Udoma Udoma, minister of budget
and national planing, has denied blaming the national assembly for the delay in
presentation of the 2019 budget.
At plenary on Thursday, some
lawmakers threatened to boycott President Muhammadu Buhari’s budget
presentation session next week over comments purportedly made by the minister.
Chika Adamu from Niger state had
alleged that Udoma “told a lie on national television” by saying the executive
was waiting for the lawmakers to give them a date when the budget will be
presented.
While some of the lawmakers
demanded an apology from Udoma, others asked that the issue be investigated.
But in a statement issued by
Akpandem James, his media aide, the minister said his comments were
misconstrued and that he never blamed the lawmakers for the budget delay.
The statement read: “Going by the
headlines in some news media today in respect of the presentation of the 2019
Budget to the National Assembly, it is obvious that some of the reporters
misconstrued the response of the Minister of Budget and National Planning,
Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, when he was asked when the budget would be submitted
to the Legislature.
“The Minister simply said that as
is the procedure when the budget is ready, the Executive liaises with the
National Assembly for a date which the Budget will be laid before the joint
session of the Assembly; and that the process is on already.
“The Minister at no time
throughout the interaction with the media blamed the National Assembly for the
delay in the presentation, nor gave the impression that there was any issue
between the two arms of government over the 2019 budget.”
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