Calabar-Lagos rail line: We won’t revisit project, Senate tells Buhari as FG defends Amaechi
ABUJA — In what appears to be a
rebuttal to the National Assembly’s
submission, Monday, that the N60 billion
Calabar-Lagos railway project was not
captured in the 2016 budget, the Federal
Government has insisted that the
project was duly submitted and
accepted by the lawmakers for approval.
This came on a day the Senate said the
protest of the executive would not make
it revisit the budget passed two weeks
ago, asking President Muhammadu
Buhari to submit a supplementary
budget.
Members of the House of
Representatives, however, kept sealed
lips on the matter, yesterday,
But in a statement by the Media Adviser
to the Minister of Budget and National
Planning, Mr. James Akpandem,
yesterday, the federal government
insisted that the relevant committees of
the parliament received the document.
The statement read in full: “In view of
the recent controversies surrounding
the 2016 budget, it has become
necessary to state the following to set
the facts straight: The details of the 2016
budget were received by the President
on Thursday, April 7, 2016.
“Immediately this was received, the
President, desirous of signing the
document into law as soon as possible,
directed that copies should be made
available to heads of the various
Ministries, Departments and Agencies,
MDAs, of the Federal Government.
"Ministers were asked to go through the
details and give their reactions as it
affects their respective Ministries to
guide the President and enable him sign
the Appropriation Bill into law.
“That process is still on-going and no
statement has been issued by the
Executive on the matter, apart from the
one by the Minister of Information,
Alhaji Lai Mohamnmed, to confirm that
details of the budget are being
examined. No final decision has been
taken by the President and no other
statement whatsoever has been issued
on the matter.
“With reference to the specific issue of
the Calabar – Lagos rail project, we will
like to state that the two railway
projects, Lagos-Kano and the Calabar-
Lagos, are very important projects of the
present administration; and it was
always the intention of the Executive to
have both projects reflected in the
budget submitted to the National
Assembly.
“However, it will be recalled that the
Budget Office made a number of errors
in the initial proposals of a number of
ministries. These errors were all
corrected by the Ministry of Budget and
National Planning and the corrected
versions were submitted to the relevant
committees of the National Assembly.
This included that of the Ministry of
Transportation.
“The amended Ministry of
Transportation budget was accepted by
the relevant committees and that was
the version defended by the Minister of
Transportation and his team.
“It must be emphasized that the two rail
projects are part of those for which the
President is currently negotiating
funding with the Chinese government.
“The N60bn provided in the budget for
the Lagos-Kano and Calabar-Lagos rail
lines, respectively, is counterpart
funding to support the Chinese financing
for the projects.
“These projects are part of the Strategic
Implementation Plan of the government
which was disclosed by the Minister of
Budget and National Planning at the
National Economic Council Retreat in
March 2016, in the presence of state
governors.
"They were also mentioned by the Vice
President last week in Lagos at The
Nation Newspaper’s First National
Economic Forum.
“It is hoped that with this clarification,
the raging controversy over the Calabar-
Lagos rail project will be put to rest.”
No going back — Senate
Meanwhile, the Senate,yesterday,said
that in spite of protest by the executive
over alleged non-inclusion of the N60
billion Lagos-Calabar coastal rail project
in the 2016 budget, it would not revisit
the budget.
Instead, the Red Chamber asked
President Muhammadu Buhari to
prepare a detailed supplementary
budget capturing the project and submit
before it for consideration.
The Senate, which took the decision
during its closed-door session, shortly
after resumption of plenary, insisted
that the President must sign the budget
as passed, thus giving indication that the
legislature might override the President
if he vetoed the bill as passed by NASS.
The closed-door session where the
resolution was taken, was clouded in
heated arguments as some senators of
the ruling All Progressives Congress,
APC, insisted on capturing the Lagos-
Calabar rail project in the budget, while
those from the opposition Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, stood firm that
the President must assent the budget
and later submit the project in a
supplementary budget.
Vanguard gathered that the Senate
President, Bukola Saraki, who presided
over the one-hour long session, upheld
the latter due to overwhelming support
for it.
Addressing newsmen later, Chairman,
Senate Committee on Media and Public
Affairs, Abdullahi Sabi, said senators
during the closed session resolved that
the President should assent to the
budget as passed and include things left
out in the main budget in a
supplementary budget.
He insisted that the project, contrary to
the position of the executive that it was
captured in the budget, was not included
and asked the executive to stop
instigating Nigerians against the
legislature which, according to him, has
done so much in the budget to ensure
dividends of democracy were speedily
delivered to them.
He said: “I know very well that the last
one week has been full of the language
you guys have already crafted
‘controversy’, even though for us, there
is no controversy.
“Like you will recall, I issued a press
statement yesterday (Monday), on
behalf of the Senate to make our
position very clear with respect to the
issue of the budget. And let me make it
very clear that we issued that statement
simply to clarify the situation and not to
confront any authority or threaten
anybody.
“We are a democratic institution and
whatever we do, we remain guided by
the grund norm of the country which is
the constitution.
“Today, we have resumed plenary,
having come back from our recess and,
of course, we went into executive
session, which is the normal practice, to
welcome one another and discuss issues
that we believe pertain to the burning
issues on ground, in this case, the issue
of the 2016 budget and the smooth
workings of the Senate and the National
Assembly.
“Now, what we issued yesterday
(Monday) remained our position. Today,
all we did was to confirm what exactly
are the true pictures of these situations
and in my capacity as spokesman of the
Senate, I did not go to press with
falsehood.
“I have to verify my facts. I have to get
my facts and to speak on this facts; and I
think we have made that point very clear
and we would definitely remain guided
by the tenets of the Nigerian
Constitution as we did whatever we were
supposed to do.
“Now, one thing that is obvious is that
yes, we have passed the budget,
Nigerians are asking what next for us?
What is important now is for the budget
to be signed.
“The constitution has taken note of this
kind of scenario where you may have
omissions or shortfalls of allocations
and Section 81 of the Constitution is very
clear on what you need to do, which is to
sign the budget and then submit a
supplementary appropriation.
“I want to assure you that the Senate is
not unmindful of the cries of Nigerians.
That we said, for example, that the
Lagos-Calabar rail project was not in the
budget does not in any way undermine
the fact that it is a very, very important
project for this nation to embark on.
“So, the National Assembly, the Senate is
open if the executive brings a
supplementary appropriation with
respect to these and any other issue that
they feel very strongly about. We are
ready and willing to consider such.
“But the most important point to note is
that we want to remain guided by the
provisions of the constitution.
“I think if we do that, all these raging
controversies will be off our back and we
can all concentrate and begin the
process of implementing the 2016
budget so that those dividends of
democracy - youth unemployment
issue, the empowerment of women, the
social intervention programme, the
infrastructure programmes, the
agricultural programmes - are treated.
“The rains are already here and all the
other projects that we know will kick-
start the Nigerian economy can begin to
be implemented.”
He said having passed the budget, “we
are moving into the second phase of our
responsibility, which is oversight.
“So we want to appeal to Nigerians that
the Senate is committed to doing its
work diligently. It is committed to
listening to the yearning of Nigerians
and to do what is right."
However, members of the House of
Representatives kept sealed lips on the
controversy yesterday.
It was expected that the matter would
have been discussed at plenary,
especially as it concerned the bashing
the National Assembly has received
since the information of alleged
“removal” of the project was made
public, but non of the lawmakers raised
the issue.
Even when the chairman of
Appropriation Committee, Abdulmunin
Jibrin, on two occasions approached the
speaker, Yakabu Dogara, on the need for
the issue to be raised, nothing was said
about it.
rebuttal to the National Assembly’s
submission, Monday, that the N60 billion
Calabar-Lagos railway project was not
captured in the 2016 budget, the Federal
Government has insisted that the
project was duly submitted and
accepted by the lawmakers for approval.
This came on a day the Senate said the
protest of the executive would not make
it revisit the budget passed two weeks
ago, asking President Muhammadu
Buhari to submit a supplementary
budget.
Members of the House of
Representatives, however, kept sealed
lips on the matter, yesterday,
But in a statement by the Media Adviser
to the Minister of Budget and National
Planning, Mr. James Akpandem,
yesterday, the federal government
insisted that the relevant committees of
the parliament received the document.
The statement read in full: “In view of
the recent controversies surrounding
the 2016 budget, it has become
necessary to state the following to set
the facts straight: The details of the 2016
budget were received by the President
on Thursday, April 7, 2016.
“Immediately this was received, the
President, desirous of signing the
document into law as soon as possible,
directed that copies should be made
available to heads of the various
Ministries, Departments and Agencies,
MDAs, of the Federal Government.
"Ministers were asked to go through the
details and give their reactions as it
affects their respective Ministries to
guide the President and enable him sign
the Appropriation Bill into law.
“That process is still on-going and no
statement has been issued by the
Executive on the matter, apart from the
one by the Minister of Information,
Alhaji Lai Mohamnmed, to confirm that
details of the budget are being
examined. No final decision has been
taken by the President and no other
statement whatsoever has been issued
on the matter.
“With reference to the specific issue of
the Calabar – Lagos rail project, we will
like to state that the two railway
projects, Lagos-Kano and the Calabar-
Lagos, are very important projects of the
present administration; and it was
always the intention of the Executive to
have both projects reflected in the
budget submitted to the National
Assembly.
“However, it will be recalled that the
Budget Office made a number of errors
in the initial proposals of a number of
ministries. These errors were all
corrected by the Ministry of Budget and
National Planning and the corrected
versions were submitted to the relevant
committees of the National Assembly.
This included that of the Ministry of
Transportation.
“The amended Ministry of
Transportation budget was accepted by
the relevant committees and that was
the version defended by the Minister of
Transportation and his team.
“It must be emphasized that the two rail
projects are part of those for which the
President is currently negotiating
funding with the Chinese government.
“The N60bn provided in the budget for
the Lagos-Kano and Calabar-Lagos rail
lines, respectively, is counterpart
funding to support the Chinese financing
for the projects.
“These projects are part of the Strategic
Implementation Plan of the government
which was disclosed by the Minister of
Budget and National Planning at the
National Economic Council Retreat in
March 2016, in the presence of state
governors.
"They were also mentioned by the Vice
President last week in Lagos at The
Nation Newspaper’s First National
Economic Forum.
“It is hoped that with this clarification,
the raging controversy over the Calabar-
Lagos rail project will be put to rest.”
No going back — Senate
Meanwhile, the Senate,yesterday,said
that in spite of protest by the executive
over alleged non-inclusion of the N60
billion Lagos-Calabar coastal rail project
in the 2016 budget, it would not revisit
the budget.
Instead, the Red Chamber asked
President Muhammadu Buhari to
prepare a detailed supplementary
budget capturing the project and submit
before it for consideration.
The Senate, which took the decision
during its closed-door session, shortly
after resumption of plenary, insisted
that the President must sign the budget
as passed, thus giving indication that the
legislature might override the President
if he vetoed the bill as passed by NASS.
The closed-door session where the
resolution was taken, was clouded in
heated arguments as some senators of
the ruling All Progressives Congress,
APC, insisted on capturing the Lagos-
Calabar rail project in the budget, while
those from the opposition Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, stood firm that
the President must assent the budget
and later submit the project in a
supplementary budget.
Vanguard gathered that the Senate
President, Bukola Saraki, who presided
over the one-hour long session, upheld
the latter due to overwhelming support
for it.
Addressing newsmen later, Chairman,
Senate Committee on Media and Public
Affairs, Abdullahi Sabi, said senators
during the closed session resolved that
the President should assent to the
budget as passed and include things left
out in the main budget in a
supplementary budget.
He insisted that the project, contrary to
the position of the executive that it was
captured in the budget, was not included
and asked the executive to stop
instigating Nigerians against the
legislature which, according to him, has
done so much in the budget to ensure
dividends of democracy were speedily
delivered to them.
He said: “I know very well that the last
one week has been full of the language
you guys have already crafted
‘controversy’, even though for us, there
is no controversy.
“Like you will recall, I issued a press
statement yesterday (Monday), on
behalf of the Senate to make our
position very clear with respect to the
issue of the budget. And let me make it
very clear that we issued that statement
simply to clarify the situation and not to
confront any authority or threaten
anybody.
“We are a democratic institution and
whatever we do, we remain guided by
the grund norm of the country which is
the constitution.
“Today, we have resumed plenary,
having come back from our recess and,
of course, we went into executive
session, which is the normal practice, to
welcome one another and discuss issues
that we believe pertain to the burning
issues on ground, in this case, the issue
of the 2016 budget and the smooth
workings of the Senate and the National
Assembly.
“Now, what we issued yesterday
(Monday) remained our position. Today,
all we did was to confirm what exactly
are the true pictures of these situations
and in my capacity as spokesman of the
Senate, I did not go to press with
falsehood.
“I have to verify my facts. I have to get
my facts and to speak on this facts; and I
think we have made that point very clear
and we would definitely remain guided
by the tenets of the Nigerian
Constitution as we did whatever we were
supposed to do.
“Now, one thing that is obvious is that
yes, we have passed the budget,
Nigerians are asking what next for us?
What is important now is for the budget
to be signed.
“The constitution has taken note of this
kind of scenario where you may have
omissions or shortfalls of allocations
and Section 81 of the Constitution is very
clear on what you need to do, which is to
sign the budget and then submit a
supplementary appropriation.
“I want to assure you that the Senate is
not unmindful of the cries of Nigerians.
That we said, for example, that the
Lagos-Calabar rail project was not in the
budget does not in any way undermine
the fact that it is a very, very important
project for this nation to embark on.
“So, the National Assembly, the Senate is
open if the executive brings a
supplementary appropriation with
respect to these and any other issue that
they feel very strongly about. We are
ready and willing to consider such.
“But the most important point to note is
that we want to remain guided by the
provisions of the constitution.
“I think if we do that, all these raging
controversies will be off our back and we
can all concentrate and begin the
process of implementing the 2016
budget so that those dividends of
democracy - youth unemployment
issue, the empowerment of women, the
social intervention programme, the
infrastructure programmes, the
agricultural programmes - are treated.
“The rains are already here and all the
other projects that we know will kick-
start the Nigerian economy can begin to
be implemented.”
He said having passed the budget, “we
are moving into the second phase of our
responsibility, which is oversight.
“So we want to appeal to Nigerians that
the Senate is committed to doing its
work diligently. It is committed to
listening to the yearning of Nigerians
and to do what is right."
However, members of the House of
Representatives kept sealed lips on the
controversy yesterday.
It was expected that the matter would
have been discussed at plenary,
especially as it concerned the bashing
the National Assembly has received
since the information of alleged
“removal” of the project was made
public, but non of the lawmakers raised
the issue.
Even when the chairman of
Appropriation Committee, Abdulmunin
Jibrin, on two occasions approached the
speaker, Yakabu Dogara, on the need for
the issue to be raised, nothing was said
about it.
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