- The House of Representatives says it is now set to pass the long-awaited 2018 budget
- Hon Abdulrazak Namdas made the revelation in Abuja
- This is the second time the National Assembly will fix a date for the passage of the bill
The House of Representatives on Thursday, May 3, revealed that it has finally resolved to pass the 2018 appropriation bill, better called the budget next Tuesday, May 8 making it the second time a date is being fixed for its passage.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the chairman of the House committee on media and public affairs, Hon Abdulrazak Namdas, disclosed this in Abuja, while briefing newsmen.
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Namdas expressed regret at the inability of the National Assembly to pass the budget on time.
“We have not been able to pass the budget last week, but by the grace of God, we will lay it next Tuesday and pass it hopefully same day,” he said.
Namdas said the House would observe three-day mourning in honour of victims of herdsmen attacks in Benue and other states of the federation after the passage of the budget.
The lawmaker also said the House would definitely suspend plenary for three days but that such would be done in a manner that would not affect other national assignments.
He stressed that the House was concerned at the spate of killings across the country.
In April, 2018, the leadership of the National Assembly met with President Muhammadu Buhari in order to reconcile their differences to facilitate the passage of budget.
President Buhari presented a 2018 budget of N8.6 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 7, 2017.
After the presentation, both chambers of the National Assembly had promised to pass the budget on time.
However, they claimed that sustained differences between committees of both chambers and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) forestalled the early passage of the budget.
The Senate earlier fixed April 24, for the passage of the budget. This, however, did not work.
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After the meeting, the president ordered all MDAs to resume the defence of the appropriation bill.
He also directed all heads of MDAs to submit details of their budgets to the National Assembly for scrutiny.
NAIJ.com earlier reported that Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi of Niger state who is the spokesperson of the Senate had said that no date has been fixed for the passage of the 2018 budget.
President Muhammadu Buhari had presented the budget in November 2017 earlier than that of 2016 and 2017, but in spite of that, the budget has still not been passed.
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Source: Naija.ng
