The
National Assembly received a report on the 2016 budget on Tuesday from
the Senate and the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Appropriation.
The
report retained the corrected total budget figure of N6.07tn as presented to
the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.
There
were strong indications that the two chambers of the National Assembly would
pass the 2016 budget today (Wednesday).
The
federal lawmakers, who had earlier slated last week for the submission of the
report, postponed it because of fresh errors they said were discovered in the
fiscal document.
In
the Senate, the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Senator Danjuma Goje,
presented the report of the budget on the floor of the upper chamber.
The
Chairman, Senate Committee on Education (Basic), Senator Aliyu Wamakko,
confirmed to one of our correspondents that the budget would be
considered and passed today (Wednesday).
He
said the Senate might possibly hold two sessions on Wednesday to enable it to
pass the fiscal document.
He
said, “We have perfected necessary arrangements to ensure that the budget is
considered and passed before we proceed on recess tomorrow (Wednesday).’’
It was learnt that the
Senate would proceed on Easter Break on Wednesday as a result of the trial of
the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, which resumes at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal on Thursday.
In
the House of Representatives, investigations indicated that many lawmakers raised
doubts as to whether the report contained padded provisions.
Members
reportedly “grumbled” that there was no verifiable information on the several
meetings on the budget held between the National Assembly’s joint committee and
the officials of the executive, led by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi
Adeosun.
“There
were several meetings the officials held with the executive in their bid to
clean up the errors in the budget.
“Those
meetings did not provide details of the outcome; members still cannot vouch for
this report, that it does not contain padded provisions in spite of the efforts
made to clean up the budget”, a National Assembly official disclosed .
It
was gathered that the suspicion of padded provisions was the “real reason” the
joint committee failed twice to produce the report of the budget before
Tuesday.
Findings
showed that in a bid to bring the matter under control, the various caucuses of
the House held marathon meetings up to Monday night, where the members were
said to have been briefed on the need to accept the budget so that government
activities could move forward.
It
was learnt that the meetings were rounded off by a meeting of the leadership of
the House on Monday night and another meeting on Tuesday morning few hours to
the commencement of sitting.
The
Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, presided over the leadership meeting,
which also had in attendance the House Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, as well
as other principal officers.
The
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas,
claimed that there were no new discrepancies in the budget.
“There
is no problem at all; the report has been laid,” he stated.
He
admitted that a budget could not be “100 per cent perfect”, adding that the
final report was the painstaking effort of the joint committee.
The
House had planned to receive the report on Monday and pass the budget, but had
to suspend the consideration in honour of a member, who died over the weekend.
The
late member, Mr. Musa Onwana, represented Nasarawa State in the House.
Dogara,
who presided over the session, only allowed the report to be laid due to
“overriding national interest.”
He
called that the House should adjourned till Wednesday (today) for the
consideration and possible passing of the budget.
Members
later observed a minute’s silence in honour of their late colleague and also
prayed for the repose of his soul.
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