Lawan: It’s not compulsory to pass 2018 budget by Dec 31

Ahmad Lawan, senate majority leader, says passing the 2018 budget by December 31 must not be done at all cost.

During his time as acting president, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, alongside members of the federal executive council, agreed to return the federal government to a January-December budget calendar, starting with the 2018 budget.

But Lawan said returning to a January-December calendar will depend on the collaboration between the executive and the legislature.

Lawan, who was at the presidential villa in Abuja, for what he termed a ‘private visit’, told state house correspondents that while it is the desire of all stakeholders to pass the budget by December 31, the full implementation of the budget was the most important thing.

“Well, it depends on how it goes, you know we are supposed to be working on the same page, working for the same people of Nigeria and we will like to see the national assembly working in tandem with the executive arm of government,” he said.

“You know these things will be determined by what the budget looks like, the estimates presented to us because naturally we always try to do a very thorough job, a very patriotic job to ensure that the budget is implementable, to ensure there is equity there is fairness, justice in the distribution of projects across the country.

“We will like to see that done but we shouldn’t just do that at all costs, we should be looking at the benefits that could acrue from doing that and whether it is possible to just do it at once or maybe reduce the period in two phases or even more.

“The 2017 budget took effect from June this year, if it is possible for us to complete the implementation of the budget in six months from June, so be it. But that also requires that we implement the budget properly because these are projects that are supposed to bring succour to Nigerians, and if it is not possible, we shouldn’t force it on ourselves that we must terminate it.

“Regardless of what happens, we should look at the potential consequences of completing it in December or whether we need to extend it a little bit more into March for example but these are issues that when we engage between ourselves the executive and the legislature we will be able to sort them out for the benefit of Nigerians.”

Asked if he was satisfied with the implementation of the 2017 budget so far, he said, “We are still working to ensure that implementation of the 2017 budget continues, so far it hasn’t been able to be implemented the way we thought it would.

“Remember that there are certain things that you don’t just get them to happen at once, some processes must take place before you finally have projects kicking off, so I believe between now and when the 2017 budget circle will be completed much would have been done and achieved.”