As the N10.33 trillion budget debate continues for the second day, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha has lamented the failed integrity of lawmakers, saying that they speak from double sides of their mouth on policy issues.
In his contribution on Thursday in the chambers, he explained that lawmakers, more often than not were not strict in implementing what they formulate, saying that the development adversely stunts the growth of the Nigerian economy.
Knocking the budget which was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, the Deputy Minority leader noted that there was never a time, the budget had 70% implementation since 1999.
“We tend to speak from double sides of the mouth and since 1999, you can check, there was never a time the budget implementation has reached 70%.
“No nation moves forward without taking into consideration what happens in the past. Sometimes what was being implemented was not in the budget and we don’t care.
“We all speak on diversifying the economy as lawmakers and even ministers, but when the budget is being presented, we don’t present what would diversify the nation from a mono-economy.
He said parliamentarians see oversight as a ritual, rather than what they intended to achieve.
“When we go on oversight, we see it as a normal ritual and this happens year in year out without achieving results.”
Bwacha called for adequate funding of security agencies to discourage security agents from compromising with criminals.
“We need to allocate more resources to security agencies to take care of their personnel because you see instances of security compromise with criminals and this is because they are not well remunerated to assist project Nigeria.
About twenty Senators out of 109 contributed to the budget which started yesterday and they are expected to finish debate by the end of October when it will be set for third reading.
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