Nigeria Senate to pass budget before end of March

Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, assured Nigerians on Sunday that the National Assembly will pass the 2016 Appropriation Bill before the end of March, contrary to the declaration of the appropriation committee that the passage of the bill had been postponed indefinitely.
Ndume who spoke with journalists in Abuja said the budget passage was not suspended indefinitely but that it would be passed before the end of March being the deadline for the implementation of the 2015 budget. He said that it was the wish of the National Assembly to pass the budget on February 25 but which was not possible due to some errors, discovered by the federal parliamentarians at their different committees.
He however assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would ensure that all errors and differences were corrected before passage. He said, “We have not postponed it (passage of the budget) indefinitely. What we are saying is that with the developments that we are seeing, the 25th February deadline we gave ourselves may not be realistic.“That is why we now said that going by this, it is not possible to say we will come back on 25th and say this is the budget, but we are not saying that we have suspended it indefinitely.
The reason we fixed 25th was because we wanted to have a gap of five weeks.“If there are issues here or there that still needs to be fixed before the expiration of the 2015 budget implementation by March 31.We have a time frame and that is the determination to get the budget out as soon as possible and by the grace of God, we will pass it before end of March”“He said that the leadership of the National Assembly had met with Ministers to iron out the grey areas and make corrections to the contentious areas as well.
The Leader of the Senate also assured that the Senate will ensure strict compliance with the implementation of the budget.“This is the first time that the budget process is truthful, frank and honest and interactive: yesterday we had a long meeting with the ministers looking at the realities and challenges.
Everything that affects the budget that needs to be looked into, amended corrected is being considered.“So we are working collectively together and honestly we are very optimistic that this time around the change will be visible.”Ndume also kicked against the new increase in electricity tariff announced by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission and asked the federal government to revisit for the privatisation process and if possible, revoke it. He expressed surprise that the companies who bought the nation’s electricity infrastructure at a give-away price, and rather than invest, are calling for hike in tariff.
He said, “I am boiling and I am about to burst, there is no need for the increment in electricity tariff, they have no reason.“These people took over these companies for peanuts and they have not invested, I have not seen, how will they just come and be charging people indiscriminately like that.”






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