Again NASS postpones passage of 2016 budget

Contrary to expectations, the 2016 budget was not be passed on Wednesday as scheduled as members of the National Assembly said there was need for the fiscal document to be laid on the floors of both chambers by the Appropriation Committees.

It would be recalled that the Appropriation Committee of the two chambers had at a media briefing promised that the N6.08 trillion 2016 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 22, 2015 would be passed today.
The new date of March 17 came after efforts to pass the budget on February 25, 2016 failed.

Following the promise, a copy of the 2016 budget would have been laid yesterday preparatory for its consideration and passage today.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, however told reporters in Abuja that the 2016 budget will be laid today. Abdullahi who is also a member of the Appropriation Committee, noted that after laying the budget, what would remain would be merely administrative work.

Anxiety mounted yesterday following the failure of the Appropriation Committee to lay the budget as promised before Senate adjourned.

There was also no mention of the budget during Senate plenary.

Abdullahi said, “God willing we are laying the budget tomorrow (today). I can assure Nigerians that the budget will be laid tomorrow (today). That tells you that a lot of work has been completed on the budget.”

Abdullahi noted that Nigerians are aware of “the back and front of the budget” saying that by scheduling March 17 to pass the budget, they merely set target for themselves.

He added that members of the National Assembly have taken their time to work on the document because they wanted an implementable budget.

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Abdullahi said, “All is almost set for the laying of the 2016 budget tomorrow (today) in the senate chamber as we have promised Nigerians and with that, one or two processes that are required will take place and we will have our budget as promised.

“This has put to rest any suspicion of what is happening. I am here to inform you that tomorrow 17th, God sparing our lives, the 2016 budget would be laid by the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee.

“We are laying the budget tomorrow; that means that every little work that needed to be done with respect to getting that budget as an appropriation has been done. Literally passing the budget tomorrow means that beyond laying it we will discuss it, by taking it clause by clause and give it the loud voice that would proclaim its passage.

“When a target is set, it is to allow you to work very hard to achieve the target. By virtue of the fact that the budget would be laid tomorrow, it shows that we had worked so hard to get to that point. “The rest after laying the budget is merely administrative. As far as we are concerned, in line with the legislative procedure, by laying the budget tomorrow, it is as good as we have passed the budget.”

Also alluding to the fact that the budget will no longer be passed today as scheduled, Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume informed that the budget would be passed on Tuesday March 22, 2016.

Ndume also said that a clean copy of the budget would be transmitted to President Buhari on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

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