SAN FRANCISCO, August 22, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking emergency powers from the National Assembly to push his planned stimulus for the economy.
According to The Nation, the objectives of the action-plan on the economy, which is in recession, include shoring up the value of the naira, creation of more jobs, boosting of foreign reserves, reviving the manufacturing sector and improving power.
Sources said the decision to seek emergency powers for the President was based on a proposal from the economic team headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The team reviewed the various policies so far introduced and how they have affected the economy and decided that unless there is an urgency which some of the extant laws will not permit, “the recession may be longer than expected and Nigerians will not get the desired respite, which is the goal of this government.”
An executive bill titled: “Emergency Economic Stabilisation Bill 2016” is to be presented to the National Assembly when the Senate and the House of Representatives resume from vacation on September 12.
The bill will be asking for the President to be given sweeping powers to set aside some extant laws and use executive orders to roll out an economic recovery package within the next one year.
Buhari will also be seeking powers to abridge the procurement process to support stimulus spending on critical sectors of the economy; make orders to favour local contractors/suppliers in contract awards and abridge the process of sale or lease of government assets to generate revenue.
The President will also seek budgetary allocation to projects that are urgent, without going back to the National Assembly; amend certain laws, such as the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Act, so that states that cannot access their cash trapped in the accounts of the commission because they cannot meet the counterpart funding, can do so.
Although the president has the power to order the sale or lease of any government asset to raise cash, the procedure is cumbersome and long, thus, the draft bill is meant to ease the process.
The government source said about nine government assets may be leased or sold to generate around $50billion to shore up the nation's foreign reserves and the value of the naira against the United States dollar.
“Nigeria may be broke at the moment but we are not a poor country, given our assets and capability,” the source revealed.
“About N58 billion is trapped in UBEC's coffers because the states cannot access it as a result of the key condition, which is the payment of 50 per cent counterpart funding. The government is seeking an amendment to the law so that states will pay only 10 per cent as counterpart funding.
“The objective is that state governments will have access to cash to develop education. This will facilitate creation of jobs since contracts will be awarded for the projects.
As for contract awards, the government, by the provisions of the law, cannot mobilise contractors with more than 15 per cent of contract sum. This is considered to be undesirable by the economic team given the pace the government wants to move in turning the economy around and in the provision of critical infrastructure. The bill will seek to allow the government to mobilise contractors with 50 per cent of contract sum.
For the power sector, the government plans to truck gas from source to the power plants to enable them get what they need for generation.
THEWILL learned that President Buhari will engage the leadership of the National Assembly before their resumption to solicit support for the bill's quick passage as Nigeria moves to turnaround the ailing economy from all fronts having successfully gotten the NDA, the militant group in the Niger Delta, to end its destruction of oil facilities.
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