afrol News, 4 December - Nigerian finance minister has blamed the National Assembly for poor performance of the 2008 budget and poor understanding by civil servants on the new public procurement act.

Minister Shamsuddeen Usman said the delayed approval of the 2008 budget by the national assembly could be attributed to sluggish implementation of the budget.

According to reports, the federal government was only able to implement between 40 and 45 per cent of the total budget.

He said government had organised consultations on the budget, which proved to have delayed the budget passage through the national assembly.

Mr Usman also said the new Public Procurement Act, further delayed budget implementation, as civil servants did not understand the new rules of the game in public procurement.

He however said unspent funds in the 2008 financial year are not lost, saying it was illegal to carry forward funds of the previous year into a new year, though he admits that it is important for projects to be implemented.

"Let's remember that this money is not lost, the idea is to recover our money and to get projects implemented. That is the purpose but I believe that next year should be better," he said.

However, reacting to the Minister's accusations, representatives of Senate and House of representatives could not entertain the charges, saying they were looking forward to better implementation of 2009 budget.

"Let us tolerate whatever they say, but they should ensure that they implement the 2009 budget," the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Mr Ayo Adeseun was quoted saying.

Watchdog organisations rank Nigeria among the world's most-corrupt countries in the world, tough Nigerian president Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has committed to root out all forms of corruption.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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