KADUNA — Governor Mukhtar Yero  of Kaduna State, yesterday, blamed the legislature for poor implementation of budgets in the country.

Yero said legislators wait until the end of each fiscal year and after the presentation of budgets by the executive before starting their oversight functions instead of making it a continuous exercise to keep the executives on their toes.

The governor said some chief executives wait until the last quarter, before rushing to award contracts approved in the budget.

He spoke at a one-day retreat on implementation of the approved 2014 budget organised for government functionaries.

He said: ”Oversight function should be seen as partnership between the executive and legislative arms not as witch-hunting. Personally, I want regular oversights because there is no way you can have a good executive without a good legislature.

”I do not look at oversight as witch-hunting and even if that is the case, I have no fear because the records are there. The House should make oversight more consistent and not only when a budget is presented that you begin to go for inspection; you have to go at all times and if you find any problem please correct us.

“The major problem with implementation is that we all relax as soon as the budget is passed and wait until the last quarter before we begin to rush to award contracts. We have to begin implementation as soon as the budget is passed.”

The governor, therefore, asked the legislature to carry out its oversight functions regularly instead of waiting for the budget to be presented by the executive before doing itsconstitutional assigned duties.

He said functions were necessary legislative activities that ensure probity and accountability in public sector expenditures.

Yero who said that ‘’the biggest  challenge is on how we can meet up with the revenue,” asked all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, in the state to immediately commence implementation of the 2014 approved budget, stressing that, that was the only way budget could only be effectively implemented, when projected revenue was realized.

Earlier in his speech, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Shehu Tahir, had said the legislature would continue to carry out its oversight function as enshrined in the constitution.

He said: ”Parliamentary oversights seek to promote and enhance government accountability and transparency by ensuring that the executive and those bodies to whom authority have been delegated, remain responsible and accountable in the performance of their functions.”