Former head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has labelled the ongoing National Conference as a waste of time and resources, saying it is the constitutional right of the National Assembly members to initiate amendments to the constitution.
* Gen. Buhari kicks against the ongoing National Confab
Gen. Buhari made this assertion while speaking at the Legislators/Civil Society Roundtable, a quarterly programme sponsored by the governors of the APC under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) where the lawmakers were tasked.
Although the confab took off last week, many including the former head of state have rejected the conference that would cost tax payers a whopping sum of N7billion.
Speaking on the enormous amount of money budgeted for the conference, Gen Buhari said: “This is why I expressed my personal view about the National Conference. My view is that this is the duty of the National Assembly. It is in place and it is capable of doing it; let it do it and let us save the N7billion allotted to it for other things”, Gen. Buhari said.
In the communiqué issued at the end of the roundtable, the forum, which was attended by many APC members in the Senate and the House of Representatives, including their leaders, urged the National Assembly to ensure that the budgeting process is no longer subjected to the whims and caprices of the Presidency.
There is an “urgent need to put in place a national budget timetable to ensure that the budgeting process is not subject to the whims of the federal government; structures and institutions at all levels must be strengthened to ensure accountability in budgeting; the budgeting process must be designed based on sector plans, not mere statements of intended expenditure or mere line budgeting to be executed at the whims of the civil service; and there must be provision for a closing figure for the previous year before any new budget is presented”, the communique said.
* Gen. Buhari kicks against the ongoing National Confab
Gen. Buhari made this assertion while speaking at the Legislators/Civil Society Roundtable, a quarterly programme sponsored by the governors of the APC under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) where the lawmakers were tasked.
Although the confab took off last week, many including the former head of state have rejected the conference that would cost tax payers a whopping sum of N7billion.
Speaking on the enormous amount of money budgeted for the conference, Gen Buhari said: “This is why I expressed my personal view about the National Conference. My view is that this is the duty of the National Assembly. It is in place and it is capable of doing it; let it do it and let us save the N7billion allotted to it for other things”, Gen. Buhari said.
In the communiqué issued at the end of the roundtable, the forum, which was attended by many APC members in the Senate and the House of Representatives, including their leaders, urged the National Assembly to ensure that the budgeting process is no longer subjected to the whims and caprices of the Presidency.
There is an “urgent need to put in place a national budget timetable to ensure that the budgeting process is not subject to the whims of the federal government; structures and institutions at all levels must be strengthened to ensure accountability in budgeting; the budgeting process must be designed based on sector plans, not mere statements of intended expenditure or mere line budgeting to be executed at the whims of the civil service; and there must be provision for a closing figure for the previous year before any new budget is presented”, the communique said.
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