The National Assembly is still working on the 2016 budget, a week after it passed the appropriation bill, it was learnt on Wednesday.
Members of the Senate Committee on Appropriation met for hours in the office of their Chairman, Senator Danjuma Goje, on Wednesday, to continue the scrutiny of the 2016 budget, which was hurriedly passed on March 23.
The PUNCH learnt that the Senate, at plenary, passed the 2016 Appropriation Bill last week to calm frayed nerves over the document but it was learnt that the committee had yet to conclude work on the bill.
A member of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told one of our correspondents on Wednesday that the intention of the Senate was to transmit highlights of the 2016 budget to the President while work continued on the details, which he claimed was full of errors and repetition.
He said, “We were in a fix a few days to the passage of the 2016 budget when the National Assembly Budget and Research Office brought copies of its booklet, which contained errors it said it discovered in the 2016 budget.
“We had to agree that highlights of the budget be passed and transmitted to the Presidency while we withhold the details so that we can cross-check the claims of NABRO in the booklet.
“From the look of things, it will take another two to three weeks for us to conclude work on the budget. We are not alone, financial experts are also involved in the scrutiny.”
Goje ignored attempts by journalists to interview him while the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, who was not available in office on Wednesday, did not return repeated calls to his mobile neither did he respond to a text message sent to him.
A booklet on the 2016 budget, containing errors, repetitions and alleged padding in the document, was published by NABRO penultimate week.
On its part, the House of Representatives said the Presidency would get the full details of the 2016 budget within the next one week.
“The details should not take more than a week or two after passing the budget,” the House said.
It, however, pointed out that Buhari could still sign the 2016 Appropriation Bill already forwarded to him while the details could come later.
Add Comment