Nigerian dailies were this week dominated with the presentation of the 2009 budget by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, to a joint session of the country’s National Assembly.
The budget presentation was delayed, giving rise to media speculations.
Also on the news was the political imbroglio that led to the loss of hundreds of lives in the north central Plateau State capital of Jos.
The build up to the budget presentation since last week and early in this week received mention in the national newspapers as each daily speculated on the day of presentation as well as possible reasons for the delay.
However, as the 2.8 trillion naira budget was presented, the question on the lips of discerning Nigerian economists was how well did the government do in the implementation of the 2008 budget?
Failure to properly implement the 2008 budget pitched the National Assembly against the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, who was reported to have blamed the failure partly on the late passage by the assembly.
The assembly would not take kindly to the indictment and has demanded an apology from the minister, who also was reported to have chastised the assembly for passing the buck.
The headline was “Budget War: Executive has Failed” in the Sun newspaper; “N’Ass embly Faults Usman’s Statement on Budget,” in Thisday, “2008: Budget: N’Assembly takes on Presidency,” in the Punch, with riders “Senate demands apology; We can’t do their work for them – Reps and 2009 appropriation under threat as oil prices continue to slide.”
However, the Nation newspaper, under the headline “Mark (Senate President) lashes Finance Minister,” reported the Senate President taking it out on the Finance Minister over the alleged indictment of the National Assembly.
The Jos political mayhem, which is said to have claimed no fewer than 300 lives, has led to the redeployment of the state police commissioner, Mr.Sani Wudah, to the Police Headquarters in the Federal Capital, Abuja, and his replacement with Mr. Haruna El-Rufai.
Plateau State Governor David Jang was also reported to have gone to Abuja to give President Yar’Adua a first-hand report of the situation.
But Yar’Adua was mid-week reported to have stopped the governor from swearing the council chairmen, whose election caused the crisis in the first instance.
The story was headlined “Jos mayhem: Police commissioner redeployed” and “Jang in Aso Rock, says ‘President didn’t snub me” in the Sun; “PDP asks security agencies to probe Jos crisis” the Guardian; “PDP fingers ANPP in Jos Crisis”, Thisday;
“JOS CRISIS: Police commissioner, others removed” the Nigerian Tribune.