President Muhammadu Buhari will not sign the budget sent to him on Thursday by the national assembly until certain issues are resolved, TheCable can report.
The details of the controversial 2016 budget had been transmitted to him and he promised to go through them before appending his signature.
However, after the budget was scrutinised by the cabinet at an emergency meeting on Friday, it was noticed that some key aspects considered to be government’s core infrastructural focus had been removed.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the designated head of the economic team, presided over the meeting, with Buhari absent without any official explanation.
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The president had wanted to assent to the budget before travelling to China on Sunday, but his foot soldiers will now have to engage with the leadership of the national assembly in a fresh round of discussions to effect some amendments.
Presidency sources told TheCable some of the contentious areas.
COASTAL RAIL
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The coastal railway project, for which the president is travelling to China for a loan, was completely removed by the legislators.
Nigeria was to make a counterpart funding of N60 billion, but the lawmakers appear to have struck out the project.
The federal government is working on two major rail arteries, among other rail projects, to service the northern and eastern part of the country, namely the Lagos-Kano line and the Calabar-Lagos line.
But while the Lagos-Kano provision was left untouched, the Calabar-Lagos line was removed.
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REDUCED FUNDING
Also, the cabinet believes the N8.7 billion reduction in the amount proposed for the completion of the Idu-Kaduna rail project, which has reached an advanced stage, will make it difficult for the project to be completed.
The completion of road projects is also a source of worry to the cabinet.
While provisions were made for the completion of all major road projects across the country, the national assembly reduced the amounts provided and instead included new roads whose studies have not even been conducted.
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“The amounts provided by the national assembly for the projects can neither complete the on-going road projects nor the new ones proposed. At the end of the year no significant progress would have been made,” a source in the know of the deliberations told TheCable.
AMBULANCES
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In the health sector, proposals were made for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns such as Polio and AIDS, because the stock is fast depleting, but these were removed.
Instead, allocations were made for the purchase of ambulances – even though the ministry of health did not make such a proposal.
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“It was also observed that certain provisions made in the areas of agriculture and water resources to further the federal government’s diversification project were either removed or reduced while the funds were moved to provision of rural health facilities and boreholes, for which provisions have been made elsewhere,” the source added.
A presidency official said Buhari “is hopeful” that these observations would have been resolved by the time he returns from China so that the budget can take off “immediately”.
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2 comments
BUDGET OF DISHONESTY
It is ridiculous to include in the Budget what was not proposed originally. More ridiculous is the fact that what was included by the parliament would under normal circumstances require a feasibility study, which was not done. This obviously amount to putting the cat before the horse.
For goodness sake, where is the time to conduct the study before the end of the year when a new budget would be proposed?
By that Time the earlier Fund would have disappeared?
The truth is that this has been our BudgetRing culture for years, And it’s welcoming for PMB to expose this DISHONESTY on the Part of the lawmakers.
Is anyone still asking why we are still where we are?
What’s wrong with the blackman?
Your comment..Mr President should as a matter of expediency adorn the invisible camo on a jackboot over the democratic garb in order to stand up to the voodoo democrats at the national assembly, who’re bent on bringing his administration down.
it’s high time Mr president understood the sensitivity of the office he holds, and that, the seat’s the cynosure of all eyes including hawk eyes of the opposition PDP at the national assembly.
The earlier he identifies who these voodoo legislators are and do away with them, the better for him and his administration.