PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) members in the House of Representatives at the weekend cautioned their colleagues in the opposition parties against playing politics with the current disagreement between the Executive and Legislature on the 2013 budget Bill.
The lawmakers, who spoke under the umbrella of PDP Renaissance Group, noted that making offensive statements at a time the leadership of the National Assembly and the Presidency were meeting to resolve their differences in the budget bill could spell doom for the country's economy and jeopardise the welfare of Nigerians.
The PDP Renaissance Group led by Kaka Kyari Gujbawu (PDP, Borno State), also admonished the National Assembly to strike a favourable balance among the various interests currently delaying the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and come up with an Act that best protects the country over all economic interest.
The group accused the opposition lawmakers of trying to distort the economic policy of the PDP-led Federal Government by seeking to negatively restructure the 2013 budget.
It said: "The only problem is that fundamentally, what the opposition wants us to do, is to fundamentally alter the very foundation of the budget. That is going to lead to a very big structural problem and that will not be acceptable. I do not think the 200 PDP members in that House will be hoodwinked by the antics of the opposition. We stand by our leadership because it is in the interest of Nigerians and we have the mandate to lead Nigeria to join the comity of developed nations."
Following the refusal of the President to assent to the N4.987 trillion 2013 budget bill as passed by the National Assembly, series of meetings and negotiations have been going on between the two to resolve the grey areas.
But at a press conference last week, opposition lawmakers led by House Minority leader, Femi Gbajabiamilla, rose from a meeting threatening to mobilise members to override the President's veto on the budget bill.
Gujbawu's PDP Renaissance Group described the threat as not only empty but an attempt to frustrate the economic policies of the Federal Government, pointing out that such moves would be totally destructive to the interests of members of the 360 federal constituencies that the House represents.
The group added: "The advice I want to give stakeholders in this budget issue, I mean both my colleagues in the National Assembly and the Executive, is to let us put the country first. Let us take our selfish interests out of this. And by the time each and everyone of us, both from the Executive and Legislature decides that Nigeria comes first, I am sure we are going to fix this thing easier and earlier than we thought without rancour."
Briefing journalists in Abuja on behalf of his group, Gujbawu said "But I think we should not politicise this process which is the normal and healthy process in budget formulation anywhere in the world in any kind of democracy. My own quarrel is that some members of the opposition are trying to politicise an otherwise healthy process in any budget process all over the world. We should stand against that; we should condemn that without being equivocal about it."
The Guardian