House of Representatives Appropriations Committee yesterday unveiled plans to hold a special budget defence session with Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, and Udo Ndoma, minister of budget and planning, on the 2016 budget proposal.
Others invited by the Committee are: Godwin Emefiele, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), accountant general of the Federation (AGF) and director-general of Budget Office of the Federation.
The meeting is part of efforts geared toward addressing grey areas relating to alleged infractions and padding observed by various standing committees during interface with the ministers and heads of departments and agencies.
While giving update on the presentation of the 2016 budget so far, Abdulmumin Jibrin, chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, said the budget proposals of the MDAs being presented by all the standing Committee had been harmonised with their Senate counterparts.
“Since by tomorrow we will finish taking the reports, we have agreed that we will invite the Minister of Budge and Planning, Minister of Finance, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Director of Budget Office and Central Bank Governor, and engage them extensively on the entire budget.
“We also have pending issues on the 2015 budget, so they have to come with 2015 budget performance and then we will go into special session,” Jibrin said.
He also directed the clerk of the Committee to liaise with the office of the clerk of the House to access the members’ database for easy dispatch of message to all the 360 members and various Committees on the February 25 deadline for final submission and consideration of the MDAs budget.
In a message from the Appropriations Committee read at the opening of the Thursday plenary session, Speaker Yakubu Dogara had directed chairmen of all the standing Committees to submit and defend their MDAs budget within 24 hours or risk zero budget for 2016.
Out of the 97 standing Committees inaugurated by the speaker, only 15 have so far submitted and defended their budget before the Jibrin-led Appropriations Committee.
Considering the enormous work before the Committee, Jibrin informed all the members that the last session of the budget defence for Friday, February 25, scheduled to commence at 10am would start by 8pm.
