POWERS      AND   CONTROL   OVER            PUBLIC FUNDS

CONTENTS

1.0       Introduction

2.0       Objectives

• Main Content
• Authorisation of Expenditure from Consolidated Revenue Fund
• Authorisation of Expenditure in Default of Appropriation
• Contingency Fund
• Remuneration of the President and Certain Other Officers
• Audit of Public Accounts
• Appointment of Auditor-General
• Tenure of Office of Auditor-General
• Power to Conduct Investigation
• Power as to Matter of Evidence
• Miscellaneous Provisions
• Recall
• House of Assembly of a State
• Tenure of Seats of Members
• Powers and Control over Public Funds
• Recall

4.0       Conclusion

5.0       Summary

6.0       Tutor-Marked Assignment

7.0       References/Further Readings

INTRODUCTION

In this unit, we shall consider the powers of the legislature as it is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

identify and explain all the powers of the legislative arm of government as it is contained in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

MAIN CONTENT

Establishment of Consolidated Revenue Fund:

• All revenues or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this Constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form one Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation
• No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation except to meet expenditure that is charged upon the fund by this Constitution or where the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Appropriation Act, Supplementary Appropriation Act or an Act passed in pursuance of section 75 of this Constitution.
• No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly
• No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.

Authorisation of Expenditure from Consolidated Revenue Fund

• The President shall cause to be prepared and laid before each House of the National Assembly at any time in each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next following financial year.
• The heads of expenditure contained in the estimates (other than expenditure charged upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation by this Constitution) shall be included in a bill, to be known as an Appropriation Bill, providing for the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the sums necessary to meet that expenditure and the appropriation of those sums for the purposes specified therein 
• If in respect of any financial year it is found:
• that the amount appropriated by the Appropriation Act for any purpose is insufficient; or
• that a need has arisen for expenditure for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by the Act, a supplementary estimate showing the sums required be laid before each House of the National Assembly and the heads of any such expenditure shall be included in a Supplementary Appropriation Bill.

Authorisation of Expenditure in Default of Appropriations

• If the Appropriation Bill in respect of any financial year has not been passed into law by the beginning of the financial year, the President may authorise the withdrawal of moneys from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of the Government of the Federation for a period not exceeding 6 months or until the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act, whichever is earlier;
• Provided that the withdrawal in respect of any such period shall not exceed the amount authorised to be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation under the provisions of the Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly for the corresponding period in the immediately preceding financial year, being an amount proportionate to the total amount so authorised for the immediately preceding financial year.

Contingencies Fund

• The National Assembly may by law make provisions for the establishment of a Contingencies Fund for the Federation and for authorising by the President, if satisfied that there has arisen an urgent and unforeseen need for expenditure for which no other provision exists, to make advances from the Fund to meet the need.
• Where any advance is made in accordance with the provisions of this section, a Supplementary Estimate shall be presented and a Supplementary Appropriation Bill shall be introduced as soon as possible for the purpose of replacing the amount so advanced.

Remuneration of the President and Certain Other Officers

• There shall be paid to the holders of the offices mentioned in this section such salaries and allowances as may be prescribed by the National Assembly
• The salaries and allowances payable to the holders of the offices so mentioned shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation
• The salaries payable to the holders of the said offices and their conditions of service other than allowances shall not be altered to their disadvantage after their appointment.
• The offices aforesaid are the offices of the President, Vice- President, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justices of the Supreme Court, president of the Federal Court of Appeal, Justices of the Federal Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Judges of the Federal High Court, the Auditor-General for the Federation and the Chairman and Members of the following executive bodies, namely: the Federal Civil Service Commission, the Federal Electoral Commission, the Federal Judicial Service Commission, the Police Service Commission and the National Population Commission.
• Provisions may be made by an Act of the National Assembly for the grant of a pension or gratuity to or in respect of a person who has held office as President or Vice-President and was not removed from office as a result of impeachment; and any pension granted by virtue of any provision made in pursuance of this subsection shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
• The recurrent expenditure of judicial officers of the Federation (in addition to salaries and allowance of the judicial officers mentioned in subsection (4) of this section) shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

Audit of Public Accounts

• There shall be an Auditor-General for the Federation who shall be appointed in accordance with the provisions of section 80 of this Constotution.
• The public accounts of the Federation and of all offices, courts and authorities of the Federation, including all persons and bodies established by law entrusted with the collection and administration of public moneys and assets, shall be audited and reported on by the Auditor-General; and for that purpose, the Auditor-General or any person authorised by him in that behalf shall have access to all books, records, returns and other documents relating to these accounts.
• The Auditor-General shall submit his reports to each House of the National Assembly, and each House shall cause the reports to be considered by a committee of the House of the National Assembly responsible for public accounts.
• In the exercise of his functions under this Constitution, the Auditor-General shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other authority or person.

Appointment of Auditor-General

• The Auditor-General for the Federation shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Federal Civil Service Commission subject to confirmation by the Senate.
• Power to appoint persons to act in the office of the Auditor- General shall vest in the President.
• Except with the sanction of a resolution of the Senate, no person shall act in the office of the Auditor-General for a period exceeding 6 months.

Tenure of Office of Auditor-General

• A person holding the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation shall be removed from office by the President acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) or for misconduct.
• The Auditor-General shall not be removed from office before such retiring age as may be prescribed by law, save in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Power to Conduct Investigation

• Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, each House of the National Assembly shall have power by resolution published in its journal or in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation to direct or cause to be directed an investigation into:
• any matter or thing with respect to which it has power to make laws; and
• the conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charge, or intended to be charged, with the duty of or responsibility for:
• executing or administering laws enacted by the National Assembly, and
• disbursing or administering moneys appropriated or to be appropriated by the National Assembly.
• The powers conferred on the National Assembly under the provisions of this section are exercisable only for the purpose of enabling it:
• to make laws with respect to any matter within its legislative competence and to correct any defects in existing laws; and
• to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it.

Power as to Matter of Evidence

• For the purposes of any investigation under section 82 of this Constitution and subject to the provisions thereof, the Senate or the House of Representatives or a committee appointed in accordance with section 58 of this Constitution shall have power:
• to procure all such evidence, written or oral, direct of circumstantial, as it may think necessary or desirable, and to examine all persons as witnesses whose evidence may be material or relevant to the subject-matter;
• to require such evidence to be given on oath;
• to summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place or to produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control, and to examine him as a witness and require him to produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control, subject to all just exceptions; and
• to issue a warrant to compel the attendance of any person who, after having been summoned to attend, fails, refuses or neglects to do so and does not excuse such failure, refusal or neglect to  the satisfaction of the House or the committee in question, and to order him to pay all costs which may have been occasioned in compelling his attendance or by reason of his failure, refusal or neglect to obey the summons, and also to impose such fine as may be prescribed for any such failure, refusal or neglect; and  any fine so imposed shall be recoverable in the same manner as a fine imposed by a court of law.
• A summons or warrant issued under this section may be served or executed by any member of the Nigeria Police Force or by any person authorised in that behalf by the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may require.

Miscellaneous Provisions

It must be borne in mind that each of the Houses has powers to regulate its own procedure including the procedure for summoning and recess of the House. Each House has power to appoint a committee of its members for such special or general purposes that it thinks fit for the effective performance of its functions. And in this regard provisions are made which allow the House to delegate any of its functions to any committee by way of resolution, regulations or otherwise.

It must also be remembered that provisions are made compelling the Senate or the House of Representatives to sit for a period of not less  than 181 days in a year; while the Federal Electoral Commission is being saddled in the Constitution with the responsibility and modes of conducting elections. To this end, the commission is permitted to make laws and regulations binding elections to a National Assembly.

Lastly, it must be remembered that all elected people to any of the Houses must declare their assets and liabilities and also take oath of the office before they can function either as a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives.

Recall

The 1989 Constitution goes a long way to enforce dedication of duties.  It is no longer easy for an elected member to abandon his or her functions to the electorates after election without taking the booth and face the reprisal of being recalled. Since section 68 of the Constitution provides as follows:

“A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives may be recalled as such a member if:

• there is presented to the Chairman of the National Electoral Commission a petition in that behalf signed by more than one- half of the persons registered to vote in that member’s Constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member; and
• the petition is thereafter in a referendum conducted by the National Electoral Commission within 90 days of the date of receipt of the petition, approved by a simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency.

House of Assembly of a State

The House of Assembly of a State consists of three times the total number of seats which that State has in the House of Representatives.

The members are usually elected in an election and they must be Nigerian citizens of not less than 21 years of age each by the 1979 Constitution and 25 years of age by the 1989 Constitution.

Apart from the age barrier, they should have the same qualification and disqualification criteria like members of the National Assembly.

This body has power to make laws by passing bills for their states; and regulation prevails for the assenting procedures by the Governors which are more or less the same with that of the National Assembly.

The House of Assembly of a State has powers to regulate also its own procedure including the procedure for summoning and recess of the House.

The House can appoint a committee of its own members for any special or general purpose as in its opinion is necessary for the effective discharge of its functions.

The House shall be dissolved at the expiration of 4 years commencing from the date of the first sitting of the House unless the Governor through proclamation issues otherwise as provided in the Constitution.

Tenure of Seats of Members

• A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if:
• he becomes a member of another legislative house;
• any other circumstances arise that, if he were not a member of that House, would cause him to be disqualified for election as such a member;
• he ceases to be a citizen of Nigeria;
• he becomes President, Vice-President, Governor, Deputy Governor or a Minister of the Government of the Federation or a Commissioner of the Government of a State;
• save as otherwise provided by this Constitution, he becomes a member of a commission or other body established by this Constitution or by any other law;
• without just cause he is absent from meetings of the House of Assembly for a period amounting in the aggregate to more than one-third of the total number of days during which the House meets in any one year; or
• being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected;

Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of 2 or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.

• A member of a House of Assembly shall be deemed to be absent without just cause from a meeting of the House of Assembly unless the person presiding certifies in writing that he is satisfied that the absence of the member from the meeting was for a just cause.

Powers and Control over Public Funds

These powers are contained in sections 112 of the 1979 Constitution  and section 118 of the 1989 Constitution. Also the mode  of authorisation of expenditure from Consolidated Revenue Fund may be found in sections 113 and 119 of the 1979 and 1989 Constitutions respectively.

Both Constitutions also contain provisions for authorisation of expenditure in default of appropriation, provisions governing how to make or utilize Contingency Fund, provisions for the Remuneration of the Governor and certain other officers, are also contained in the Constitutions, while comprehensive provisions are equally made for (a) Audit of Public Accounts, (b) Appointment of Auditor-General of a State, (c) Tenure of office of the Auditor-General, (d) Power to conduct investigations; and (e) power as to matters of evidence.

Learners are therefore enjoined to read the relevant portions of these constitutional provisions for proper assimilation and understanding.

Recall

The Recall principle contained in relation to the National Assembly in the 1989 Constitution applies by virtue of section 108 to a member of the House of Assembly.

CONCLUSION

In this unit, you learnt about the constitution, the legislature and the powers of the legislation to appropriate money and pass bills.

SUMMARY

In this unit, we have considered the constitutional provision of the powers of the legislature and how they can authorise expenditure of states etc.

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

What is the significance of the legislature authorisation of spending of money by the state?

REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS

Karibi-Whyte, A.H. (1987) . The Relevance of the Judiciary in the polity in Historical Perspectives. NIALS.

Akinola T. A. (1985).          The Challenges of the Nigeria Nation: An Examination of its Legal Development 1960 – 1985 (ed.)

 

Heoffet. The Map of African by Treaty.