Presidency has no plans to reject 2017 budget, says Enang

Ita Enang, senior special assistant to the president on national assembly matters (senate), says the presidency has no plan to reject the 2017 budget.

Enang made this known in a statement he issued on Saturday in Abuja.

He said the presidency was working within the constitutional time-frame required to process details of the budget.

“There is no such plan by it to reject the 2017 budget passed by the National Assembly as alleged in some reports,” he said.

“The presidency can only assent to the budget or withhold assent as the case maybe.

“However, should there be areas needing input, the presidency would engage the leadership of the senate and house of representatives.

“As such, any report suggesting a rejection of the 2017 budget by the presidency is incorrect.”

Enang noted that the presidency was currently subjecting every detail of the budget to scrutiny using the available systems at its disposal.

He said it was to ensure that figures appropriated to ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) were consistent with the realities on ground.

“When the budget was presented to both chambers of the National Assembly for consideration last year by President Muhammadu Buhari, both chambers subjected the document to legislative processes, using internal systems at their disposal,” he said.

“This, exactly, is what the presidency is actually doing at the moment to ensure that the budget, when assented to, sufficiently addresses the nation’s present realities.”