For the second time in 20 years, Nigeria’s annual budget for a new financial year is ready in the preceding year. Incredible! President Muhammadu Buhari appended his signature to the 2020 yesterday which coincidentally fell on his 77th.

So to start with, the executive often presented the Bill in November or even December of the previous year of the particular budgets.

The blame is on the side of the Executive that presents the Bill and the legislative arm that deliberates on it. The whole exercise from year to year turned into a familiar pattern of absurdity.

To start with, the Executive often presented the Bill in November or even December of the previous year of the particular budgets. Nigeria’s budget cycle is from January to December of every year. The exception to the ugly situation was in 2013 when the Appropriations Bill was presented in October and signed into Law before the end of the year.
However, there are other fundamental differences between the two arms of government that are responsible for delays in budget process. The executive frowns at the practice by the National Assembly to tinker with the fugues in the Appropriation Bills. The Assembly felt that it has the prerogative to move huge junk of money from one sub-head to another claiming that it is carrying out its constitutional functions. It’s like exercising an authority. “We are not the rubber stamp of the executive.” Some legislators reminded everyone who cares to listen. Of course the jab was meant for the Executive branch of government.
On the side of the Executive the point is always that legislators by their action mutilate and deface the proposed budgets, sometimes rendering them difficult for the originators of the figures to implement.
Constituency projects that members of the National Assembly inject into the budgets infuriate the Executive a lot. As far as it is concerned, the National Assembly is arrogating to itself residual executive power that the constitution does not confer on it.

Let’s put it simply. The whole squabble boils down to power tussle between the Assembly and the Executive. Even now that the 9th Assembly promises to work with the Executive to ensure that every Appropriation Bill is passed into Law before the commencement of a new budget year, the cloud of suspicion between the two won’t abate. You can bet on this. One can even predict that one day the Supreme Court May be approached to make definitive pronouncements on this matter by deeper interpretations of the exclusive roles of the National Assembly and Executive arm on budget processes and implementation. Who knows?

The Appropriation Act that Buhari signed yesterday provides for an expenditure of N10.594 trillion in 2020. The National Assembly has added N263.95 billion to the proposal that the President submitted last October to the joint sitting of members of the National Assembly—Senators and members of House of Representatives.

We must not lose sight of the fact that the joint committee sessions of both the Senate and House of Representatives helped in the speedy conclusion of work on the Bill.