Business
No errors in budget proposals, Budget Office insists
Following the observation of discrepancies by the National Assembly in the 2019 budget, the budget office on Thursday insisted there were none of such errors.
A statement signed by the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, said the office had met with the Secretariat of the House Appropriations Committee to review the budget.
He maintained that the 2019 budget was prepared and presented using format of previous years, hence, the impossibility of errors.
The statement read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to the allegation by a member of the House of Representatives during its debate on the 2019 Budget Proposals yesterday concerning errors and/or discrepancies in the 2019 Appropriations Bill.
“Earlier today, officials of the Budget Office of the Federation met with the Secretariat of the House Appropriations Committee to review the honourable member’s observations.
Read also: 2019 BUDGET: Reps suspend debate over FG’s failure to reconcile figures
“The outcome of the review is that there are no errors/discrepancies as alleged by the honourable member.
“It is instructive to note that the presentation format of both the Appropriations Bill and Budget Details for 2019 are consistent with prior years.
“Although we have yet to receive any formal communication from the National Assembly on these observations, we have written a letter to the House Appropriations Committee Chairman, and are issuing this statement in view of wide coverage the observations have received in the media.”
Recall that the House of Representatives had during the second reading of the 2019 Appropriation Bill on Wednesday, said it detected some miscalculations in the budget and consequently directed ministries of finance and budget to reconcile the figures on or before Thursday.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...