President Muhammadu Buhari has
revealed when he will present the 2019 appropriation bill to the National
Assembly.
Buhari disclosed that the budget
will be presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday next week, barring any
last-minute change.
This was announced on Thursday in
a letter sent to the National Assembly and read on the floor of the House by
the speaker, Yakubu Dogara.
“May I crave the kind indulgence
of the House of Representatives to grant me the slot of 11 hours on Wednesday,
19th December 2018 to formally present the 2019 appropriation bill in a joint
session and lay before the NASS the 2019 budget proposal.
Please accept, Mr Speaker the
assurances of my highest regards as I look forward to addressing the joint
session,” President Buhari said in the letter.
After reading the letter, some
lawmakers threatened to boycott the budget presentation over the recent comment
of Udoma Udoma, minister of budget and national planing.
At the end of the federal
executive council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, the minister had said
the 2019 budget proposal was ready but the national assembly is yet to fix a
date for its presentation.
“As you already know, the budget
is ready. We are liaising with the national assembly because they are to give
us a date. If they say today, we will go. The budget is ready,” he had said.
Chika Adamu from Niger state had
Adamu alleged Udoma told a lie on national television, and called on his
colleagues to demand an apology from the minister.
Mark Gbillah from Benue state
corroborated his claim, saying “it is a statement he (Udoma) made
categorically.”
“He lied against this honourable
house on national television. I want to join my colleagues to request a formal
apology on TV, else we will refuse to attend that budget session with Mr
President,” he said.
Mike Adeniyi from Ogun state also
supported his submission, saying “the executive arm has always portrayed the
parliament in bad light.”
“The minister must come and
apologise. If not, the president will come to meet an empty house,” he added.
However, Femi Gbajabiamila,
majority leader of the house, accused his colleagues of determining the
minister is guilty without proper check.
He said: “The minister called me
this morning; he was alarmed and upset and shocked. He said he was just reading
something in the papers ascribed to him and that he never said such a thing and
he is writing a rejoinder as we spoke.”
“So I think we should tarry a
while because you are accusing someone of lying. Let us not turn this house
into a partisan house.”
But Muhammad Soba immediately
accused him of “sycophancy”.
“We have seen how sycophancy has
been taken to the next level. That is the APC government for you,” the lawmaker
retorted.
Thereafter, Dogara called on his
colleagues to give the minister sometime “to see if he will truly issue a
rejoinder.”
“But if we don’t see that (a
rejoinder), then we have an issue because we will not allow this institution to
be blackmailed. If nothing is done, we will take a concrete action on it,” he
said.
In October, the council had
approved the 2019-2021 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) and fiscal
strategy paper (FSP), and forwarded same to the national assembly for its
consideration and approval.
In the following month, Udoma
announced that the government was considering a reduced budget of N8.6
trillion, compared to the N9.1 trillion approved by the national assembly for
2018.
He said the decision was due to
reduced government revenue projection for the year.
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