Senate picks Thurs for report on missing budget

The senate committee mandated to investigate the missing 2016 budget will on Thursday submit its report, TheCable can report.

Eyinnaya Abaribe, a senator representing Abia south, had raised a point of order asking the senate to clear the air on the missing budget.

He said that the matter, which was discussed at a closed-session of the senate on Tuesday, had become an urgent issue of public importance, hence the need to clear the air.

But Senate President Bukola Saraki said that the upper legislative chamber would wait for the committee, which was set up at Tuesday’s executive session to look into the matter and to get back to it on Thursday.

“As we know we are all part of the decision. We gave assignment to some people and they will come back tomorrow,” he said.

Earlier, Ali Ndume, senate leader, denied that the budget was missing.

“The budget cannot be missing. A copy can be laid, it is a symbolic copy. The budget will be in the custody of both chambers. It cannot be stolen, it cannot be missing. Once the budget is laid in the national assembly it has become the property of the national assembly,” he said.

On the visit of the senate president to President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, Ndume said: “Saraki’s visit to the villa is for the senate to know the president’s priority. We want to see how we can fast-track the passage of the budget before the end of February.

“What is before the senate is a proposal, once the president signs it, it cannot be amended. We can turn the budget upside down, it cannot be missing.”

TheCable understands that fresh copies of the budget will be distributed to members on Thursday while legislative work on it will begin next week.

Meanwhile, Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the federal house of representatives, displayed a copy of the budget at Wednesday’s sitting to debunk reports that it was missing.