President Muhammadu Buhari may
present the 2019 Budget to the National Assembly next week.
But the lawmakers said they have
not received any official communication
from the President.
The Federal Executive Council
(FEC) meeting yesterday approved the budget proposal for onward transmission to
the National Assembly.
According to a top source who
spoke in confidence, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National
Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang, has already opened up talks with the National
Assembly leadership.
The source said: “The government
is looking at next week for budget presentation by the President. The Senior
Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita
Enang, is already liaising with the leadership of the assembly.
“So far, the Assembly leaders
have not suggested any convenient date. Once we are able to mutually agree on a
date, the President will officially write the legislature.
“We want to lay the budget before
the National Assembly goes on recess for
Christmas and New Year. As a matter of fact, we are looking at either Wednesday
or Thursday.
“With the FEC approval of the
budget, the President will write the lawmakers accordingly.”
The Chairman, House Committee on
Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, said the National Assembly is
awaiting official notice from the President.
“Until we receive official
communication from Mr. President, I cannot tell you the date the budget will be
presented to the joint session of the National Assembly. So far, we have not
heard from the President,”he said.
The Minister of Budget and
National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, briefed State House correspondents at the
end of the special FEC session chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He was with the Minister of
Information, Lai Mohammed.
According to him, it is now left
for the National Assembly to agree on a date when President Muhammadu Buhari
can present the document to the two chambers of the National Assembly.
“We are hoping that as soon as
possible, it would be presented. We will be in touch immediately with the
National Assembly to fix the date. The budget is ready,” he said.
When asked the details of the
budget, he said: “It is the President’s budget. He presents it to the National
Assembly.”
The FEC had on the 24th October,
2018 approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy
Paper (FSP) for the 2019 -2021 to provide template for the 2019 budget.
The meeting had approved a budget
estimate of N8.73tr for the 2019 budget, N400bn lower than that of this year.
The price of crude oil per barrel
was fixed at $60, while exchange rate at $305 and daily crude oil production
was put at 2.3million by the FEC.
The MTEF/ FSP was designed to
translate strategic development
objective of the economic recovery and growth plan into a realistic and
implementable budget framework.
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