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Senate to pass 2018 budget May 16
The Senate has said that the report by the Joint Senate and House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation on the 2018 Appropriation Bill will be considered and passed on Wednesday May 16, 2018, making it the most delayed budget in nineteen years.
Speaking at a Press Conference on Wednesday, Senate Spokesman, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said the committee on appropriation is working to ensure the report of the budget is laid next week Tuesday, stressing that the budget would be passed next Wednesday.
Senate President Bukola Saraki, had on Monday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari alongside Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said the report would be laid this week, while the passage would be done later in the week or by next week.
In his words, “Hopefully, it should be laid this week, if it can be laid this week and passed early next week, we are hoping it will be laid this week.”
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However, the report could not be laid at the Senate on Thursday before the chamber adjourned plenary to Tuesday, 15th May, 2018. The Senate cancelled Thursday’s plenary to allow members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus prepare for the Local Government Area congresses of the party holding on Saturday.
Abdullahi attributed the failure of the Senate Committee on Appropriation for not laying the report of the budget this week to the fact that they are putting some “finishing touches” to the report.
“They are being careful so as not to make mistakes. The report would be laid next week Tuesday and by Wednesday, we will approve it.
“The good thing is that, it is the harmonized version that would be laid. So whatever is laid in the senate would be laid in the House of Representatives, and it would be considered and passed same time,” Abdullahi said.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, formally presented N8.612 trillion 2018 Budget Proposal called “Budget of Consolidation” before the Joint Session of the National Assembly, the budget proposal is 16 per cent higher than 2007 Budget estimates.
By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan..
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