Abutu Simon, Lagos
The 2018 budget has lapsed, putting pressure on the Federal Government to begin the implementation of the 2019 budget, Ekocity Tv learnt on Sunday.
Review that President Muhammadu Buhari had put a question mark on the N8.92tn spending when he affixed his signature to the 2019 Appropriation Bill on May 27, saying the budget would be hard to execute. He had added that he would involve the 9th Assembly on how best to address the challenges in the budget for an easy implementation.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had adjourned plenary till July 2nd shortly after their inauguration on June 11.
The Presidency revealed in Abuja on Sunday that however Buhari would officially communicate the issue to the National Assembly, he would first hold meetings with the leadership of the both chambers on how best to address the difficulties in the budget before sending any letter.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, who spoke in an exclusive interview with Ekocity Tv, said consulting the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and the Speaker of the House, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, was important to abstain from creating any impression that there was a dispute between the two sides over the budget.
Enang spoke further, “The budget has just been signed and you know that the National Assembly too has just been inaugurated. The Senate and the House have yet to form their committees; they only sat for two days. It won’t be fair to say that we will send anything to them on the budget now.
“The President will have to raise it and discuss it with the leadership first in order to take a decision on the best way to handle the 2019 budget.”
At the point when reminded that Lawan had reported that the Senate was appropriately constituted and ready to receive any executive communications, Enang answered, “The Senate President’s declaration that they are prepared for communication is what is normally said.
“Since they are prepared for communication, we should consult with them before we communicate to them. We won’t just communicate. We need to reach an agreement with leadership before we send response.
“We do not want to send the wrong signal to the public that there is dispute between the executive and the legislature.”
Based on the Research by Ekocity TV on Sunday, there are indications that two options were being considered to address the challengers in the 2019 budget.
The first option is said to be the probability of the President sending a supplementary appropriation bill to the National Assembly to restore the cuts Buhari grumbled about or (option 2) a solicitation to drop the extra N90.33bn presented by the 8th National Assembly.
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