Why 2016 budget passage was postponed till further notice

– The National Assembly says the passage of the budget has been postponed till further notice

– Honorable Jibrin says the senate wants to produce a budget that is in line with the constitutional requirement

The National Assembly on ‎Tuesday, February 9 disclosed that the passage of the budget has been postponed till further notice due to a change of figures in the 2015 budget proposal.

While briefing newsmen, and co-chair said the lawmakers took a decision to postpone the passage of the budget to a later date to allow for thorough investigations where needed.

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Professor Adewole‎ Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Health, on Monday February 8 complained that the original budget of his ministry had been changed.

Also, civil servant and ministers were in serious battles over strange figures in the 2016 budget during the budget defense of various committees at the National Assembly.

Honorable Jibrin said that many issues were raised during the defense on irregularities arising from the budget concerning over bloated costs.

He added that even the executive arm of government has accepted that there are errors in the budget as the timetable has been set for the consideration of the budget which will go over February 25 .

He said: “We are here in connection with the ongoing processing of the 2016 budget defense and because these two committees are the ones saddled with the production of the final copies of the budget.

“These copies will be passed by the two houses for onward submission to Mr. President for his asset and subsequent implementation and because of the observed instances that are being reported from the beginning of the budget submission there are a lot of controversies surrounding the budget.

“To liaise with all the stakeholders to enable us pass the budget that is implementable, a budget that is good from the perspective of the legislature and also acceptable to the executive arm of the government.

“So in summary the timetable for the passage of the budget is no longer realistic because appropriation committees of both chambers of the National Assembly we need additional time to be able to do a thorough job for the 2016 budget.

He also said that the joint committees on appropriation would not like the budget to be thrown back to it based on some ambiguities.

Mr. Jibrin added that the senate wants to produce a budget that is in line with the constitutional requirement.

“Again in terms of capital expenditure there are complaints coming from different quarters arising from the imbalance from the capital allocation and of course disagreement among the Ministers and the Civil Servants in the various ministries that we have witnessed during the period of budget defense.

“These all together form enough basis for us to sit down and ensure that a thorough job is done before the budget is passed.”

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Meanwhile, Mr. Mike Okiro, the Chairman Police Service Commission, said the commission will need N3.4 billion for local transportation for its 402 staff in 2016.

While defending the budget, he said the money if approved will be used by the 402 staff of the commission to monitor the activities of the police across the country.

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