Senate shifts passage of 2019 Budget to April 30

The N8.83 trillion Appropriation Bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the joint session of the National Assembly on December 19, last year for consideration will be passed on April 30, Senate President Bukola Saraki has assured.

The Senate yesterday shifted the passage of the 2019 Appropriation Bill. Neither the Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee, Danjuma Goje, nor his deputy, Sonny Ogbuoji, was on hand to comment on the documents.

Besides, the non-availability of copies on the details of the budget proposal to senators also contributed to the shift in date.

Details of the budget proposal were presented to the Senate Wednesday last week and the Senate president had assured penultimate week that the Senate might pass the budget on April 16.

Announcing the shift in date, Saraki directed the Clerk of the Senate to make copies available to every senator latest by Monday to set the stage for the documents’ consideration the following day.

Saraki said: “Some members have not got printed copies of the details and I have directed the Clerk to make sure that latest by Monday, we all have printed copies so that everybody can see the details of the budget, and by so doing we can now pass it on Tuesday next week.

“We don’t want to run into problems where we pass it without details and our colleagues will start to comment.

“So, Clerk, ensure that everybody has copies of the details by Monday and we will pass it on Tuesday.”

Work on this year’s budget proposal has been slow, owing to the failure of many of the Senate Standing Committees to submit their reports in respect of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under their oversight.

The various committee reports ought to have been submitted to the Appropriation Committee by April 11, as earlier directed by Saraki.