Presidency receives clean budget details from joint committee

The Presidency last night received the report of the committee set up to look into the contentious areas in the 2016 budget.

The committee was constituted at the end of the meeting of President Muhammdu Buhari with the leadership of the National Assembly last Tuesday.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, led the executive arm in the committee and the Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun Suleimon, was in charge of the legislature.
Contacted around 8pm, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, said they were about to receive the document.

“I cannot be definite that I have collected or I have not because we are still about to collect it. We are around them to pick it for our team, the minister, I mean the executive to preview. It is just a preview copy not a copy for transmission.

“I don’t have it with me know but I’m about to collect, I’m optimistic that I will collect it tonight but at this moment, 7:40 p.m., I’ve not collected,” he said.

Around 10pm when our correspondent contacted Enang again, he said they were still waiting for it.

Another Presidency source also corroborated Enang’s statement, saying the committee pledged to submit the document to them last night.

“We’ve been waiting for long, but by 12 midnight, we’ll get the report. They are still panel beating the report,” the source said.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday that in few days, the 2016 budget implementation would start.

Osinbajo said the budget was ambitious in size and more in its broad range of fiscal and other socio-economic policies. (Daily Trust)