The Nigerian Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers has urged the National Assembly to always make timely input to national budgets to avoid delay and discrepancies.
The National Chairman of the institute, Mr Obiekwe Anaduaka, made the call on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said early input would rid the budget of challenges such as inconsistencies and insertion of projects without name and design.
Cue in audio (Anaduaka)
“At the beginning, there is something they call “call circular” before budget is prepared, it usually comes around June, July, August, when it gets to the MDAs, they start preparing the budget.
“So, if the national assembly has a list of roads they want to introduce, they send it to the ministries at that time, the ministries will process.
“National Assembly does not have the capacity or capability to process a road for implementation or for construction.
“So, when they bring this list to the ministry, they will do the design, they will do the preparation and then also, lead them along the line.
So, by the time it comes round to the National Assembly, it’s not a question of somebody cutting the figure from here to here because there is a process.
Cue out audio
He said in cases of objections, the law members should return the document accompanied by a letter indicating their observations back to the affected ministry for necessary actions.
He said the insertion and reduction of cost of projects at the point of submission of budget to the president for signing was not in the interest of Nigerians.
Anaduaka said the ideal procedure in budgeting was for the project to be designed and prepared by the originating ministry and forwarded to the Ministry of Finance before submission to the National Assembly.
He said the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Finance was to carry out checks on the budget before submitting same to the National Assembly for appropriation. (NAN)