2024 Appropriation Bill: House of Representatives holds citizen's budget townhall

As part of the National Assembly’s ongoing consideration of the 2024 Appropriation Bill, the House of Representatives has held a Citizens' Budget Townhall to harness citizens' input and opinion.

The event which held on Monday, November 4, 2023, at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, has been lauded as a bold initiative of the Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen-led House of Representatives.

Speaking at the event, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen PhD. described the initiative as the fulfillment of a promise made by the “People’s House’ in its recently-launched Legislative Agenda to strengthen the public finance system.

The Speaker further charged citizens and participants at the Townhall to ensure that contributions move beyond mere criticisms to constructive and evidence-based suggestions. He thereafter gave the assurance that the initiative would be sustained all through the life of the 10th Assembly, even before the proposal is laid by the executive arm of government in each financial year.

Speaker Abbas also assured participants that the Green Chamber will work at passing an amendment to the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 being clamoured for, by civil society.

In delivering their messages of goodwill, Representatives of Development Partners and various civic groups hailed the 10th House of Representatives for its efforts at strengthening Nigeria’s democracy. They also described the Citizens’ Town Hall as a demonstration of fundamental democratic principles such as inclusion, transparency and citizen participation.

The partners also urged the Green Chamber to address various development issues, poverty concerns, and the menace of wastage accompanying annual appropriation processes in the past.

On his part, Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, charged the media and civil society to avail Nigerians the right information about budgetary processes. In his exposition on misconceptions around the appropriation process in Nigeria, the former Osun Deputy Governor dismissed the rhetoric of ‘budget padding’ by the National Assembly which he said was impossible given the constitutional “power of the purse’ duty the legislature exercises on behalf of Nigerians.

In separate remarks, other speakers from various non-governmental organisations commended the House for prioritising consultations in determining the priorities and allocations in the budget as a document of public policy. Some of them however, called for a clear consideration of the impact of subsidy removal on vulnerable groups.

Issues were raised about the sectoral allocations for education and health in line with international recommendations while Student and Youth groups called for a smooth implementation of the Students’ Loan Act 2023 to be considered.

Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Abubakar Kabir Abubakar (APC, Kano) in his response promised that the House will harness inputs from the townhall to deliver a budget that addresses the needs of Nigerians.

The event was organised with the support of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PEARL) and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

It follows President Bola Tinubu’s presentation of the N27.5trillion 2024 Budget Proposal to the National Assembly and witnessed a high attendance of honourable members and various civic groups.