2019 BUDGET: MTEF suffers another delay

It’s clear the House of Representatives may continue work on the 2019 Appropriation Bill without the approval of the passage of the 2019-2021 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/ FSP).

This came as passage of the MTEF suffered another delay during the House of Representatives plenary on Tuesday after the presentation of the committee’s report on it was stood down till another legislative day.

The House had listed the presentation of the report by the joint House Committees on Finance; Appropriations; and Aids, Loans and Debt Management on the MTEF as first on the Order Paper of Tuesday, but stood it down after the chairman of Finance, Mr. Ibrahim Babangida, who was billed to present the report, was not on the seat when the item was considered.

Consequently, Speaker Yakubu Dogara ruled that the presentation be suspended to another legislative day and the ruling was unanimously approved.

The House later adjourned till April 2 , to allow the committees organise budget defence sessions for Federal Government ’s ministries, departments and agencies.

The heads of the MDAs are to appear before relevant committees to defend their budgetary proposals in the 2019 Appropriation Bill.

The law stipulates that the MTEF /FSP be sent to the National Assembly for ratification by September of each year, but President Buhari only sent the document to the legislature on November 6, 2018, while he presented the 2019 budget on December 19, 2018.

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MTEF/ FSP contains the economic assumptions with which the budget is meant to be prepared. It should have been passed before the appropriation bill was presented.

Earlier in October last year, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the 2019 -2021 MTEF/ FSP, which proposed N 8.73 trillion for the 2019 budget, N 400 billion lower than that of the current fiscal year.

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