ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – President Muhammadu Buhari has received the highlights of the 2016 budget but without the details from the National Assembly, a top government source who pleaded for anonymity has disclosed.
The National Assembly had last week passed the 2016 Appropriation Bill.
The budget passed on Wednesday by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Thursday was N17 billion lower than the figure of N6.07 trillion presented by President Buhari to the National Assembly in December.
It was not clear as at press time if the conference committee of both chambers saddled with the responsibility of reconciling the two versions passed by the Senate and House of Representatives had done their job.
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The committee will go through the passed budget clause by clause before a clean copy will be transmitted to the President for assent.
The source, who said the President was anxious to sign the Appropriation Bill, disclosed he had been handicapped “because he does not know what is contained in the details and what adjustments the National Assembly must have made to the proposal sent to them.
”Although he is anxious to sign the document so that implementation of the provisions could start immediately and ease the tension in the economy and polity, he is afraid he may later discover, when the details are sent, that what is contained therein is not implementable.
“He wishes the National Assembly could send in the details speedily so that it could be considered for assent”, the source said.
The government source further disclosed that ministers were also eager that the budget be signed so they could start implementing their programmes, “but they are unable to push the President to sign what has been transmitted because they also do not know what is contained in the details.
“They are particularly worried that the year is gradually aging and the provision of the law in respect of spending the previous year’s budget is not helping matters because of the low capital provision for 2015.
“Because of the low provision made last year for capital expenditure, spending 50 per cent of that provision for the first half of this year will make no impact on provision of infrastructure.
“The Budget Office cannot also work on the budget for implementation because it is the details, and not the highlights, that they convert into implementable templates for the respective MDAs.
“This development confirms speculations that the National Assembly either did not complete work on the budget or are playing politics with the documents which affects the life of both the country and its citizens.
“The National Assembly may just have passed the bill to pass the buck to the executive and escape the wrath of the public which was gradually suspecting it of sabotage”, the source said.