The House of Representatives Wednesday finally dumped the 2013 Appropriation Act Amendment Bill.
This came on the heels of a motion seeking a reversal of the discriminatory government policy on admission to Federal Government Colleges (unity schools).
The House Committee on Education has been mandated to interface with both the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Examinations Council (NECO) to review the policy to guarantee fairness and restore credibility to the system.
The lower chamber of the National Assembly threw away the budget amendment bill after it received the report of an ad hoc committee set up to scrutinise it and advise the chamber on how to handle it in view of the objections earlier raised on it.
In rejecting the bill, the House argued that Section 81 (1), (2) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution did not envisage an amendment to an Appropriation Act, except through supplementary appropriation.
Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Albert Sam-Tsokwa, who read the report during plenary, said the Appropriation Act 2013 Amendment Bill, which President Goodluck Jonathan forwarded to the National Assembly on March 14, had no place in the 1999 Constitution.
Sam-Tsokwa stated that apart from the title of the document, “Appropriation Act 2013 Amendment Bill”, the document had nothing again in it to show that it was a document seeking to amend or repeal and re-enact the 2013 Appropriation Act.
According to him, the five-clause bill was completely silent on which sections of the 2013 Appropriation Act it sought to amend or repeal.It was also silent on the schedules or what aspects of the schedules to the 2013 Act it sought to amend or repeal.
He noted that while the 2013 Appropriation Act appropriated a total sum of N4,987,220,425,601.00 for the 2013 financial year, the 2013 Appropriation Act (Amendment) Bill sought to appropriate a total sum of N4,987,382,196,690.00.
?What the Amendment Bill 2013 seeks to appropriate is more than what was appropriated for the 2013 fiscal year in the 2013 Appropriation Act.
“That is to say, the executive would appear to be seeking additional funds. Obviously, this cannot be achieved through an amendment bill. The answer lies in a Supplementary Appropriation under section 81(4) of the Constitution. Mr. President, being the only authority constitutionally endowed and empowered to initiate a money bill, may wish to re-submit a proper bill as section 81 clearly ties the hands of the parliament,? the report said.
There was no debate on the report as Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, ruled in favour of the earlier objection raised against the bill.
This has effectively put an end to any hope of the House considering the 2013 Appropriation Act Amendment Bill.
The president had via a March 14 letter forwarded the amendment bill to the two chambers of the National Assembly.
The bill passed the first reading stage and was subsequently scheduled for second reading on June 5, but the debate and consideration of the general principles of the bill were stalled when the Chairman, House Services Committee, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, raised a constitutional point of order against the bill.
