TRUE OR FALSE? 2016 Budget Intact, Not Missing — NASS

Senator Saraki with President Buhari

The National Assembly yesterday debunked speculations that the 2016 budget was missing, and assured that the Senate and the House of Representatives are in the process of making copies of the money Bill available for the 109 senators and 360 members of the House.

LEADERSHIP report continues:

The lawmakers added that they are determined to pass the bill as soon as possible.

Describing the speculations of a missing budget as laughable, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, told LEADERSHIP that the contents of the 2016 budget were carefully drafted to enhance and drive the change agenda of the present administration.

He added that the senators were eager to pass the budget so that implementation would commence immediately so as to deliver the dividends of democracy to the electorate.

The Senate spokesman said, “There is no such thing; it is laughable for anybody to insinuate that the 2016 budget is missing; it is the figment of the imagination of those carrying such rumour.

“We, as a Senate, are presently concentrating on making copies of the budget available to every senator. We are getting ready to commence deliberations on the budget and we are enthusiastic and looking forward to a quick passage so that the president would commence implementation in such a way that the electorate would begin to reap the dividends and benefits of democracy.

“So it is not true that the budget is missing; it is a rumour. We deal with facts here and the fact is that no budget is missing,” Senator Sabi declared.

President Muhammadu Buhari had submitted the 2016 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on 22nd December, 2015.

Shortly after the presentation, the National Assembly proceeded on a three- week end of the year and Christmas break.

There were speculations yesterday that the 2016 budget was missing within the National Assembly.

In a related development, the leadership of the House has denied story of 2016 budget theft from the National Assembly doing the rounds, saying that original copy of the Appropriation Bill as presented to NASS was intact and with the management of the Assembly. The House also said that the reproduced copies of the budget will be distributed to members today ahead of the consideration of the estimates at the various committee levels beginning next week.

The spokesman of the House, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, who spoke to LEADERSHIP last night through his deputy, Hon. Jonathan Gaza Gbefwi, said the rumour of budget theft or missing was unthinkable, wondering why it was fabricated in the first place.

“The budget is intact and, in fact, they even plan to begin to distribute copies to members tomorrow (today) to begin to analyze; so wherever that (rumour) is coming from, I don’t know. So, it’s all a lie,” he said.

Another source in the House told our reporter that the rumour of budget theft may not be unconnected with the alleged plans by the Presidency to retrieve the document in order make some corrections.

The source added that all the allegations remain ‘in the realm of rumour.’

PMB, Saraki in secret meeting

President Muhammadu Buhari met yesterday with Senate President Bukola Saraki behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The visit by Saraki is coming at a time that the 2016 budget document had been allegedly reported as missing in the National Assembly.

LEADERSHIP recalls that President Buhari presented the 2016 budget proposal to the National Assembly just before the lawmakers embarked on their Christmas recess.

After the meeting with the president which lasted about 30 minutes, Saraki declined comments when asked by State House Correspondents about the report that the budget was missing.

Missing Budget: Presidency again denies withdrawing 2016 budget

The presidency has once again denied withdrawing the 2016 budget proposal from the National Assembly.

Reacting to a report that the budget is missing from the National Assembly, Senior Special Assistant, Media, to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, said nobody except the president can withdraw the budget.

He asserted that once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be the property of the executive adding that inquires about the budget should be directed to the appropriate quarters.

Shehu pointed out that hundreds of copies of the budget had been submitted to both chambers of the National Assembly.

He said, “Nobody except the President can withdraw the budget. As far as we know, he hasn’t done that. The copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the National Assembly.”

“By tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property. Inquiries as to where it is should be directed to the appropriate quarters,” he added.