The Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, issued the directive at a public hearing by the joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance on the implementation of the 2012 Appropriation Act.
Ekweremadu expressed concern over the poor implementation of the budget, adding that the level of implementation was below expectation.
He said that Okonjo-Iweala, who also doubles as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, had last week failed to brief the Senate on the implementation of the budget.
He decried Okonjo-Iweala’s official trip to London to represent the president at an investment forum, saying that there were other officials who could represent the Nigerian government.
``We consider our meeting with her on any issue that has to do with budget implementation to be more important than any other assignment.
``We know there are other ministers and government officials that could as well have done that to enable her to be here with us this afternoon.
`` So it is regrettable that she is not here, '' he said.
He explained that the public hearing was aimed at evaluating the level of performance of the budget and to know what was responsible for the non implementation.
Ekweremadu said the public hearing also offered opportunity for the Senate committees to respond to allegations that the budget performed badly due to ``tinkering’’ by the National Assembly.
``One of the excuses we’ve read from the pages of newspapers for non performance of the budget is what they considered as the tinkering of the budget by the National Assembly.
``So, what we had wanted to do today is to hear from the executive what those tinkering are.
``Let us hear and let the people of Nigeria hear what the National Assembly did to the budget that made it impossible for it to be implemented.
`` So it is not enough for the Executive or the Minister of Finance to be accusing the National Assembly of tampering with the budget that made it impossible for it to be implemented.
``If there are areas that the National Assembly should be blamed, the Nigerian public should hear.''
``If they have response from the National Assembly, our appropriation committees should also respond, ‘’Ekweremadu stressed.
He said the National Assembly was determined to know the actual performance of the budget in terms of the funds released and the projects that were ongoing.
``We want to see whether those releases and utilisation are impacting on Nigerians. We want to see it on roads, water projects and electricity projects going on across the states.
``But now the minister is not here and we are worried about it.
So, it will be absolutely impossible for us to do hold this dialogue with the absence of the coordinating minister of the economy,’’ he said.
The Deputy Senate President subsequently adjourned the public hearing till Thursday to enable the Appropriation Committee to take the necessary legislative action to ensure that the minister appears before it.
``The Committee on Appropriation should take immediate steps including, if possible, summoning the minister to show up before it and other relevant committees by Thursday this week,’’ he added.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Sen. Ahmad Maccido, said the Senate was disappointed at the dismal level of performance of the budget.
``Contrary to claims by the executive that the level of implementation was 56 per cent, we have found out that the performance level is actually 21.5 per cent.
``This is based on records from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. The Senate is not happy about this,’’ he said.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, were among the representatives of the executive at the meeting.
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