The house of representatives has
again suspended debate on the provisions of the 2019 appropriation bill over
what is described as “irreconcilable differences” in the document.
The lawmakers said they
restricted themselves to the general principles of the budget proposal when it
was brought up for debate on Wednesday.
When the debate commenced, Chika
Adamu from Niger state called the attention of the lawmakers to the
discrepancies he said were evident in the allocations of respective ministries.
He said the proposed allocations
to the ministries of finance, education, budget and national planning; budget
office and the office of the secretary to the government of the federation
under main statutory components did not correspond with the total summary in
the budget document.
He said there is the need to
reconcile the discrepancies before the debate on the various provisions in the
appropriation bill.
Ahman Pategi said the difference
in figures could be a typographical error as all figures were correct except in
the summary section.
He suggested a meeting between
the appropriate committee and the affected agencies for the issue to be sorted
out.
Responding, Yakubu Dogara,
speaker of the house, said head of the budget office, ministers of finance and
that of budget and national planing would be invited over the matter.
“There are so many irreconcilable
differences in the figures allotted in the budget. By tomorrow, they must give
us reconciled figures,” he said.
“I will direct the relevant
committee to direct the ministry of finance and budget/national planning.
Today, we confine ourselves to the general principles of the budget.”
Last week, the lower legislative
chamber also postponed debate on the budget after the documents were
distributed late to the lawmakers.
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