By Nuel Suji – Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara says the two chambers of National Assembly have resolved to pass the 2018 Appropriation bill into law on April 24.
Mr. Dogara gave the hint on Wednesday at the resumed plenary saying both the Senate and House have agreed that the budget will be presented on April 19 and passed on April 24.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, on November 7, 2017, presented before a joint session of the National Assembly, a budget proposal of N8.612 trillion for the 2018 fiscal year, which represented 16 percent increase of N7.298 trillion over the 2017 Budget.
The National Assembly has blamed the Executive arm for the delay in the passed of the budget, citing its failure to submit details of the budget estimate.
Mr. Buhari on Monday ordered the ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) to submit details of their budget estimate as requested not later than Friday this week.
Earlier, the President had met with the leadership of the two chambers at the Presidential Villa in a move to find a common ground to resolve the disagreement over the budget.
The implementation of the 2017 budget is expected to terminate in March.
