Senate confirms 2 separate budget versions

Controversy continue in the red chamber of the national assembly on Thursday, when two different versions of the federal budget were discovered.

The 2016 budget presented to the national assembly on December 22, 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari was discovered to be missing on Tuesday.

Senate President Bukola Saraki maintained on Thursday that the budget was never missing, he said Ita Enang, special adviser to the president on national assembly matters, presented a budget different from the one presented by the president himself.

“Today, the Senate received the report of the ad hoc committee setup to investigate the claims of the ‪missing Budget 2016,” he said.

“The report of the committee revealed that the Senate received two versions of the 2016 Appropriation Bill – one from President Muhammadu Buhari at the December 22nd, 2015 Joint Session of the National Assembly, and another from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang.

Saraki insists that “the senate will only accept the version of the appropriation bill that was presented by the president”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Saraki dismissed all reports regarding a missing budget, insisting that the senate had planned its plenary sessions to address the budget.

Addressing enquiries from TheCable, Garba Shehu, special assistant to the president on media and publicity, also insisted that no budget was missing.

“Nobody except the president can withdraw the budget. As far as we know, he hasn’t done that,” he said.

“The copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the national assembly. By tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property. Enquiries as to where it is should be directed to the appropriate quarters.”

The 2016 budget of about N6.08 trillion with an expansionary view has been trailed by much criticism, including an optimistic crude oil benchmark of $38 per barrel, while oil trade as low as $29.