Senate passes 2020 budget for second reading

The senate has passed the 2020 appropriation bill for second reading.

The lawmakers passed it for second reading after debating on the general principles of the bill on Tuesday

On October 8, President Muhammadu Buhari laid a budget proposal of N10.33 trillion to a joint session of national assembly and the lawmakers commenced work on it the next day.

Speaking on the budget on Tuesday, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the budget defence by the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) would not exceed October 29.

Lawan said that the 2020 budget must be passed before the federal lawmakers go on their Christmas break.

“For our committees, we have set ourselves from 30th of October to 5th of November for all sub-committees offer appropriations to defend their budget before the senate committee on appropriations,” the senate president said.

He said the committee on appropriations in both chambers would harmonise the appropriation bill between November 6 and November 21.

The senate president said the report on the budget is expected to be laid by the end of November.

“I will not conclude this comment without making reference to these agencies that don’t bring their budget to the National Assembly on time. One of our colleagues mentioned that the NDDC’s 2018 and 2019 budget has not been brought here. Now, it is 2020,” Lawan said.

“The warning to the NDDC is if you don’t bring 2020 budget proposal in time, you won’t have money to spend anymore because you cannot be spending government funds without appropriation.

“Appropriation is the responsibility of the national assembly and we are not going to allow our responsibility to slip through our fingers.”

The budget was referred to the appropriations committee while plenary was adjourned till October 29 to enable the MDAs begin their budget defence.