Senate faults budget, federal civil service size

The Senate at the second reading of the 2012 budget on Tuesday took swipe at the executive, saying the federal bururacy was over-bloated.The senators also criticised the executive for not ensuring proper consultations with the legislature before coming up with the budget.They faulted the N3.429bn recurrent expenditure, which represents N72 per cent of the N4.484trn budget.President Goodluck Jonathan, had at the budget presentation on December 13 said N1.32trn (15 per cent of the total budget) was for capital expenditure.The 72 per cent allocated to recurrent expenditure represents a marginal 2.4 decrease from 74.4 per cent in the 2011 budget.The President also fixed benchmark oil price at $70 per barrel, a revision of $75 per barrel in the 2011 budget.The budget proposal passed through the second reading on Tuesday, with President of the Senate, David Mark, saying the federal bureaucracy was over-bloated, noting that something had to be done about it.He stated, "Federal bureaucracy is over-bloated. Something has to be done as soon as possible because that is why the recurrent expenditure is so high. We are not consistent in defining our priorities and keeping to it so that we can reap the benefits."He said if the executive failed to implement the budget, lawmakers should do something about it.According to him, the executive should have consulted widely before making up the figures for the budget.He said, "We were not consulted and I think that is not good enough. Nobody can represent the people as much as we do. I dont think anyone of us was consulted. I think that is not good enough."Speaking after the session, Senate spokesman, Enyinnaya Abaribe, ceriticised the N2.472trn for recurrent expenditure, saying the executive had not shown enough commitment to the reduction of the expenditure.Abaribe said, "The recurrent expenditure is inacceptable. We will eliminate areas of waste and duplications. We are not happy that we have so much recurrent. If we must grow our economy, we have to do something about it."He said the National Assembly had already taken the lead in reducing its overheads and would ensure that the budget was streamline to stimulate development in the economy.
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