The presidency has set up a committee to scrutinise the 2020 Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly, charging it to look critically into the differentials between the figure submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari and the one approved by the legislature, and advise the president on assent.
The budget was last Thursday transmitted to the president for assent.
Although there is pressure on the president to give assent because of the administration’s desire to return to the January-to-December fiscal calendar, Buhari is said to be insistent on ensuring that his core financial objectives are not distorted by the fresh insertions, which are already causing disquiet in the Senate.
“The president wants to ensure that the projects inserted conform to his overall fiscal objectives,” a source told revealled, saying the exercise would not necessarily lead to the defeat of the desire to return to January-to-December budget cycle.
It was gathered that the committee would soon look at the budget document and advise the president accordingly on the next line of action.
We learnt that it was after the committee might have completed its work that the issue of whether Buhari would assent to the bill or not could be decided.
“All I know is that with the presidency is now in possession of the approved Appropriation Bill, the onus is on the executive to speed up action on the issue of assenting to the bill and I know that should be before long because I know both the legislature and the executive are on the same page about returning the budget cycle to January-to-December effective 2020 fiscal year,” one of the sources stated.