The Nigerian procedure for the passage
of an appropriation bill is based on our
own mate character which seeks to identify
detailed treatment of appropriation bill beyond
the continues of the committee on appropriation. It also involve
all standing committees of the
legislature in the appropriation of funds for public expenditure. Since it is the function of the executive arm to
implement the laws passed by the
legislature, and being also the arm of government directly involved in governance,
the executive has the responsibility
for initiating a draft
appropriation bill and
preparing the accompanying draft estimated, placing both before the
legislature . once both the draft bill
and the estimates are in the possession
of the legislature the procedure for
dealing with them until the estimates are approved and the appropriation bill is passed into
law proceeds , in summary, along
the following steps
1.
First, at the beginning of every national assembly,
standing committees are established along functional lines . thus they bear appellations for ministries for
which they have over sight responsibilities.
2.
secondly, the
appropriation committee being a standing
committee, is charged with the
specific responsibility of appropriating funds for the execution of authorized
programmes, but goes about it in a
unique way.
3.
thirdly, after the second reading, an appropriation bill goes to all
the standing committees as explained in (iv ) below
4.
after the second reading, while the appropriation bill
itself goes straight to the committee on appropriation, the heads of estimates go to their various
functional sub committees . thus each standing committee becomes a sub committee
of the appropriation committee, to deal with the head of estimates pertaining to the ministry for which it ahs functional responsibility. It
is worthy of note that appropriation
bills come only from the presidency or governor to the national assembly or
state house of assembly and
undergoes 1st and 2nd readings
5.
During settings
of the sub committees on
appropriation, a member of the
appropriation committee sets on with each sub committee, man advisory capacity
only, as he does not vote or interfer
with the sub committees proceeding and final repot
6.
While the chairman of the appropriation committee has
the overall responsibility for
coordinating the works of all the sub
committees on appropriation, the chairman
of each sub committee
reports at the end of his sub committees deliberations to the chairman of
the appropriation committee.
7.
when the chairman of the sub committee ahs presented his sub
committees report to the
appropriation committees chairman
, a day is forced for deliberations while
the chairman of the sub committee presents his sub committees report defending it
8.
after successful
deliberation, a clean copy of the sub committees report it prepared, ready
for presentation on the floor of the house
9.
the chairman of
the appropriation committee then takes a
date from the chairman of the rules and business committee of the house of representative
/rules and procedure committee of the
senate for the presentation of the sub committees report on the particular head of
estimate handled by the sub –committee
10. on
the date of the presentation of the sub committee report, including the
recommendations, the chairman of the appropriation committee is the floor
manager while the chairman of the sub
committee whose report is being presented is the assistant floor manager. Immediately after the presentation
of the report to the house, copies are circulated to all members. At the same time, the
chairman of the rules and business
committee derts members of the date the
report will be formally considered by the house in committees
11. on
the date for consideration of the report of the sub committee, the
chairman of the appropriation committee,
being the floor manager, pilots the
report and moves resolution on each
item of expenditure as recommended in the report
while the chairman of the sub committee
assists him.
12. for the
consideration of the report, the house resolves itself into a committee
of the whole house to pass the
resolutions on each item of the head of estimates
13. after
the essential resolutions have been
passed on the whole heads of estimates,
the bill, with the schedule summarizing
the amount of each head of estimates on which resolution had earlier been
passed attached, is brought back into the house of it goes to the report.
After the report stage, the bill is thereafter
reported to the house and after the adoption of the report stage, the bill goes
through the third reading and is passed as the appropriation bill and sent to
the other house.
Both houses more often than not, come out with different versions
and like the congressional process, the two
houses appoint equal number of
conferees from both houses invariably from the appropriation committee of the
house of representatives and the
appropriation and finance committee of
the senate to go into conference to resolve the difference .
Finally, the two houses will
adopt the conference report and
thereafter pass the appropriation bill. All the
amendments made by the national assembly will have been incorporated in
the draft estimates and a dean copy produced as the approved estimates.
The clean bill, accompanied by
the approved estimates is thereafter
sent by the desk to the national
assembly to the president for his assent. The bill then
becomes the ‘Appropriation Act.
REFERENCE
The worlds most expensive club,
the economist 2007-05-24
Sovereign wealth funds new hedge
fund . the new York times 2007-08-01
Who holds the wealth of nation?
(PDF) Central Banking Journal (May 2005) volume
15, number 4). archived form the original on 2008-05-29 retrieved 2008-09-02
EZEALI B.O and
Nwoba M.O.E (2012) public finance
administration in Nigeria cases and
issues. Chambers books limited Onitsha
Anambra State: Nigeria