SENATOR MARK MAKES CASE FOR NASS THAT THEY ARE NOT RUBBETR STAMP

Senate President David Mark

Senate President, Senator David Mark, on Wednesday renewed the controversy over whether or not the National Assembly has the power to tinker with the national budget. Mark in his speech during the presentation of N4.92 trillion 2013 budget by President Jonathan to the Joint Session of the National Assembly reminded President Goodluck Jonathan that the lawmakers are constitutionally empowered to make input into the budget.

The Senate President specifically told Jonathan that the constitution did not intend to turn the National Assembly into a mere mechanical rubber-stamp that must robotically pass budget estimates as presented.
Mark noted that the country’s budgets, from his experience since 1999, have been dogged by three main areas of controversy.

He listed the controversies to include the time of presentation of the estimates to the National Assembly; whether the National Assembly has the constitutional power to make inputs on the budget estimates; and implementation of the budget.
On the time of presentation, Mark said that it is gratifying to note that the 2013 budget estimates is being presented unprecedentedly in October, 2012.