President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday evening met with Principal Officers of the Senate and House of Representatives at the State House with a resolution to end the lingering feud over the 2016 budget
The parliamentarians were led by Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, were also present at the meeting.
A truce was reached by the two arms of government at Tuesday’s meeting and Buhari would sign the budget into law in a matter of days.
Speaking with State House Correspondents after the meeting, Saraki said that the controversial issues about the budget had been laid to rest, assuring that in a matter of days, the Appropriation Bill would be given the backing of the law for onward implementation by the Federal Government.
“We just finished a meeting with the President and VP. 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 matter of days rather than weeks.
“So, it is good news to 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,” Saraki said.
Buhari had withheld his assent to the budget passed by the lawmakers because the Appropriation Bill he sent to the National Assembly was distorted, with figures allocated to projects reduced, thereby making it difficult for the government to perform if the budget was assented to by the President.
Speaking in a recent interview with Radio Continental, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said: “There has to be a lot of consultation on this because naturally, a President should not sign a budget that will become unimplementable.
“It is even an impeachable offence because they will say later that he didn’t implement it. And a President should not sign a budget that is not in favour of the people.”
