Budget: APC wants Nigerians to suffer, says FG

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

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The Federal Government and the opposition All Progressives Congress on Tuesday continued their  tirade against each other over the  2014 Appropriation Bill pending before the National Assembly.

While the government, through the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said the APC, by asking its members  in the National Assembly not to pass the bill,  was unwittingly asking Nigerians to commit suicide, the opposition party argued that  there was nothing absolutely wrong  with  its directive to its  lawmakers. While the budget passed  second reading in the Senate on Tuesday, in the House of Representatives, the debate on it was stalled by the APC legislators. Maku, in an interview with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja,  urged the leaders of the APC to have a rethink on the directive because it was  not the right thing to do.

The minister, who  described the budget as the oxygen of the nation’s economy, said the APC  should  not block the flow of oxygen merely because it had  a disagreement with the government. He said, “I think if all of us agree  that if there is anything today that has worked, the economy of Nigeria has worked under President Goodluck  Jonathan and we need all the cooperation we can to move the country forward. That doesn’t mean they should not stand election against the President or challenge our policies.

“Challenging our policies is different from blocking the oxygen from flowing because the budget is the oxygen of the economy.

“So   are you  asking people to commit suicide because you have disagreement with the government?  I think this is not the right thing to do and I am urging APC leaders to think again.”

Maku said  the APC directive to its lawmakers  surprised  him  because democracy was about service to the people. He added, “I’m shocked that anybody will go to the National Assembly and urge people to block the budget of a country.

“When you block the budget of a country, you are stopping the work of the market woman, you are stopping the work of the farmer, you are threatening the survival of the teacher , you are threatening the survival of a patient in the hospital because a lot of what happens to these people depends on the budget.

“We must separate narrow  and negative partisan politics from the survival of our people. So, we believe that every budget needs to be robustly debated by the National Assembly but not on the standpoint that my party asked me to stop passing the budget.

“If they do that, then Nigerians must hold them accountable. They are not yet in power, but they are already threatening the live wire of the country; so how can we then trust them with power?

“So, if tomorrow they come to power what are we to expect? It means the nation will not have a budget? This is very serious, no argument is acceptable for anybody to go and ask people to block a budget.  These arguments pale into insignificance when you look at the real danger that that kind of call places on the live wire of Nigeria.”

But the APC defended its decision ,  saying  that  its members in the House of Representatives acted in tandem with the provisions of the law  when they stalled   debate on the  budget on Tuesday. The Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents  in Abuja  on Wednesday. He explained that  the APC members in the House did the right thing by insisting that guidelines for budget presentation as contained in the Fiscal Responsibility Act be followed. Mohammed said, “All our members did with regard to the budget was  to tell the Federal Government to do the proper thing.

“They cited a provision of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which says that when you are tendering the budget before the National Assembly, it should be accompanied by details of the submissions by the various ministries – not the abridged version.

“What our members are saying is, give us the (budget) details ministry by ministry, parastatal by parastatal.

“Tell us what taxpayers’ money is going to be used for. Once this is not done, technically, the budget is not before the House.”