The Presidency has appealed to the National Assembly to hasten work on the budget of the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) of the government which has been submitted to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a chat with news men, the senior special assitant to the President on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said that the President has also demonstrated his respect for the parliament, as a principal arm of government in a constitutional democracy.
“Our hope and expectation is that the National Assembly, acting in the best interest of the nation, will allow the immediate operationalization of the MDAs budgets, so that the momentum of growth of the economy which has begun to build up will be sustained.”
Garba Shehu made it clear that Buhari’s government, which came to power on the plank of anti-corruption and good governance, will fully comply with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and other extant laws as they relate to the submission of budget proposals of Federal Government agencies and corporations to the National Assembly.
He said that the President has lived up to this commitment of accountability and transparency with the recent submission of the proposed budgets of CBN, NNPC, Nigerian Ports Authority and others.
“The transmission of budgets for the MDAs to the National Assembly, particularly those regarding the Central Bank and the NNPC behemoth is clearly unprecedented.
“The President is determined to make the budgeting process more transparent and participatory.
“It is all part of the re-engineering of the entire processes of governance for the benefit of ordinary citizens.”
According to Garba Shehu, the President strongly believes that good governance and transparency are integral to the nation’s progress and key to the Federal Government’s programme to revamp the economy.
He said that by responding positively to the demand of the National Assembly that MDA budgets be laid before it for scrutiny, a demand mostly ignored by past administrations.
“President Buhari has indeed given a clear indication of his commitment to an open, transparent and people-oriented government for Nigerians.” [myad]
