Again, hope dims for passage of 2019 budget by National Assembly

The Senate yesterday failed to get any report on the 2019 budget from its Appropriation Committee upon the expiration of deadline to that effect yesterday.

Consequently, Senate failed to resolve issues on the budget document during plenary before adjourning session to Tuesday, April 16.

The leadership of the Senate had, last week, expressed desire to pass the N8.83 trillion 2019 Appropriation Bill before proceeding on Easter holiday, but there are fears that the committees are ready with their reports.

Senate President Bukola Saraki had on last Tuesday given the sub-committees Wednesday, April 10, 2019 deadline to submit their budget reports to the Appropriations Committee, which was mandated to submit the budget report yesterday in readiness for its approval by April 16.

Saraki, however, stressed the Appropriations panel would be forced to use executive submissions if the sub-committees fail to submit their reports to the Appropriations Committee by Wednesday.