The House of Representatives yesterday said it would not be able to receive the 2012 appropriation from President Goodluck Jonathan as scheduled on October 4.
The House unanimously agreed that the 2013 budget proposal should be suspended until the House concludes its findings. On Tuesday, September18, Jonathan forwarded the 2012-2015 Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work and Fiscal Strategy Paper bill to the legislature which also demanded legislative approval and the House read the bill for the second time and referred it to its joint committees on Finance, Appropriation, Legislative Budget, Research and National Planning and Economic matters for further legislative input. Jonathan had written to both Senate and House of Representative requesting for the slot of October 4 to allow him present the 2013 budget estimate to a joint session of the National Assembly.
However, yesterday in plenary session, Chairman House Committee on Finance Rep. Abdulmumin Jibrin (PDP, Kano), whose committee was processing the MTEF document, informed the House that the report of their committee was not ready and as such, it was not feasible for the House to receive the budget from the President. Ruling on the matter, Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said that since the MTEFT report was not before the House, the budget could not be received as scheduled.
Jonathan is also proposing a budget of N5.928 trillion as a total Federal Government budget for next year.
Daily Trust
Over 5 Trillion Naira...