The 2016 budget proposal presented to the
National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari is missing , Senators
told Daily Trust yesterday.
On December 22 last year, Buhari presented the budget proposal to the
joint session of the National Assembly. It was immediately after the
presentation that the lawmakers embarked on three weeks recess.
On resumption yesterday, the senators went
into a closed session that lasted for 90 minutes. The senators were
supposed to commence the consideration of the budget yesterday.
At the end of the session, Senate President Bukola Saraki said they
deliberated on issues that had to do with the budget.
“We deliberated on issues related to the 2016 budget and other matters
concerning the smooth operation of the senate,” he said.
But our correspondent gathered from senators who attended the session
that the issue of the disappearance of the budget dominated the closed
session.
They said when the disappearance of the budget was announced by one of
the principal officers, the floor became charged.
“When he told us that both the hard and soft copies of the budget are
missing, we were all shocked and the PDP senators insisted that the
issue must be made public,” he said.
He said the minority leader Godswill Akpabio said the disappearance of
the budget must be probed.
Another senator told our correspondent that the disappearance of the
budget was blamed on the management of the National Assembly during the
closed session.
“At the session, one of our colleagues accused the management of the
National Assembly of conspiring with a minister to take the budget. This
is unfortunate and a conspiracy against the country,” the senator who
spoke on condition of anonymity said.
Also confirming the disappearance of the budget, a senator from the
north said the leadership of the National Assembly should be held
responsible for it.
“We were surprised when the news of the disappearance of the budget was
announced during the session because it means anything can happen,” he
said.
Another source said “When we were told at the session, we didn’t believe
it because information at our disposal have it that it was five copies
of the budget that were first brought by the presidential adviser on
senate to the National Assembly.
“One was laid in the box, the senate got one, Reps one, one was
deposited at the library and the president’s adviser took a copy. So,
we were surprised when they told us that the budget is missing.
“In addition to these copies, 200 copies were given to the chairman of
the senate committee on appropriations, Danjuma Goje,” the senator said
by telephone last night.
Efforts to get Goje were unsuccessful as he did not answer his call
last night.
A source in the House of Reps told Daily Trust last night that the
budget was not missing but was tactically retracted by the presidency in
order to re-examine it with a view to cutting some of the provisions
and expenditures in view of the falling oil prices.
The budget was predicated on the oil benchmark of $38 per barrel, but
recent trends in the international market showed that it is now less
than $37 per barrel.
Our source said some of the areas that might be cut by the presidency
include the N500 billion provided for social welfare, defence budget,
among others.
It was further gathered that the fine-tuning would be to avoid a
situation where only about 40 percent of the budget would be implemented
at the end of the day.
In an interview, the senate leader Ali Ndume said budget cannot be
missing.
“The budget cannot be missing. A copy can be laid, it is a symbolic
copy, the budget will be in custody of both chambers, it cannot be
stolen, it cannot be missing. Once the budget is laid in the National
Assembly, it has become the property of National Assembly,” he said.
Also, the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Abdulrazak
Namdas, when contacted said they were not aware of any missing budget,
adding that it was all rumours.
Namdas said that the House had already produced about 400 copies of the
budget to be distributed among members today for them to study carefully
against next week when the lower chamber would open debate on the
appropriation bill.
After the closed door session, Saraki yesterday visited Buhari at the
Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Buhari and Senate President Saraki held a closed-door meeting that
lasted over 40 minutes.
In its reaction, the Presidency said enquiries about the whereabouts of
the 2016 budget should be directed to the appropriate quarters,
presidential spokesperson Malam Garba Shehu said.
The presidential aide also stressed that the president had not withdrawn
the budget.
“Nobody, except the president, can withdraw the budget. As far as we
know, he (the president) has not done that. The copies in their hundreds
have been delivered to both chambers of the National Assembly,” he
said.
dailytrust
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