From FRED ITUA, Abuja
Almost one month after President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2017 budget proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has revealed that the Red Chamber will commence debate on the document next week.
Saraki who spoke, on Tuesday, when the Senate reconvened after a 3-week Christmas break, also revealed that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) will be passed tomorrow, Thursday.
Saraki assured that Nigerians will be carried along throughout the process of budget consideration by the relevant committees of the Senate.
Saraki noted: “It is therefore imperative that we immediately begin work earnestly on the MTEF to ensure passage by the end of the week. In this way, consideration and debate on the 2017 budget will immediately follow in the 3 “sitting days” of the next week.
“It is our hope that we will with this budget begin the implementation of the report of the Committee on Budget Reforms, which has since submitted its report. This will enable more Nigerians participate in the budget consideration process, deepen the review and create the necessary efficiencies we expect from our budget implementation.”
The Senate President reiterated the need to ensure that the 2017 budget is well scrutinized in order to pass the most successful budget in the history of the National Assembly.
He said: “Distinguished colleagues, there is hardly a point reiterating the importance of making the 2017 budget the most successful budget we have ever passed, neither is it important to emphasize the need to have this budget back on the desk of the executive on time for implementation.
“As you may be aware, based on the recommendations of the Budget Reform Committee, we are working towards ensuring that budgets are prepared and submitted timely, so that implementation will follow a regular fiscal circle,” Saraki said.