• Issues 24 hours ultimatum to erring heads
Fred Itua, Abuja
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has listed chairmen of 20 committees as being responsible for the delay in the passage of the 2018 national budget.
Saraki frowned at the refusal of the 20 committee chairmen to submit their reports to the Committee on Appropriation.
The committees are Defence, Army, Air Force, Navy, Industry, FCT, States and Local Governments, Culture and Tourism, Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Niger Delta, SDGs and Primary Health Care and Communicable Diseases.
Others are Health, Capital Market, Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, FERMA, Works, Power and Cooperation and Integration.
The senate president directed the panel chairmen to submit their reports before the end of business today and warned that the chamber will work with the original proposal submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari; if the committees refuse to comply.
Saraki said: “I am sorry to have chosen this method. I have no alternative than to list these committees so that these chairmen can know they are holding all of us back.
“These 20 committees must ensure that their reports are submitted today. We have a deadline which we have committed to. You can’t hold us back. You must submit unfailingly, today.”
Both chambers of the National Assembly have set April 24 to pass a harmonised version of the budget, which Buhari submitted on November 7, 2017.