Skip to main content

N’Assembly, Presidency Reach Compromise on Budget Details


After weeks of wrangling over the 2016 Appropriation Bill, the National Assembly and the presidency finally reached a compromise on the finer details of the budget, which will be submitted this morning to President Muhammadu Buhari so that he can give his assent to the bill today or tomorrow.

Confirming the détente, sources in the legislature and presidency said the reconciliation committee set up last week by the executive and the leadership of the National Assembly to resolve the “grey areas” in the budget submitted its report in the wee hours of wednesday morning to the presidency, but work continued at a frantic pace up till last night after some observations were made by the presidency on the details, in order to clean up the bill preparatory to its submission to the president wednesday.

After trading blame for weeks, the leadership of the National Assembly and the presidency met last week and resolved to end the budget impasse by constituting a reconciliation committee comprising members of the executive and the presidency.

According to a source in the legislature, the compromise reached was to retain the main underlining figures and parameters of the budget, but the executive gave some room to the National Assembly to alter, where necessary, up to 20-30 per cent of the budgets of federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

He said: “This was agreed in recognition of the independence of the legislature with respect to appropriation, and so that it does not end up being a rubber stamp for the executive.”

Based on this principle, the source added, the joint committee of the National Assembly and the executive reviewed the subheads of the MDAs to ensure that where budget cuts or additions exceeded the 20-30 per cent threshold, they were amended in line with the agreement reached on the budget

The source said: “Having reached this compromise, all the grey areas have been resolved,” adding that with the submission of the details of the budget and the two follow up meetings, work was expected to be finalised on the budget details last night.

“Upon the completion of work, the budget details will be signed tomorrow (Wednesday) morning by the Chairmen of the Appropriation Committees in both chambers of the National Assembly, following which the document will be sent to Mr. President.

He added that with the grey areas resolved and the last minute work to tidy up the budget last night, Buhari would most likely assent to the Appropriation Bill by wednesday or thursday.

A presidency source also stated that the budget crisis was already over because the National Assembly eventually changed its initial stance not to review the budget, but subsequently succumbed to the wishes and demands of Buhari.

He disclosed that the preview of the revised budget details was submitted to the presidency at the weekend. His disclosure was confirmed by another top presidency source.

The presidency source disclosed that members of the reconciliation committee from the executive met with their National Assembly counterparts at 3 pm yesterday in Abuja and were still meeting as of press time, to harmonise their differences with a view to ensuring that the document was one clean copy devoid of major variables.

According to him, the final copy was expected to be sent to the presidency without delay “once all the ‘Is’ had been dotted and the “Ts’ crossed”.

He said: “We received the preview of the budget details. We are meeting with them about 3 pm to 4 pm, because it was to be consensual work. The ministers will look at what they have done so that it will be agreed to fully that this is what will be presented. We have received the preview copy, not the final copy that will be forwarded to the president.”

He affirmed the remark by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the weekend in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, that Buhari would assent to the budget this week.

“The assurance to Nigerians will be kept because the vi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The story of how Nigeria’s census figures became weaponized - Feyi Fawehinmi

By Feyi Fawehinmi The story of Nigeria’s 1962 census never gets old. Southern politicians seeking to end the north’s dominance of Nigerian politics decided that the only way to do it was through the census. Population figures at the time determined not only parliamentary representation but also revenue allocation and employee distribution in the civil service. In May 1962, the first census under an independent Nigerian government began. There had been a frenzy of mobilization by politicians in the south of the country using pamphlets, radio, schools, churches and mosques. Although the final results were not made public, the preliminary results were quite clear as to what had happened: the north’s population had gone up from 16.5 million in the last census in 1952 to 22.5 million, an increase of 30%. But in some parts of the east, the population had increased by up to 200% and more than 70% in general. The west also reported an increase of 70%. What the preliminary results showed...
Post a Comment
Read more

FG borrows N3.38bn To Aid Potato Production in Plateau

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) wednesday approved N3.38 billion to boost the production of potatoes in Plateau State. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who made the disclosure said the money would be borrowed from Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) with one per cent interest rate and 25 years moratorium. The minister who said the loan was not fresh, explained that it had previously been cancelled by the federal government with the intention to make a fresh request for the loan on behalf of Plateau State which she said was responsible for 95 per cent of potato production in the country. According to her, following ADB’s comprehensive programme on potato production in Plateau State, 100,000 families and 17 local government areas of Plateau State would benefit from the loan while 60,000 jobs would be created by the initiative. “My approval was on behalf of Plateau State to support the potato value chain. There is a loan that we had previously cancelled from ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Buhari's Economic Blueprint Does Not Address Nigerians' Need - Bill Gates

Sahara Reporters The present economic templates being used by the Muhammadu Buhari government do not have the ability to address the unique needs of Nigerians at present, American business magnate, Bill Gates, has said. The philanthropist and founder of Microsoft corporation however said Nigeria has the ability to approach ‘upper middle-income status’ like Brazil, China and Mexico, but added that achieving this status depends on ”the choice Nigerian leaders make”. Mr. Gates, at the special and expanded National Economic Council, held in Abuja on Thursday tasked Nigerian leaders to sincerely invest in not just infrastructural development but also human investment. The theme of the meeting was “Role of human capital investment in supporting pro-poor and economic growth agenda”. The investor said though Nigeria is rapidly approaching upper- middle income status, the country has ”unmatched economic potential and what becomes of that potential depends on the choice Nigerian ...
Post a Comment
Read more