NASS fixes March 17 to pass document

dimeji akinloye

March 2, 2016 11:59 PM

Having interacted with the various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA’s), Ggoje said a lot of hard work has been put into the 2016 Budget proposals.

Buhari presenting 2016 budget

The National Assembly has fixed Thursday, March 17, for the passage of the 2016 Budget.

In a joint press briefing on Wednesday, March 2, the Chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin said reports from both chambers would be laid on Wednesday, March 16.

Having interacted with the various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA’s), Goje said a lot of hard work has been put into the 2016 Budget proposals.

READ: Buhari vows to punish persons who padded 2016 budget

“The various sub committees of the two chambers have interacted with the various MDA’s, the Committees have produced their reports and all the Committees of the two chambers have fully submitted their reports," he said.

“We have been working very hard round the clock at the same time at the weekends and we will continue to do that until we finish the compilation of our reports.

“The essence of the press conference is to give Nigerians a progress report.”

On his part, Jibrin said the reports from the various sub committees will be in alignment with the National Assembly guidelines.

He said: “After all consultation with the leadership of the House and Senate we can confirm to you that all things being equal we should be able to lay our report of the 2016 Appropriation bill before the House and the Senate on the 16th of March and the consideration, hopefully should be done on the 17th.

“So it is safe for us to conclude that the 2016 Appropriation bill will be passed on the 17th of March 2016.

“We are going to open in the next few days’ consultation with the relevant stakeholders in this process, most especially the executive arm of government.

“Particularly in the case of the House, we are going to engage the Minister of Budget and Planning, Minister of Finance, DG Budget office.

“Most importantly we are working hand in hand with the Senate and things are looking up, we are putting in our best on a daily basis."

It would be recalled that the National Assembly had indefinitely postponed the budget passage given various discrepancies discovered in the document.

dimeji akinloye