Policy Alert says it is alarmed by Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly’s haste to pass the controversial 2022 supplementary budget sent by the state government.
The organisation made the call Friday following reports from the State Assembly on Thursday that the Executive arm of the Akwa Ibom State government had sent a supplementary appropriation bill of N45 billion to augment the initial N586.88 billion, which will bring the total revised budget to N631.38 billion if approved.
Miffed by the haste, the non-governmental organization promoting economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta has called on the house of Assembly to subject the Supplementary bill to public scrutiny.
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“We were jolted yesterday by news that just eight weeks into the 2022 fiscal year, the Akwa Ibom State government is already requesting a N45 billion Supplementary Appropriation. It is disturbing that recurrent items constitute 91.1% of the estimates in this sudden appropriation request, as opposed to capital items which make up just 8.9 percent,’’ a press release, signed by the organization’s Programme Officer, Fiscal Reforms and Anti-Corruption, Faith Paulinus, said.
”Curiously, during the discussion at plenary on Thursday, lawmakers promoting the bill only spoke about the capital projects billed to be executed with the supplementary budget without a mention of what the bloated recurrent proposals are meant for. If this proposal goes through, the revised recurrent budget will now stand at N302 billion, almost at par with capital expenditure, with dire implications for development.”
The organization particularly decried the haste with which the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly is considering the supplementary appropriation request.
“The haste by the legislators to get this done makes the entire process highly suspicious. By asking the House Committee on Appropriation and Finance to report back to the House within 24 hours after the second reading, the leadership of the Assembly has indicated that it may not be interested in taking citizens’ inputs into account in the consideration of the controversial supplementary budget,” it abhorred.
The statement added: “We urge the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly allow sufficient time for thorough legislative scrutiny of this controversial supplementary appropriation bill and to subject the proposal to a public hearing in line with the traditional procedure of the legislature on bills and the principle of fiscal transparency and accountability.
”It would be an injustice and a slap on the collective intelligence of Akwa Ibom people to allow this supplementary budget to pass without giving citizens an opportunity to weigh the proposals against their actual priorities.
“We call on the legislature to resist the temptation of being rushed to accept the supplementary proposals hook, line and sinker. They must learn to feel the pulse of the citizens and prioritize the overriding public interest over partisan loyalties and electoral concerns. They should prudently examine the provisions line by line against extant fiscal data,” the release added.
