Nigerian Parliament Seeks Early Submission Of Budget By President

The National Assembly is seeking early submission of the nation's spending plan for the subsequent year by the executive arm of government to enable it to pass the appropriation bill within a short period of time, President of the Senate has said.

Ahmad Lawan, who was elected by his colleagues on Tuesday as the leader of the National Assembly said the parliament will be willing to ensure the passage of the budget proposal of the government within three months if it is presented early by the President.
Lawan wants the president to lay the budget proposal before the parliament by September or latest early October to enable the legislators to work on it and approve it for early implementation of the spending plan.
The president of the Senate who spoke with media men at the State House in Abuja on Friday noted that the early passage of the budget will depend largely on the early submission by the executive arm of government.
“Well, this is a crucial thing that worries everyone, every Nigerian wants to see the National Assembly passes the budget in good time and what we have in mind we’ve campaigned with that and it’s something both of us in the National Assembly have bought into – that we’ll pass the budget within three months by the grace of God.
“But I want to say here that it takes two sides of government to pass the budget in good time.
“I am sure that the executive side of the government would like to present the budget before the National Assembly in good time – in September or early October.
“By the grace of God, we in the National Assembly will ensure that we carry out the budget defence and do the remaining parts of the processes and before we leave for Christmas break, the budget would have been passed and Mr President would have the budget before him to assent,’’ he said.
The Senate president, therefore, called for sacrifice by both the assembly and the executive so as to create “a window for budget defence only, a dedicate period and timeframe- say a month of which only budget defence will be carried out in the national assembly.
“It is our desire in the National Assembly that every minister, every chief executive officer of every agency comes to the National Assembly and defend the budget of his agency or her agency before going out of the country.
“That window is going to be available within the one month but that is the only window that is going to be available.
“After that for example, every minister or head of agency who did not come to defend the budget of that institution, the National Assembly would go ahead to work on such a budget appropriately.’’
According to Lawan, the national assembly is in a hurry and thirsty to perform and will support President Buhari in his efforts to transform the nation’s economy for the benefit of all citizens.
“I believe that nobody would take pleasure in wasting the time of this administration.
“We are in a hurry, we are thirsty to perform, we want to support Mr President, we want to see Mr President achieve those legacies dreams that he has and we are going to work full course and full time to ensure that we give him the maximum support that he requires.’’