Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Jibril Barau, has assured that the 2020 budget report being compiled by his committee will be ready next Tuesday for the consideration of the upper legislative chamber.
Barau, who spoke wednesday evening after receiving reports of some sub-committees on the 2020 budget proposal , said that his panel would meet the Tuesday deadline for the submission of its report to the Senate.
Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, had before adjourning plenary on Tuesday tasked the appropriations committee to conclude its work and submit a detailed budget report for Senate consideration by November 28.
However, despite its avowed commitment to giving accelerated consideration to the processing of the budget bill, it was observed that the Senate’s own schedule for the entire processing of the budget have run into hitches.
This is because many of the committees were still engaging the MDAs under their supervision as at when they were expected to be concluding works on their reports.
The committee Chairman, however, stressed that despite the fact that some standing committees were still engaging some federal ministries departments and agencies (MDAs) on the budget estimate will not stop his panel from submitting its report.
The chairman said there was nothing to worry about because the deadline for submission of reports was not negotiable.
Barau, however, added that “we have started receiving and considering reports from various committees and we would meet up with the November 28 given to us to lay our report.”
As at yesterday evening which marked the first day of the sub- committees meeting with main appropriations committee, only three out of the 68 senate committees had appeared before the panel.
The committees are those on Capital Market, Cooperation and Integration, and Privatisation that defended and submitted their reports.
