Speaker of the federal house of representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said the lower legislative chamber has agreed “to re-examine the 2016 budget in view of the prevailing circumstances in Nigeria”.
Dogara made the announcement after an executive session of the house on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the senate had expressed readiness to honour President Muhammadu Buhari’s wish for a Lagos-Calabar rail project, which was left out in the original budget, and asked the executive to submit a supplementary appropriation bill to the effect.
Abdullahi Sabi, spokesman of the senate, had maintained that the rail project was not in the original budget, and had advised the presidency not to set the people against the national assembly.
“That the Lagos-Calabar project was not in the budget does not undermine its importance. The national assembly is open whenever the executive brings the supplementary budget regarding the project it will be honoured,” he had said at the media briefing.
“The way forward is that we have passed budget, and we are saying bring a supplementary appropriation bill.”
Tuesday’s decision of the reps to re-examine the budget aligns with the senate’s position on Tuesday.
TheCable
