Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman of the house of
representatives, says it will take a minimum of three months for the 2018
budget to be ready.
While presenting the budget to
the national assembly earlier in the month, President Muhammadu Buhari appealed
to the lawmakers to make it ready by January 1.
But speaking with The Nation, Namdas said the
January-to-December budget calendar is not feasible because there are about 20
legislative sitting days remaining in the year.
He said since the lawmakers
cannot return the appropriation bill the way it was presented, they need
adequate time to work on it
“When the president presented his
speech on the budget presentation day, he expressed the wish that the budget is
approved by January 1,” he said.
“We are saying that we will work
faster since the 2018 appropriation bill was brought a little bit earlier, we
should also be able to approve the budget a little earlier.
“But I cannot be specific about a
date since we are few weeks to the end of December. This is about 20 sitting
days. So, if I sit here in the comfort of my office to assure Nigerians that
the budget will be passed by 1st of January, you and even them will know it’s
not feasible.
“For the budget process, you
should be looking at a minimum of three months. We will deliberate on the basic
principles of the budget, it will be committed to committees to work on it,
meet with MDAs and they now send their report to the appropriation committee.
All of these processes take time.
“I think people should be more
concerned about the national assembly and the executive coming up with an
implementable budget, rather than focusing on a January date.”
Namdas added that the house had
put checks in place to prevent padding of the budget.
Two days ago, the senate
postponed a debate on the budget, citing the need to pass the medium-term
expenditure framework (MTEF).
MTEF sets out the medium-term
expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints against which sector plans
can be developed and refined.
It is usually a three- or
five-year document. Nigeria adopted the three-year MTEF when Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala became minister of finance.
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