Reps criticise Aganga over

The House of Representatives yesterday criticised Minister of Finance Mr. Olusegun Aganga over his claim that the 2011 budget passed by the National Assembly is unimplementable.

The lawmakers said it was wrong for Aganga to have reacted such conclusion.

No budget could be rightly dubbed unimplementable, the House said.

Aganga was quoted to have raised concern about the level of deficit and the level of borrowing contained in the budget.

The minister said: “The 2011 budget is supposed to signal the beginning of fiscal consolidation, but we now have another expansionary budget which is unimplementable.

“If we are to build our economy on a solid foundation and avoid the boom and bust of the past, it is critical that we embrace discipline in the way we manage public finances. We cannot continue like this.”

“I will be advising that we engage the National Assembly to resolve these areas of concern. We have always had a very good relationship with the National Assembly committees. So, I am optimistic that we can resolve these areas of concern very quickly,” Aganga added.

But Chairman, House Committee on Finance, John Enoh, insisted that taking cognisance of the situation of the country, it was not correct to say that the budget was unimplementable.

Enoh said: “Relative to our situation there is no budget that is not implementable.

“It’s not correct for the Minister to say National Assembly has passed a budget that is unimplementable.”