Finally, Buhari to Sign 2016 Budget After Meeting With Leadership of National Assembly

Finally, a successful meeting has held between the leadership of the National Assembly and the Presidency on Tuesday night to settle some of the controversies that have dogged the 2016 budget.

All is now set for President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the bill into law, The Nation newspaper is reporting.

President Buhari had met with some of the principal officers of both houses of the assembly led by Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara of the House of Representatives.

According to the Nation, the Budget will be ready for the President’s assent next week.

The meeting also had Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Speaker of the House, Yusuf Lasun in attendance. Others present include the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio; House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila and other leaders of the National Assembly.

Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang and Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Samaila Kawu, were at the meeting.

While speaking with journalists after the meeting, Saraki said the executive and legislature agreed on the way forward to tackle the 2016 Budget crisis.

He said the grey areas would be ironed out in a matter of days and the budget would be ready for President’s assent next week.

He said: “We just finished a meeting with the president and vice president, we came to let them know some of the solutions that we found in moving the budget process forward and we are happy to say that we have agreed on the way forward and we believe that this process will be completed in a matter of days rather than weeks.

“So it is good for Nigerians and all of us, we have found a way forward and in a matter of days the budget will be ready for president’s assent.

“We have committees that have been set up on our side and also on the executive side, we will engage over the next few days, to just tidy up a few loose ends and here and there and the outcome will be satisfactory to everybody,” he said.

Saraki reiterated that the budget will be ready in a matter of days.

“I said it is a matter of days and not weeks, so you can start counting the days which means that between now and Monday or Tuesday, I’m hopeful that the budget will be signed.”

Speaking on behalf of the executive, Udoma said: “We have agreed to work together to resolve all issues in the next few days and we have also agreed on the modalities for doing so. So, it was a very good meeting, very positive and within the next few days all issues will be resolved.”

Source: The Nation