Nigerian Senate set to begin work on 2018 Appropriation Bill next Wednesday

The Nigerian Senate has agreed to begin work on the 2018 Budget presented by President Buhari a forthnight ago.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, made the announcement on Thursday, during the plenary session.

He asked lawmakers interested in participating in the debates scheduled to hold on Wednesday and Thursday to begin registration on Monday, adding that copies of the bill would be made available by Monday.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, later told journalists that the bill was a voluminous document, which explains why the distribution of copies to the lawmakers had been delayed.

Speaking on the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper that is still pending, Mr. Sabi said the budget and the MTEF would be processed simultaneously and will be brought in next week.

The senator further explained that the MTEF would be passed before the budget as expected and will be committed to the committees.

“The debate is for the second reading. That does not stop anything. By the time we will be finishing with budget defence sessions, MTEF report would have been laid and everything would have been cleared. This is our innovation,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on November 7, presented the N8.612 trillion 2018 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Source: ( Premium Times)