January-December Budget Cycle Under Threat

~ As NASS standing committees shun appropriation c’ttee

The December deadline given by the National Assembly to pass the 2023 Budget is under threat as all standing committees that are supposed to submit their reports to the Appropriation Committee failed to appear before it yesterday.

The appropriation committee has only two weeks remaining to revert to the Senate for further action but all the committees which were supposed to submit their reports on Friday failed to show up.

The committees that failed to appear before the appropriation committee headed by Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North) are: Upstream, Downstream, Gas, Cooperation and Integration and Capital Markets.

Even though the Senate is working hard to maintain the January – December budget cycle, the Senate Committee on appropriations had no option than to adjourn its maiden meeting from yesterday to Monday due to non-appearance of subcommittees to hand in their reports.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Barau Jibrin, said the sub committees had been given another chance to appear on Monday, with

a subtle warning that failing to comply will force the main committee to do the job for them.

Barau, who directed the Clerk of the committee to write to all those concerned again, emphasized the need to adhere strictly to the timetable to ensure that the budget is passed in December.

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