More Reasons Emerge On Why NASS Could Not Reconvene On Tuesday As Scheduled

More reasons have emerged on why the National Assembly could not reconvene today as earlier speculated

“Reconvening tomorrow (today) can’t happen, because it can’t achieve anything. ‎What the president is asking for [virement] is very difficult to approve within a short period because it entails taking money from projects already appropriated for under the 2018 budget,” a source said.

Another source said “What the president is asking for is under constituency projects, which are under various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and you know you can’t remove anything from the projects under MDAs without engaging them.

“Had it been the president came under pure supplementary budget, it would have been a different thing. But to do the virement, you need all the ministries to come and agree and the committees also need to sit with the ministries,” the source who did not want to be named said.

“Legislators are in their constituencies, while some Muslims among them have gone on Hajj. If we sit tomorrow, we can’t achieve anything. It is a very complex situation,” he added.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Yussuf Suleimon Lasun was reported last week to have said that the House would reconvene to consider and approve the elections funds.

Senate spokesman Abdullahi Sabi (APC, Niger) could not be reached, but his House of Reps counterpart Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa) told Daily Trust that the House was yet to agree on any date of emergency resumption to approve the elections budget.

‎‎Buhari ‎had on July 17 requested the National Assembly to approve the sum of N242.445bn for INEC and relevant security agencies for the 2019 elections, out of which the sum of N164.1bn would be approved under virement/supplementary proposal in the 2018 budget.

It was gathered that the National Assembly was ready to approve the N164.1bn under this year’s budget, while the balance would be appropriated for in next year’s budget.

“The most important thing to say is that INEC was invited to meet with the National Assembly leadership on how the proposed budget for the 2019 elections can be speedily considered and appropriated by the National Assembly.

CKN NEWS

Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Editor In Chief of CKNNEWS || He is a Law graduate and an Alumnus of Lagos State University, Lead City University Ibadan and Nigerian Institute Of Journalism || With over 2 decades practice in Journalism, PR and Advertising, he is a member of several Professional bodies within and outside Nigeria || Member: Institute Of Chartered Arbitrators ( UK ) || Member : Institute of Chartered Mediators And Conciliation || Member : Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations || Member : Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria || Fellow : Institute of Personality Development And Customer Relationship Management || Member and Chairman Board Of Trustees: Guild Of Professional Bloggers of Nigeria

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