Budget: No Rift Between Presidency, N/Assembly – Ndume

Ali NdumeThe Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC/Borno South) yesterday denied the existence of any rift between the executive and legislative arms of government over the 2016 budget, which was later returned to the National Assembly by the Presidency.
The Senate leader, who was speaking with newsmen in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, said the current disagreement over the 2016 budget details was normal in a democratic setting.
He said: “The President takes a look at the budget, including the details. If he sees that he is comfortable with it, he signs it. If he’s not comfortable with it, he takes notes of the areas that he is not comfortable with and sends it to the National Assembly for ratification.
“This is where we are now. The unfortunate thing this time around is that because of the change in government – the government of change. The attitude of Nigerians has also changed, which is normal, which is good. Nigerians are so anxious because President Muhammadu Buhari is the new president. They are expecting so much. They are expecting magic. They are expecting things quickly. They are expecting to see the difference. But if not, for us, this is just a normal thing.
“When Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was the president, we had issues of budget”.
Senator Ndume noted that since President Buhari had made observations and returned the budget to the National Assembly, the lawmakers would meet with him sometime this week for talks, adding “nothing is out of hand yet. The Nigerian budget is a Nigerian budget”.