The N8.83 trillion Appropriation Bill presented by President
Muhammadu Buhari to the joint session of the National Assembly on
December 19, last year for consideration will be passed on April
30, Senate President Bukola Saraki has assured.
The Senate yesterday shifted the passage of the 2019
Appropriation Bill. Neither the Chairman, Senate Appropriations
Committee, Danjuma Goje, nor his deputy, Sonny Ogbuoji, was on hand
to comment on the documents.
Besides, the non-availability of copies on the details of the
budget proposal to senators also contributed to the shift in
date.
Details of the budget proposal were presented to the Senate
Wednesday last week and the Senate president had assured
penultimate week that the Senate might pass the budget on April
16.
Announcing the shift in date, Saraki directed the Clerk of the
Senate to make copies available to every senator latest by Monday
to set the stage for the documents’ consideration the following
day.
Saraki said: “Some members have not got printed copies of the
details and I have directed the Clerk to make sure that latest by
Monday, we all have printed copies so that everybody can see the
details of the budget, and by so doing we can now pass it on
Tuesday next week.
“We don’t want to run into problems where we pass it without
details and our colleagues will start to comment.
“So, Clerk, ensure that everybody has copies of the details by
Monday and we will pass it on Tuesday.”
Work on this year’s budget proposal has been slow, owing to the
failure of many of the Senate Standing Committees to submit their
reports in respect of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies
(MDAs) under their oversight.
The various committee reports ought to have been submitted to
the Appropriation Committee by April 11, as earlier directed by
Saraki.
Read more senate-shifts-passage-of-2019-budget-to-april-30/