National Assembly delays controversial budget passage

– The National Assembly postpones the passage of the 2016 budget

– The next date for the passage is still unknown

– “We need sufficient time to pass a comprehensive budget.”

The National Assembly has announced the indefinite postponement of 2016 budget passage, which had been earlier scheduled for February 25, due to various controversies surrounding the document. Future date for the passage of the budget was not provided.

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Addressing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, the chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives committees on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Representative Abdulmumin Jibrin, enumerated a number of issues why the passage was postponed.

Abdulmumin Jibrin said: “There are a lot of controversies surrounding the budget. We feel that we have to come here, interact with you, make some clarifications so that Nigerians will know the correct situation of things regarding the 2016 Budget.

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We designed a timetable for the consideration and passage of the budget and by that particular timetable that we will pass the budget on February 25, 2016. But as you are all aware, a lot of issues have come up and gladly so even the Executive arm of government has also come out to accept the fact that there has been a lot of errors in the budget.

Again during the budget defence, a lot of issues based on the padding of the budget arising from over bloated overhead and in some instances cases of over bloated personnel cost. But generally, there has been a lot of issues. The appropriation committee would look at these issues after the whole budget defence to do a very thorough work aimed at doing a proper clean up of the budget.

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To liaise with all the stakeholders to enable us pass the budget that is implementable. Budget that is good from the perspective of the legislature and also acceptable to the Executive arm of the government. So, in summary, the timetable for the passage of the budget is no longer realistic because the appropriation committees of both chambers of the National Assembly, we need additional time to be able to do a thorough job for the 2016 Budget.”

It would be recalled that only last week the Senate committee on education uncovered about N10billion hidden in the 2016 budget of the Federal Ministry of Education. Also, this Monday, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, announced that the figures of the original budget of his ministry had been forged and therefore should be discarded.

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