President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to sign the harmonized bill which seeks to establish National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) into law.
Timothy Golu, Chairman House Committee on National Assembly Budget and Research, who gave the charge in Abuja, expressed optimism that the establishment of NABRO would ensure effective budget planning and implementation as well as reduce unnecessary friction between the Parliament and the Executive arms of the government.
Golu explained that the signing into law of this agency would not only complement the work of the Budget Office of the Federation and Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning and provide a strong, transparent budgetary process as well ad checks and balances in the system.
“Now as soon as NABRO comes on board, it will have the responsibility to scrutinize the budget, be involved in the selection of projects and end this method of a ministry or an MDA deciding to award a project to any state without having in mind the need assessment of that state or even the criteria used in allocating those projects.
“NABRO will consist of competent people, it will be multi-sectoral, so that by the time the executive brings budgetary estimate, NABRO would be there as a budgetary think-tank of the parliament to scrutinize and feed all the committees before they start receiving briefings from MDAs.
“What we will also achieve is that any item that is not approved by NABRO would not to submitted to the committee on appropriations, so that it would eliminate this physical contacts with MDAs which brings about this talk about political, economic and whatever considerations so that we will be doing projects that will need the needs of the people. If the president signs this bill he will be surprised at the quality and direction of the 2018 budget.
“If this bill is signed into law, it will provide the necessary checks and balances, because the budget as the number one law of the country after the constitution, and there must be very serious structures built around it. The parliament has not being carried along during budget processes and that is why some people erroneously accuse the National Assembly of budget padding,” Golu said.
He also stressed the need for the Executive, through Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure release of funds for capital projects captured in the 2017 Appropriation Act and wondered why the Federal Government would indulge in releases without cash backing few months to the end of the year 2017.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
