Budget: Why Yar’Adua delayed assent

By Jackson Udom - 13.04.2008

THE delay in the signing of the 2008 budget by President Umaru Yar’Adua was intended to ensure that the nation benefitted from the new spirit of consultation and compromise between the executive and legislative arms of the government which are vital pillars of representative democracy”.

This was contained in a statement by Senior Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi.

The President is set to formally sign into law the 2008 budget tomorrow, while in the next couple of days, he is expected to forward to the National Assembly, an Amendment Bill to capture areas in which there is now a consensus on the need for review”, the release stated.

According to the statement, we should not lose sight of the healthy import of an amicable but respectful relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government as an exercise as major as the national budget”, adding that while some criticise the delay in Budget 2008 as a result of the impasse, nobody should lose sight of the fact that the extended engagement on the issue has not only been constructive it has also benefitted from the new spirit of consultations”.

The release further disclosed that the President believes it is important to build consensus in governance and predicate Nigerians march to progress on a shared sense of planning”.

“Development, the release noted, does not just happen. It is a product of deliberate and conscious planning. Yet a major challenge for the nation today is the rare absence of this planning in most major governmental undertakings at virtually all levels.”

The statement noted that, “it is perhaps for this reason, that some commentators have failed to see the process leading to the consensus between the National Assembly and the Presidency in the 2008 budget as a positive development for our democracy”.