BY DANIEL IDONOR
ABUJA—THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwwal, yesterday revealed why the House of Representatives rejected President Jonathan’s request to alter the approved 2011 budget three months to the end of the fiscal year 2011.

Giving reasons why the federal lawmakers stepped down President Goodluck Jonathan’s N98.4bn virement bid, he said that the proposal was more of an amendment than virement.

Tambuwwal offered this explanation while fielding questions from State House correspondents during his visit to the seat of power, Aso Rock. In financial language, Virement is the transfer of funds already allocated from one sub heading to which it has been allocated, to another. This is usually the case when more pressing issues arise in the cause of implementing a budget that required financial provisions and the government is not in the financial position to ask for a supplementary appropriation to meet those areas of challenge.

President Goodluck Jonathan had in a letter dated September 27, 2011 sent a request to the House, seeking to move funds originally budgeted in the 2011 appropriation act for nine ministries, departments and agencies to other sub-headings.

From the right, President Goodluck Jonathan; Vice President Namadi Sambo; SGF, Senator Pius Anyim; Head of Service, sinning the National Anthem at the opening of the periodic meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 19/10/2011

The specific areas for which the budgetary alterations were being sought include the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, N33,107,575,020; Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA), N17,067,478, 034;  Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, N6,374, 772, 436;  Federal Ministry of Education, N1,008, 054, 745;  Police  Formations and Commands, N5,434,005,870; and Federal Ministry of Justice, N64,245,818. Others are Federal Ministry of Health, N10,001,043,718;  Federal Ministry of Aviation, N13,523,057,226; and Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, N7,487,536,489; Ministry of Defense (Army), N2,843,232,350; Public Com-plaint Commission, N80, 336, 650; National Sports Commission, N1, 454, 893, 610.

Jonathan, in his letter, made it clear that certain difficulties in the implementation of the 2011 budget made the request imperative. The letter, however, led to a rowdy session on the floor of the House last Thursday, forcing the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over the house to step down the proposal.

When the matter came up for debate on Thursday, majority of the lawmakers opposed it and asked that it be thrown out. Besides lacking in details, the lawmakers argued that it did not make sense for the President to seek movement of funds three months to the end of the financial year.

But Tambuwwal told journalists that virement only applies when funds are moved from one sub-head in a budget to another sub-head. He said that some of the provisions in the President’s virement bid were more of amendment. He explained that moving funds from one ministry to the other as proposed by the President was an amendment which did not go down well with the lawmakers.

On the bid by the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy by January, Tambuwwal said that the House has not taken a position on the issue.

“We have not taken a position on the issue yet. Personally, I don’t have a position on the issue. I am just a presiding officer in the House and I am expected to be on the side of the majority of members of the House,” he explained.

Tambuwwal also denied insinuations that the leadership of the National Assembly was invited into the Presidential Villa to be lobbied into supporting government’s deregulation bid. Rather, he said the meeting was on economic issues, including deregulation. He said it was an avenue of an arm of government to ‘market’ its programmes to the legislative arm.