy escalated late last year, with the lawmakers insisting on the law after the CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido, accused the National Assembly of cornering 25 per cent of the national budget.

Yesterday, the House rescinded an earlier resolve to speedily pass the 2011 budget next week, warning that it would no longer do so until the 31 organisations forward their estimates as earlier directed.

Out of control

“We are not just going to pass the budget like that. The 2011 budget will not be passed without the budgets of the thirty-one agencies,” the deputy speaker, Usman Nafada, said while addressing concerns on the issue raised by many members.

“Their overhead is more than that of the entire nation. And such huge amount of money should pass through the purview of the people’s parliament, nobody is above the law,” he added. “The fact that your brother is the head of an agency today does not mean that you should not obey the law. Nobody is above the law.” As of yesterday, he said, only four organisations had heeded the call to adhere to the law; a call first made by the speaker, Dimeji Bankole, during budget presentation by President Goodluck Jonathan last year.

Committee chairmen spoke of their frustrations with the organisations that had refused to surrender the proposals. They threatened to sanction heads of the departments while agreeing that the budget be suspended until the directive is carried out.

Earlier setbacks

The passage of the 2011 budget suffered the same fate in the upper legislative chamber. Iyiola Omisore, chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation had on the 28 February written to the Senate President, David Mark that the 31 agencies must submit their spending estimates for 2011. Mr Omisore insisted that this is in line with Section 21 subsection (1) (2a,b) and 3 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) and it must be complied with before the final passage of the 2011 budget.