Senate President Bukola Saraki has expressed disappointment with President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fight the rising spate of insecurity across the country, without recourse to the National Assembly.
He also disclosed that lawmakers are unhappy with the Executive arm of government for lack of consultation with the Legislature on the matter.
Saraki revealed this on Saturday while declaring open the 2018 Senate Press Corps retreat in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
The Senate resumes from Easter break on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 and the matter is expected to top agenda upon resumption.
Delivering his keynote address, the Senate President disclosed that lawmakers have equally expressed their disappointment to him that they were not consulted before the President unilaterally approved the funds.
He called for reform of security architecture in the country.
“There is no way the security architecture of this country can work without a strong synergy between the executive and the legislature. When you see certain agencies who by their actions and utterances frustrate the relationship between the two arms, you begin to wonder.
“What do we need to do? Do the police need more funding or more powers? Do they need new legislations to strengthen them. These are the issues where the executive and the legislature must work together.
“Just few days ago, where the issue of providing funding for the purchase of security equipment. In a good environment, such an issue needed to have been discussed with lawmakers. Already, some senators are angry. They said they were not consulted by the executive before such a decision was taken. These are the issues we are talking about.”
On delay in the approval of the 2018 budget, he accused the Executive of blackmailing and intimidating the Legislature to do its bidding.
To ensure quick approval of the budget by the National Assembly, he charged Ministries, Departments and Agencies to engage the respective committees that oversight them while preparing their budgets.
This, he said, will reduce the timeframe within which the budget will be approved.
Recall that President Buhari presented the N8.612 trillion 2018 budget to both chambers of the National Assembly on November 7, 2017.
Since then, both arms of government have continued to trade blames on the matter.
While submitting that the friction between the two arms of government goes beyond party affiliations, Saraki said: “Even during the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, when PDP was in charge of executive and legislature, there were some frictions. It means it is not about the party. It is not about any individual. It is about the system.”
“In a situation where a particular arm of government stands up and calls people from another arm of government thieves, looters and other names, how can we work together? How? It is not possible. It is not realistic. If we collaborate, the country will be better for it”.
“Imagine the Federal Government wants to raise a N4.6 trillion bond from the capital market. The leadership of the National Assembly first heard about it from through a letter written by the President”.
It would be recalled that the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had earlier urged the National Assembly to commence appropriate constitutional legislative actions against the government for unilaterally approving the release of the fund without recourse to the National Assembly.
Saraki wondered why the Executive would tag some lawmakers as corrupt or looters but would expect them to expedite action on the appropriation bill.
He said: “If you take the 2018 budget for example, even before had bothered to find out where the cause of the delay is coming from, people were already attacking and blaming the legislature.
“When I led the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives to see Mr. President, he came to the meeting being briefed as if the delay was that of the National Assembly. He was humble enough at the end of the discussion to render an apology”.
In his remarks, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, said the theme of the retreat: “Strengthening Executive-Legislative Relations” was apt, given the developing state of the country’s democracy.
Represented by his Deputy, Sonni Gwanle Tyoden, Lalong said where unhealthy friction exists between the two arms of government, the health of any democracy is threatened.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE from Jos
