President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to receive a clean copy of the budget details today, ending weeks of stand off with the legislators. Buhari submitted budget bill to the National Assembly in December but he withheld assent when the legislators introduced many changes to it.


The budget went back and forth until last week when the presidency and the legislators set up a joint committee headed by Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun Suleimon to resolve the impasse. Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma represented the presidency on the committee.Sources in the committee said the grey areas had been trashed out.

A member of the committee told Daily Trust last night that the document would be submitted   to President Buhari today.“We’ve done our work already. All that we’re now doing is finishing touches in order to ensure that there’s no single mistake in the document to be submitted to the president,” the source said.

The source added that after the submission, it was likely that  Buhari would sign the budget immediately.

Both the Senate Leader Ali Ndume and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang confirmed to Daily Trust   yesterday that the committee was through with its assignment. Speaking on the assignment, Senator Ndume said:   “ We are done with our assignment, we gave ourselves the deadline of  last Friday and by then we were through but we are meeting tomorrow(today) to finalise our work on the budget.  If we finish, we will submit it to the president immediately for his assent.” 
Asked on the grey areas, he said: “I’ll agree we have areas of disagreement and we have looked and ironed out the areas. We have also looked at critical areas. We are working tirelessly in order to get it done.
“We are meeting tomorrow (Today) to reconsider grey areas, if we finish, we will then take it to the president for him to assent it.”

Contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang  said the committee members were almost through with their assignment. “They are almost concluding, they are doing a very good work and they dedicated all their time to it. In the next few hours, they will finish. I don’t know the exact time that they will submit their report, all I know is that they have gone very far in their assignment,” he said.

The contentious areas include removal of the Lagos-Calabar rail project from the budget and inclusion of N40bn projects in Ministry of Works, 386 projects in the ministry of Agriculture, among others, by the National Assembly.


The budget Highlights are: 


*The construction of 7,068 housing units in the six geo-political zones and Abuja at N44.5 billion.

*The rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan road - N50 billion.

*The Kano-Maiduguri road (Section I-V) - N16 billion.

*Lagos-Calabar rail way line project - N60 billion.

*The concession of 2nd Niger Bridge in Anambra and Delta states - N17 billion.



*Modernisation of Lagos-Kano standard gauge rail line project N52.7billion.

*The completion of Abuja (Idu)- Kaduna 186.5KM single tract rail line N18.2 billion.

*Social welfare scheme - N500 billion.
The record N2 trillion capital vote is expected to reflate the economy, create jobs and reduce unemployment.
 



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TPAND:
Nigerians are dying, the economy is getting tougher and tougher by the day, Buhari sign this heck of budget.

The budget went back and forth until last week when the presidency and the legislators set up a joint committee headed by Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun Suleimon to resolve the impasse.

SeverusSnape:
Budget of "change" according to zombies.

989900:
Social welfare scheme is an ill-thought-out project @ 500billion Naira = avenue for malfeasance.

LA-IB @N50B?

I'm loving the rest!!!

Keen to see Aso villa's budget.

amaechi1:


It only an empty man will never see anything good in another man's life. I will advice you you come out from your ocean of bitterness and face reality. Also, remember your mentor spent his worker day holiday in Kuje.

TPAND:
Nigerians are dying, the economy is getting tougher and tougher and directionless by the day, Buhari sign this heck of a budget.

bejeiodus:
I hope this will mark the end of the controversies that have trailed the budget since it was submitted to the National Assembly. The executive must ensure adequate implementation of the budget to show to Nigerians that the budget is worth the wait. I only pray there won't arise another reason not to sign it. So much is hinged on that budget and the earlier it is signed the better for all of us.

juman:
The budget implementation would be between twenty percent and thirty percent implementation.
Cannot be more than that.

989900:
Social welfare scheme is an ill-thought-out project @ 500billion Naira = avenue for malfeasance.

LA-IB @N50B?

I'm loving the rest!!!

Keen to see Aso villa's budget.

Jesusloveyou:
yes, this lagos-ibadan road is another grey area that should be reduce by 50 percent,