The National Assembly on Thursday quietly handed over what they said was
a clean copy of the 2016 Budget to the presidency for assent.
The
document was transmitted by a 10-man committee of the National Assembly, headed
by the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun to Special
Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters Senate (Senator), Ita
Enang.
Although
the controversial budget which has been delayed for so long due to what have
been described as padded areas has been handed over, there are still
indications that the president is not in a hurry to sign it.
It
was gathered that President Muhammadu Buhari intends to go through the document
with a fine tooth comb to ensure that it is 100% clean.
Senator
Enang confirmed that the clean copy of the document had been handed over to him
for onward transmission to the president.
However, Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, while
also confirming that the presidency had received the document, stated that the
president would have to confirm if all the issues raised have been fully
addressed and resolved before appending his signature to the budget.
According
to him, “The question now is that have those concerns been corrected 100 per
cent?
“We
should not mix things up. The process is that ministers, who raised the initial
concerns, should study the new document and ascertain that the concerns have
been addressed 100 per cent.
“It
is based on their findings that the Minister of Budget and National Planning
will advise the President. The decision on whether the President should sign or
not will be based on the advice of the minister.”
But Senate Leader,
Ali Ndume, was confident that the President might sign the budget on today (Friday).
“We
have completed our work on the budget at the National Assembly and it is
already with the executive. We hope the President will sign it tomorrow (Friday)
so that it would become operational”, he said.
Source: RipplesNigeria
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