Senate Set to Pass 2020 Budget Today, Increases Estimate by N450bn …Amends public procurement act

The Senate has confirmed that it’s set to consider and pass the 2020 federal budget represented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 8, 2019.

Its committee on Appropriation Bill at the plenary on Wednesday presented the 2020 budget report to the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

Its Chairman, Senator Barau Jibrin, at the plenary laid the budget report which is to be debated and passed tomorrow.

A ranking senator from the North Central zone and member of the committee told reporters that the committee, in the course of its work in the last one month, tinkered with the final figure of the N10.33trillion 2020 budget proposal sent to the National Assembly.

The senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the committee increased the 2020 budget proposed by the government by additional N450 billion.

According to him, some of the sectoral allocations were adjusted and at the end of the day, based on presentations by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the budget had to be jerked up from N10.11 trillion to N10.56 trillion.

He stated that copies of the bulky budget document had since been circulated among all senators in preparation for the budget debate tomorrow.

It was further learnt that the only agenda that will be on the Senate Order Paper would be the consideration of the budget report.

The budget report will be considered at Senate plenary by Committee of the Whole headed by the Chairman, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, through a clause-by-clause perusal of the proposal before being passed by the upper chamber.

The Senate also yesterday amended the Public Procurement Act 2007 and increased mobilisation fee of local contractors from 15 to 30 per cent.

The passage of the Public Procurement bills was sequel to presentation and consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Public Procurement.

The three amendment bills were sponsored by Senators Shuaibu Isah, Uche Ekwunife and Danladi Sankara.

The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Shuaibu Isah Lau,  in his presentation, said: “Certain amendments were made on the bills to encapsulate the ingredients of the varied views collated from experts and professionals, aimed at adding value to the Procurement Act.”

The Senate, in a clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, adopted the recommendations of the committee with slight amendments made to Section 1 under the Establishment of National Council on Public Procurement.

The amendment to clause 1 of the bill provides that the council shall consist of a chairman who shall be appointed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as against the previous provision of the 2007 Act which specifically names the Minister of Finance as chairman.

The Senate also adopted the Committee’s recommendation on the issuance of Certificate of No Objection which shall be issued by a Committee of Directors of the Bureau to be chaired by the director-general of the Public Procurement Bureau.

Similarly, the upper chamber considered the recommendation of the committee to review upwards the mobilisation fee from 15 percent to 20 percent for local contractors as insufficient.

Accordingly, Section 35 of the Act was amended to provide for not more than 30 percent mobilisation for local contractors.

The amendment for an upward review of 35 percent mobilisation for local contractors was initially proposed by Senator Jibrin Barau and seconded by Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

The Senate, however, settled for a 30 percent review moved by Senator Abba Moro and seconded by Senator Rose Oko.

In his remarks, the Senate president said the passage of the Public Procurement bill would complement the 2020 budget set to be passed today by the Senate.

According to Lawan, the Public Procurement bill passed by the Senate will be forwarded to the House of Representatives for concurrence.

He said: “What we have done today is really to put the icing on the cake on what we are about to do tomorrow by the grace of God when we pass the 2020 budget.

“We have already passed the Finance bills that will ensure that we get the required revenue to implement the budget. The public procurement process in Nigeria has been a big bottleneck for some time, probably since it was passed. I believe that with this amendment, the procurement process will be faster and better, as will be the budget implementation process.

 "Surely, this bill will have to go to the House of Representatives for them to concur. I had a discussion with the Speaker that they will concur with us before we go on the Christmas break so that we will give the executive all it would require for it to implement the 2020 budget successfully.”