Why we postponed 2019 budget passage – Saraki

The Senate has postponed the passage of the 2019 budget till Tuesday, April 30, 2019.

This was disclosed during plenary on Wednesday.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said the postponement is because of the absence of the Chairman of the committee at plenary and to also enable committee members to study the budget details before passage.

He asked the National Assembly secretariat to ensure that senators get copies of the bill ahead of passage.

“Some members have not got printed copies of the details and I have directed the Clerk to make sure that latest by Monday we all have printed copies so that everybody can see the details of the budget, and by so doing, we can now pass it on Tuesday.

“We don’t want to run into a problem where we pass it without details and our colleagues will start to comment. So, Clerk, ensure that everybody has copies of the details by Monday and we will pass it on Tuesday,” he said.

The Senate President had on April 9, 2019, given a Thursday deadline to the  Senate Committee on Appropriations for submission of its report on the 2019 Appropriation Bill.

The deadline came one week after the Appropriations Committee failed to lay its report following an earlier date of April 2, 2019.