Find below the full speech of Speaker House Of Representatives, Hon. Abbas at the Citizens Town-Hall On 2024 Appropriation Bill
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REMARKS BY THE RT. HON. ABBAS TAJUDEEN, PH.D., SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AT THE CITIZENS TOWN-HALL ON THE 2024 APPROPRIATION BILL HELD AT THE TRANSCORP HILTON HOTEL, ABUJA, ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2023
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It is with great pleasure that I present the keynote address on the 2024 Appropriation Bill at this citizens’ town hall. You will recall that during the budget proposal presentation by the President, I promised that the House would convene a town hall, in line with our Legislative Agenda, to harness public input and opinion. This event represents the fulfilment of that pledge.
2. I consider today’s meeting highly relevant to deepening democratic governance and strengthening public financial management. The town hall provides a platform for direct engagement between legislators and citizens, focusing on matters related to the national budget. This is crucial to enhancing the transparency of government spending. It also allows the public to be more informed about how public funds are to be used and, by so doing, build greater trust in government institutions. More importantly, however, this town-hall will allow the National Assembly to understand citizens’ needs better and explore ways to address them through the budget.
3. The relevance of this interface is best understood within the larger context of diminished public trust in government institutions in Nigeria and all over Africa. The Afrobarometer study across 36 African countries in 2014/2015 on the theme, “Do trustworthy institutions matter” found that people express more trust in informal institutions such as religious and traditional leaders than in the formal executive agencies of the state. Public trust in parliaments and electoral institutions was lowest across 36 countries. Similarly, the Open Government Partnership found that Nigeria provides “few” opportunities for the public to engage in the budget process. In 2017, it ranked Nigeria 13 out of 100 points in public participation. This poor ranking was due to the dominant role played by the political elite and government bureaucrats in the budgeting process. While some progress has been made since 2017, many traditional challenges remain. The most notable is the absence of functional government mechanisms that show how citizen input informs the budget-making process.
4. This town hall represents a major step in changing the narrative. As indicated in our Legislative Agenda, we are the People’s House. As such, we firmly commit to strengthening public engagement and seeking inputs into the budget process, starting with the pre-budget statement, executive budget proposal, budget debate through public hearings in the legislature, and implementation, monitoring, and reporting of the budget. In the last few months, we have engaged various sections of civil society in some of our core activities, including analysis of the MTEF and sectoral debates. This forum demonstrates our willingness to introduce and support feedback mechanisms and seek public input in the 2024 Appropriation.
5. However, greater citizen engagement requires action not just by the legislature but more so by the Executive. The Nigeria National Action Plan (2017-2019) under the Open Government Partnership identified the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning as the lead institution, with other government organs and agencies and the civil society as support institutions. This places the burden for improving public participation in the budget largely on the Executive. Some of the ways to achieve this include regular publishing of MDA budgets and quarterly and annual budget implementation reports on their websites, annual publishing of a comprehensive citizen’s guide to the budget, conduct of annual citizen’s satisfaction survey and timely publication and dissemination of all key budget documents to facilitate citizens’ participation.
6. The House of Representatives has taken the lead in facilitating greater citizens’ participation in the budget process, and I challenge all MDAs to do the same. On our part, the House will review the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 to strengthen existing provisions to improve access to information and public consultation during all phases of the budget cycle. Specifically, we will amend the FRA to require and define public participation explicitly.
7. Your participation in this town hall meeting underscores the essence of democracy – the power of the people to engage actively in governance and decision-making processes. You are invited to closely examine the 2024 budget proposal as presented to the National Assembly by Mr. President. As representatives of the people, it is our duty to ensure that the annual appropriation reflects the needs and aspirations of every Nigerian citizen. We are acutely aware that so many Nigerians are grappling with the challenges of soaring inflation. In August 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 25.80% relative to the July 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 24.08%. The food inflation rate was 29.34% on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.22% points higher than the rate recorded in August 2022. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics also shows that transportation costs have soared due to the hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit.
8. I wish to reassure all Nigerians that the President, HE. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR and the National Assembly are committed to addressing these hardships. The top priorities of the 2024 Appropriation Bill, as stated by the President, are national security, local job creation and poverty reduction. As a result, he labelled it the “Budget of Renewed Hope”. I call on all of you to support the aspirations of this budget and suggest ways through which the National Assembly can strengthen the proposals to deliver better economic growth and development. Your contributions must go beyond mere criticisms to constructive and evidence-based suggestions on how we can improve the budget process and make the budget more responsive to the needs of all Nigerians.
9. The full involvement of the House Committee on Appropriation is deliberate in view of their role in the overall budget process. The Chairman and his Members have been enthusiastic about this engagement and have actually included it in their work plan. I commend this commitment and am confident that the inputs from this interaction will be considered in the Committee’s final report to the House.
10. Going forward, we will sustain this initiative. We believe this process should start before the budget is presented to the National Assembly. This is critical to ensuring that the budget becomes the people’s budget. We expect that the 2025 budget will be discussed at the constituency level to ensure greater inclusion and engagement with diverse stakeholders at the grassroots level.
11. My fellow compatriots, I appeal that your interest in the budget does not stop here. I urge you to follow up with the oversight supervision of the implementation process after passage. Your full participation can go a long way in strengthening and enhancing legislative oversight. We will leverage your expertise to ensure that budget implementation aligns with legislative intent.
12. On behalf of the Leadership and Members of the House of Representatives, I express our gratitude to our partners for their support in convening this citizens’ town hall. Specifically, we are grateful for the continued support of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL). We look forward to continuous partnership on critical issues of governance.
13. Dear colleagues and fellow citizens, it is my honour and privilege to declare this town hall open as I wish us fruitful deliberations.
14. Thank you, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
