‘Why senators were hard on finance minister’

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi, on Friday said  the hard-line posture of his colleagues on the policy of the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was not a call for her sacking.

Adeyemi told our correspondent on the telephone that the opinion expressed by the senators was normal because it was obvious that the World Bank/IMF policies of the minister were causing more pains for the masses.

He said, “We are worried that her economic policy is becoming unbearable for the common man and steps should be taken to reject it before they get out of hand.

“As for whether our position was a call for her sacking, I will say no, because it has not got to that extent. We are only insisting that justice should be done in the interest of the masses”

He also said the fact that the senators pointed out certain flaws in the budget did not mean that the document would be thrown away.

He explained that bringing out the aspects that were considered inappropriate would guide the committees while considering the budget.

Adeyemi said, “We don’t need to throw away the budget. The relevant committees will still work on it for the purpose of ensuring that the right things are done”

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, could not be reached for comments but he submitted a position paper on Tuesday, calling for the rejection of the budget.

Those who asked that the budget be returned to the executive faulted, among others, the proposed 74 per cent recurrent expenditure against the capital vote which was put at 24 per cent.

They also said the authors of the budget did not follow the provisions stipulated in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework which was approved by the Senate.

Other reasons adduced by the senators for calling for the rejection of the fiscal document included, among others, the lopsided allocation and the introduction of new projects while adequate votes were not provided to complete other ongoing ones across the country.

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