Jonathan delegates Okonjo-Iweala to present Budget 2014

President Goodluck Jonathan has delegated Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy to present the 2014 Appropriation Bill to the joint session of the National Assembly on his behalf on Thursday.

This was revealed in a letter written by the President and read to lawmakers of both chambers of the National Assembly on Wednesday. 

It will be the first time that the president of Nigeria will delegate such a constitutional responsibility to a minister.

“It has never been done before. Not in any democracy in the world”, said a former Nigerian senator who felt the delegation of the duty amounts to an insult to the National Assembly.

The presentation of the budget was postponed twice because the Senate and the House of Representatives could not agree on the crude oil benchmark to be used in calculating the budget estimate.

However, ahead of tomorrow’s presentation, the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved $77.5 as crude oil benchmark and also adopted the conference report on the 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).The President had initially proposed $74 as the oil benchmark, but the Senate had insisted on $76.5 as the oil benchmark, while the House of Representatives also insisted on $79.

The two chambers agreed on $77.5 yesterday as a middle ground approach, thus paving the way for the presentation of the budget.However, the lawmakers may not begin work on the Appropriation Act until next year as they will be proceeding on their Christmas and New Year vacation on Thursday.

.Story updated by 11p.m Wednesday.