Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Accused Of Blackmail

The two chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday took a swipe at the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, accusing her of using her comments on the lingering 2013 budget crisis to blackmail them, and incite Nigerians and the Executive against lawmakers.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, while appearing as a
guest on a radio programme on Monday
in Abuja, had warned that the Federal
Government might not be able to meet its
obligations of paying workers' salaries by
September, as well complete projects
approved under the 2013 Appropriation
Act, if the lingering budget impasse is not
resolved immediately.
"The country has been running from
January up until now and we have been
implementing the budget that was
passed," the Minister said during the
programme. "But, we have got to a point
where some amendments have to be
made and this is why Mr. President sent
this amendment to the National Assembly.
We can continue for a little while longer
but at some point, we need the
amendment to pass because, come
September/October, we may not be able
to pay salaries. We would need to restore
about N32 billion for salaries that were
moved around.
We also need it for the
SURE-P programme, which is experiencing
some difficulties now, [in order] to
continue the community services
programme that [are] creating jobs."
However, during the plenary session on
Tuesday, the House of Representatives
frowned at the Minister's statement
describing it as insulting and a blatant
blackmail calculated to incite the public
against the lawmakers.
In a motion by deputy minority whip,
Samson Osagie (ACN, Edo State), the
lower chamber was told that a similar
threat last year led to the actual removal
of the fuel subsidy which grounded the
nation and almost crippled the economy
for nearly a week; warning that the House
cannot continue to accept such
disparaging insinuations from a minister
who was not elected but appointed into
office. Mr. Osagie urged the leadership of
the House not to treat the matter with kid
gloves.
Consequently, the deputy speaker,
Chukwuemeka Ihedioha, who presided
over the proceedings, ruled that the
committees on Finance, Appropriation and
Legislative Complaints should meet with
the minister, demand an explanation, and
report back to the House within one week.
In its reaction, the Senate accused the
Minister of an attempt to pitch the
National Assembly against President
Goodluck Jonathan over the lawmakers'
refusal to consider and approve several
contentious amendments to the approved
2013 Appropriation Act.
Describing Ms. Okonjo-Iweala's statement
as alarmist, the Senate, through the
Chairman, Senate Committee on
Information, Media and Public Affairs,
Enyinnaya Abaribe, said lawmakers would
not take it lightly.
"The feeling of the Senate and of course,
the National Assembly has always been
that we do not expect Ministers of the
Federal Republic and appointees of the
President to make comments that tend to
give the impression of a collision course
between the executive and legislature
because we are all working towards the
same purpose, which is to make sure that
we take care of the welfare of Nigerians,"
Mr. Abaribe said. "Therefore, we find it
not to our liking when a comment is made
that tends to say that government will
shut down if the National Assembly
doesn't do anything. We do not agree with
that."
Accusing Mr.
Jonathan of reneging on an
earlier agreement which stated that
legislators would approve an immediate
follow-up amendment that would be sent
to them if Mr. Jonathan signed the 2013
budget, Mr. Abarbe told reporters that
what the president forwarded were
"voluminous" amendments as opposed to
specific alterations agreed under the deal
thus prolonging legislative consideration.
"What we got from the President, which is
actually the third Amendment, is a sort of
document amending the budget," the
Senate spokesperson said. "Now, we
found that these documents are even
larger than the budget itself.
There is
absolutely no way that the Senate and
even the National Assembly can consider
amendments of this nature during the
short time that we have, until we come
back from our vacation this year."
He added that the main bone of
contention was not the differences in the
amended report but the additions to it
that expanded it even further.