2017 budget will be signed next week, says Dogara

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, says the presidency will sign the 2017 appropriation bill into law, “early next week”.

Speaking at a special session to commemorate the second anniversary of the 8th house, Dogara said the legislature has kept its promise of ensuring a transparent deliberation and passage of the budget.

The speaker said all the measures put in place in place by the house in the bid to pass the budget were geared towards galvanising the country’s economy for greater growth.

“On the issue of budget, we kept our promise to Nigerians at the beginning of the legislative session to ensure transparent deliberation and passage of the 2017 appropriation bill which will be signed into law early next week,” he said.

“We have also carried out significant budget reforms. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a public hearing was conducted in the national assembly to get the input of Nigerians in the budgetary process.

“Further reforms introduced include the details of the appropriation Act being available to all members before passage in plenary; the requirement that members of each committee should sign the report of their committees before being sent to the committee on appropriation.

“All these novel measures are unprecedented in the history of our parliament. These proactive measures ensured that the house’s debate and consideration of the 2017 budget proposal presented by the president was evidence based and geared towards galvanising the economy for greater growth.”

Dogara added that the bills passed by the house such as the established of federal competition and consumer protection commission aims at stimulating the economy by “efficient allocation of resources and eliminate barriers to entry and restrictive trade practices in our market.”

“It will have a hugely positive impact on the quality of goods and services and their prices in the interest of the Nigerian consumer. Several Bills and Resolutions aimed at improving ease of doing business in Nigeria have been passed and more are in the works,” he said.