Senate passes N6.07 trillion 2016
budget
By Samson Atekojo Usman on March 23,
2016
Following a motion by Senator Danjuma Goje on
Wednesday for the passage of 2016 Appropriation
of N6.07trillion and seconded by Senator Andy Uba,
the Senate having been satisfied with sectoral
explanations which show that the nation stands to
benefit from the proposal, passed the budget into
law.
“That the Senate do consider the Report of the
Committee on Appropriations on the 2016 Bill,”
Goje urged.
DAILY POST reports that while elucidating on the
budget, Goje admitted that the budget being the
first to be presented by APC-led administration was
fraught with irregularities which he described as
strange.
He pointed those irregularities to be late
presentation by the Executive, inconsistencies by
Ministries, Departments and Agencies, inadequacy
of revenue to simulate the economy as well as
omission on personnel cost.
In his report, Goje recommended that the
subsequent budget should be brought to the
National Assembly by the Executive in strict
compliance with the processes so as to reduce
volume of errors and to avoid instances where
Ministers will deny knowledge of figures of the
affected agencies as presented by the budget
office.
He added that government should shore up Capital
Expenditure by reducing Recurrent Expenditure for
massive infrastructural development of the nation.
“Mr. President, Distinguished Colleagues, at this
juncture, I want to recommend that subsequent
budget should be brought in strictcompliance with
the procedure so that we will not see Ministers
denying their own budget before Committee on
Appropriations,” Goje added.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, however,
expressed fears that omission of personnel cost
which was reflected on the report was fundamental,
urging the Senate for a redress so as not to be
misinterpreted as a deliberate attempt by the
Senate to withhold salaries of some Ministries.
In his clarification, Goje confirmed that a window
has been created by the Committee to mitigate the
gap, hence there was nothing to fear by the affected
agencies.
“Distinguished Senators, the Joint Appropriation
Committee has created a window where funds can
be drawn by the federal government to pay staff
salaries of those agencies,” he maintained.
In line with the tradition, Senate President reads
through the schedule, short and long title while
insisting that section 318of the 1999 Constitution of
the federal Republic as amended be complied with.
“Distinguished Senators, government must comply
with Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution which
means the budget runs for 12 Calender months
from March and ends in March the preceding year,”
Saraki said.
Saraki commended the Committee for a good job
done on the budget in view of hiccups inherent in it
while urging the full implementation by Executive so
that it will support made in Nigeria goods.
He hopes that 2017 Budget would be presented on
time.
Meanwhile, in a motion moved by the Senate
Leader, Ali Ndume, asked that the plenary be
adjourned till 2.00pm for adoption of voice votes.
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