Saraki Assures Early Passage of 2017 Budget

Thu, Dec 1, 2016
By publisher
2 MIN READ

BREAKING NEWS, Business

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BUKOLA Saraki, president of the Senate, on Thursday, December 1, assured Nigerians of an early passage of the 2017 budget proposal.

Saraki gave the assurance while addressing State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday, November 30, approved the 2017 budget estimate for onward submission to the National Assembly.

Udoma Udo Udoma, minister of Budget and National Planning, who disclosed the development to State House correspondents, said the date for the presentation of the document would be given by the National Assembly.

Saraki, however, expressed the readiness of the National Assembly to receive the document. He also expressed optimism that within the next couple of days, President Buhari would transmit a letter to the National Assembly to lay the 2017 budget before it. “We are ready. Once the document comes to us, we are ready. “I think this time around a lot of things, a lot of work has taken place behind the scenes – a lot of more collaborations and I think that you will see the result in the time frame it will take after the president will have presented it,’’ the Senate president said.

He also assured that normalcy had been restored to the Senate chamber after Wednesday’s incident where some senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, staged a walk-out in protest against one of their senators, who defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. “It is democracy at work. The opposition party has its views about the defection of a senator to the APC. Normalcy has been restored to the house and we are one family again,’’ he said.

—  Dec 1, 2016 @ 19:10 GMT

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