Buhari Asks National Assembly To Work With Corrected Budget

SAN FRANCISCO, January 19, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari has asked federal lawmakers to work with a corrected version of the 2016 budget, after admitting that alterations made on the version of the document he presented to the National Assembly last December triggered “confusion”.

This was announced on Tuesday by the Senate President; Dr. Bukola Saraki, while reading out a letter to the effect on the floor of the upper chamber.

‪Buhari noted in the letter that “It will be recalled that on Tuesday, 22 December, 2015, I presented my 2016 budget proposals to the joint sitting of the national assembly. I submitted a draft bill accompanied by a schedule of details.

“At the time of submission, we indicated that because the details had just been produced, we would have had to check to ensure that there were no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule.

“That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted. “The national assembly would therefore have the details as submitted on the 22nd and a copy containing the corrections submitted last week. It appears that this has led to some confusion.

“In this regard, please find attached the corrected version. This is the version the national assembly should work with as my 2016 budget estimates. The draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in any of the figures.”

Meanwhile, after adopting the new version of the 2016 Appropriation Bill, the Senate President slated Wednesday for commencement of deliberations on the document.