PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has received the
reviewed copy of the 2016 Appropriation Budget transmitted from the National
Assembly yesterday and is set to sign it into law today all things being equal.
Briefing the media after the presentation which was
conducted behind closed doors yesterday, the Deputy Chairman of the House
Committee on Media, Jonathan Gaza, stated that the lawmakers are equally worried
and concerned over the state of the economy as a result of the delay in signing
the budget into law adding that the modified copy will successfully scale
through due to the level of prudence attached to the project.
“Don’t forget that we are also Nigerians and it
is our desire for the country to move forward. I am quite optimistic and
I enjoin all other Nigerians, including you, to be as optimistic as me that in
the very near future, this budget will be signed into law.
“Well, I honestly believe
that we have to be quite careful with our choice of words; over time, there
have been differences and both arms of government sat down to look at what
those issues were.
“Most importantly, what we want is to see our
country and our economy moving forward. To this end, just as I earlier stated
and I want to reiterate, both sides of the divide are working hard and
the budget before long is going to be signed into law.
“The two committees have finished their work and
a clean copy is now with the Presidency.” Earlier yesterday, the chairman of
the committee set up to reconcile the grey areas in the document, Deputy House
Speaker Yussuff Lasun, presented the clean copy to President
Buhari’s National Assembly Advisers – Ita Enang (Senate) and
Sumaila Kawu (House of Representatives)”, he said.
It will be recalled that the 2016 Appropriation
Bill was presented to the President last month after passage by the National Assembly,
but the President declined to give his assent following gross discrepancies
discovered in the budget details capable of frustrating the policies of the
government.
In a similar development, a source in the
presidency reportedly said yesterday, however on a condition of anonymity that
the President will assent the bill today.
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