N'Assembly
to Breakdown 2016 Budget Publicly, Says Senate President
To
affirm its commitment to transparency and openness, the Senate President,
Bukola Saraki, at the weekend has announced that the National Assembly would
announce the breakdown of its 2016 budget for the first time in a matter of
days.
The Senate
President, according to a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Affairs,
Mohammed Isa, made this disclosure while interacting with a team of editors
from the London-based magazine, "The Economist," in Abuja.
He said
Nigerians would in the next few weeks be availed of the details of the budget
which he said would mark a departure from the tradition of having a
one-line-item budget whose expenditure was shrouded in secrecy since 1999.
"For
the first time we promised Nigerians to give out our budget breakdown. The
committee will make its report available by next week. We are resolved to break
the tradition of one line item," he said.
According
to the statement, despite the differences in political parties' affiliation as
well as leadership tussle among senators, Saraki said national interest as well
as the desire of each senator to fulfil the promises he made to Nigerians would
prevail.
On
the economy, he said the Senate had
embarked on a series of legislative interventions to create conducive
environment for the private sector, saying "it is only when the private sector thrives that the issue of
unemployment will be addressed and the nation's GDP will increase."
He
added: "Few days ago, we received a report on the laws that need to be
amended in order of priority importance to ease doing business and overall
private sector participation in the stimulation of Nigeria's economy. We will
soon commence the implementation of the recommendations in the report in
addition to pushing for the amendment of the Procurement Act to stimulate and
protect our local industries," he assured.
He
blamed lack of firmness and consistency in policy implementation by the past
administrations as the main obstacle to the growth of the private sector.
"If
people have confidence that these policies have come to stay, nothing will stop
them from coming to invest in the country," he added.
He
allayed the fears that the low prices of oil would have negative impact on the
implementation of 2016 budget, saying "what we need to do is to block
leakages and show more transparency, adding: "If we can block leakages,
stop the wastages and institute a culture of transparency in governance, the
revenue in-flow will not be substantially affected. Without these, even if oil
is sold at more than a $100 per barrel, we will continue to witness a decline
in revenue in-flow as we witnessed in the past."
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