Group sues attorney general over budget
The Anti-Corruption and Research Based
Data initiative has sued the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr.
Abubakar Malami, SAN, seeking an interpretation of the provisions of the
Constitution on appropriation.
The Executive Secretary of the
organisation, Mr. Dennis Aghanya, said in a statement in Abuja on
Monday, that the action was instituted at the
Federal High Court, Abuja,
No: FHC/ABJ/CS/884/2016.
Aghanya, in the statement, said that the
action became necessary to prevent the country from experiencing
another delay in the passage of the 2017 budget.
He explained that the measure was in
line with the mandate of ARDI in its efforts to strengthen the nation’s
democracy and ensure transparent, accountable and responsive governance
devoid of corruption in the society.
He said, “As we are all aware, the
budget has been an issue of contention between the Executive and the
Legislative arms of government.”
He said that a research on the nation’s
budget experience from 1999 to date showed that most business activities
suffered adversely due to the late passage of the budget.
He said that the attorney-general needed
to make a declaration as to whether the National Assembly could
unilaterally tinker with the budget without the consent of the
Executive.
He said that slow commencement of economic activities every year are usually linked to the late passage of the budget.
He said, “The 2016 Budget presentation
and its final approval processes were characterised by bickering,
leading to late passage of the budget.
“Due to the delay in passing the 2016
budget, Small and Medium Enterprises, businesses, manufacturers,
construction companies and most Nigerians in other sectors of the
economy experienced serious economic challenges.”
The Executive Secretary noted that the Nigerian economy suffers each time controversies arose concerning the budget.
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