New Telegraph 
CHUKWU DAVID reports on how members of the National Assembly reacted to the 2022 Appropriation Bill presented recently to the joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives by President Muhammadu Buhari
The N16.39 trillion 2022 budget estimates, which was presented to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 7, has elicited divergent views from members of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
All the lawmakers, who spoke to the media in a random interview, in their independent comments, admitted that Nigeria was actually sinking into heavy debt under the present All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government. However, those of them who are members of the ruling party said that borrowing is the only option left for the administration to raise funds to implement the budget and provide sustainable infrastructure for the citizenry.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, expressed serious concerns that Nigeria is going into excessive borrowing but said that the loans had become the last option for the country to survive. He noted that if Nigeria choses to rely on Internally Generated Revenue, the government of the day can only pay salaries, while capital projects would not be executed.
The lawmaker further pointed out that Nigeria is not the only country borrowing money, arguing however, that the country must not borrow for consumables but for provision of infrastructural facilities. He said: “We are all concerned on the level of deficit; we are concerned about the level of borrowing. However, we have two options. One is to fold our arms or go by our Internally Generated Revenue. In this case, we will only able to pay salaries. “You have to abandoned infrastructure development, which we cannot afford to do. The other option is to borrow. Nigeria is not the only country borrowing, other countries are borrowing. Nobody prayed for COVID- 19. It came and paralysed the economy of nations. Nigeria cannot be an exception. We will not support a situation where money is borrowed for consumables.” Also speaking, Senator Ishaku Abbo (APC, Adamawa North), echoed the position that Nigeria is not the only country borrowing money, but stressed that such loans should be used for developmental projects. “I have no problem with borrowing of money as far as the money borrowed is not used to pay salaries but for infrastructure development for our children and grandchildren, who will be coming long after we have gone.
America as strong and as big as they are, they borrow,” Abbo said. Senator Uba Sani, who represents Kaduna Central on the platform of APC and chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, said: “Borrowing is not bad in as much as we can build infrastructure.” Abdullahi Adamu (APC Na- sarawa), who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said: “Every country is borrowing. Britain is owing over €3 trillion.
So, we must borrow about N6 trillion to fund the budget. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Solomon Adeola, on his part, said: “The President has said that those who are agitated by the borrowing have reasons to fear but the government has been spending the money on verifiable projects. “I think we should give him a chance. I believe the budget will take care of the overall interest of Nigerians. Every nation of the world is facing one challenge or the other because of insecurity and COVID-19.
We cannot be left out as a nation.” However, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure, expressed pessimism over the 2022 Appropriation Bill, declaring that the budget, just like the previous ones, would be more beneficial to the elites than the masses. Kazaure, who represents Kazaure/ Roni/Gwiwa/Yankwashi Federal Constituency of Jigawa State, argued that in order to end the ugly trend, government must undertake a proactive war against corruption in the country.
His words: “The N16.39 trillion 2022 budget, as far as I am concerned and based on outcomes of previous ones over the years, is for the elites and not the masses who constitute the largest percentage of the country’s population.
“President Buhari, like his predecessors, in their own intensions, want provisions of such budgetary proposals beneficial to all but implementations of such budgets over the years clearly show that the elites and not the masses are largely the beneficiaries.”
According to him, in stopping the yearly ritual from being largely pocketed by the elites in particular and public servants, the war against corruption should be fought proactively and not just by lip service or media trials.
He further asserted that for the war against corruption to be effective, all the bodies set up for it like the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Nigeria Police, among others should be proactive in their operations and not reactive.
He explained that being proactive requires investigation of the wealth of those occupying public offices, whether elective or appointive, whom he accused of corruptly enriching themselves at the expense of the well-being of the citizenry.
