Why 2016 Budget has not been signed yet – House of Representative
The House of Representatives says it is normal if President Buhari wants details of budget
The House admits the budget is the most difficult they have witnessed
Says report of Buhari refusing to sign budget untrue
Controversy has continued to trail the 2016 budget even after it has been passed by the National Assembly as reports from the presidency indicates that President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted on not signing the document until details of the budget were made available.
It is in view of this that the National Assembly has disclosed timeline for transmitting the details of the budget to the President.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday March 30, the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Jibrin Abdulmumin explained that it is not abnormal for the president to withhold assent to the bill until he sees the details of the budget.
Abdulmumin said that with the series of challenges faced in the course of working on the budget, it will be very difficult for anybody to start throwing stones at the National Assembly for not transmitting the details.
He said that the budget was the most difficult budgets the National Assembly had ever worked on due to the delay in the coming of the MTEF and the budget proposals to the National Assembly.
“So if President Muhammadu Buhari prefers to see the details before assenting to the bill, I don’t think we should make a big deal out of it. It’s absolutely normal.
“For us in the National Assembly, we are trying to not to. Are the same mistake the Executive Arm made.
“We would take a week or two to work on the details now we are looking at the report that were submitted to the appropriation committee by the Standing committees of the House.
“We are doing the final harmonisation checks here and there, that should not take a week or two.
READ ALSO: More controversy: Buhari refuses to sign 2016 budget?
He discredited the presidency source that gave the indication that President Buhari had refused to sign the budget.
“This is the most difficult budget we have ever dealt with because you all recall that the MTEF came very very late but we accepted it, we dealt with it. The budget itself came very late we accepted it we dealt with it.”
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