By Henry Umoru
ABUJA— CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator  Ahmed Maccido, disclosed yesterday that the Senate has concluded arrangements to commence the  monitoring of the executive over the implementation of the 2012 budget.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Maccido noted that the move was to ensure that there were no lapses in the implementation of the budget by the ministries, departments and agencies of government.

The Senator said unlike in the past, the National Assembly had now resolved to step up oversight of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in order to monitor  cash being released to them, adding  that the National Assembly was empowered by the 1999 Constitution to do so.

According to him, “by the provision of the constitution we have been given the right to supervise and to scrutinise. The constitution has given us that right. We are going to ensure that we do it.

“We are going to ensure that issues like releases of funds to ministries, cash backing of those releases are done by the relevant ministries to the MDAs. So, whereby when we realise that a ministry had been given certain amount of money, there is no reason but to work with those monies. In the past, they used to collect the monies and not do the work. That was because of poor and ineffective oversight.

“I am sure if we carry out effective oversight on those MDAs, they will spend those monies judiciously. If they don’t we will cry out and tell the country this is what is happening to their money.”