FOLLOWING the transmission of the 2020 Federal Appropriation Bill from the National Assembly to President Muhammadu Buhari and its assent into law by the latter, we wish to commend the Executive and Legislative arms for effectively restoring the January to December budget cycle which was fractured as a result of irresponsibility by public officials.

For years we called for this restoration to realign our financial years to a format that is easier to track and understand even by those who may not be financial experts and government insiders.

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That the Ninth National Assembly led by the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, has kept its promise to do so shows what can happen when public officers close ranks to tackle governance challenges together without pandering to base politicking and ego tripping.

Cynical politics, corruption and personal egos were chiefly responsible for the inability of the last few sessions of the National Assembly to achieve this feat. These factors seriously hampered efforts in this direction during the Eighth National Assembly presided over by Dr. Bukola Saraki as Senate President. During that four-year era, the budgets were signed in May and June.

The Executive and Legislature pointed accusing fingers at each other but in truth both sides were guilty. The greater blame was traced to the Executive which seemed to have problems presenting straightforward Appropriation Bills.

They also found it difficult to persuade the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to defend their budgets, and there were rampant accusations of budget padding. In addition, the Executive and the Legislature often engaged in superiority contests as to which had the power to decide how the money of the country should be spent.

We do not agree that the failure to restore the annual cycle in the past was because the Presidency did not have the puppets they wanted in leadership of the National Assembly.

The President and the people of Nigeria do not need a rubber stamp National Assembly for things to work seamlessly between the two arms. All that is required is responsible operation of our democratic institutions by all parties, which was what came into play this time around.

One of the major gains of the January to December budget cycle is that it allows everybody to know how far the budget performs at year-ends and how much is being rolled over into the following year.

During the late Umaru Yar’ Adua administration when transparency was put into concrete practice, the Federal Government returned all unspent funds to the treasury for re-appropriation in the new budget year to avoid the looting of unspent budgets.

The real challenge now, however, is the diligent implementation of the budget, particularly efforts to ensure its adequate and timely financing.

Vanguard