NASS rates 2016 budget performance high

dimeji akinloye

February 10, 2017 9:42 PM

Rep. Pally Iriase said though the budget was not signed into law early, its performance still met expectations.

Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara

The Deputy Whip of the House of Representatives, Rep.

Iriase in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, said though the budget was not signed into law early, its performance still met expectations.

“The reality is that this budget 2016 has performed better than any budget in recent past.

“This budget was not signed into law until May 2016; by that you have had a budget that has probably worked for seven months.

“Ideally we should have been talking about a budget that is in its eighth month. What percentage can it have? In a full year, budgets under the previous regimes were never able to do 50 per cent.

“And when we say budget, we are usually talking about capital budget.’’

The lawmaker added that the recurrent budget had a way of performing 100 per cent unlike the capital budget.

“If you agree with me that the capital budget is usually the core one, then this government has done much better.

“As we speak, you have between 50 and 75 per cent in terms of releases.’’

Iriase explained that the procurement process that was introduced also slowed down the system.

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“We all saluted those who brought the procurement process. We said it was going to fight corruption but it has become a veritable tool of slowing down the system.

“I suggest that we find a way to fast track the procurement system without compromising our desire for a clean implementation,’’ he said.

dimeji akinloye