PRESIDENT of the Senate, Ahmad La- wan, has disclosed that the Red Cham- ber failed to pass
the 2023 budget as earlier scheduled due to errors in the draft bill submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Bu- hari.
Sign of the inability of the Senate to pass the Bill as an- nounced on Thursday by La- wan was first noticed when the budget report was not listed on the Order Paper as part of items to be consid- ered by the lawmakers.
The legislators had gone on closed-door session which lasted for 15 minutes shortly after the plenary resumed for the day.
Lawan, in his address after the closed session, said the 2023 Appropriation Bill could not be passed as scheduled because there were so many errors which the Appropria- tions Committee could not finish cleaning up on time.
He blamed the executive arm of government for sub- mitting the budget proposal very late, adding that even when it was finally laid be- fore the National Assembly, it came with errors.
Lawan also said the pro- cess of cleaning the errors contained in the Appropri- ation Bill was concluded on Wednesday, noting that the two chambers would have to harmonise the copy to be able to present the report for passage by both Chambers on Wednesday December 28, 2022.
He also assured that the implementation of the pro- posed budget would still commence on January 1, 2023, in line with the new budget cycle.
He said: “Today was sched- uled for us to receive and consider the report of our committee on Appropriations for the 2023 Appropri ation Bill. However, due to some challenges, we are not able to receive the report of the committee, and the main reason is that the Appropria- tion Bill came to the National Assembly with some prob- lems and when our com- mittees on Appropriations in the Senate and the House of Representatives started to reconcile the figures of what we have done and what was presented, the problems be- came very obvious and they were not easy to deal with. Therefore, our committees had to start a process of cleaning up the bill first.
“That process, of course, also engaged the executive arm because the problems came from there. It was con- cluded only yesterday, and our committee secretariats are not able to finish pro- cessing the budget for us to take today nor tomorrow, nor Saturday or Sunday be- cause these are periods that are for festivities. Monday and Tuesday are public holi days.
“Consequently, we can only
receive the report and con- sider it on Wednesday, De- cember 28, 2022. That is the earliest, that’s next week.
“So far, this ninth National Assembly has done so much to pass the previous Appro- priation Bills since 2019 be- fore the end of the year till date, and I’m sure that this would remain one of the cherished legacies of the ninth National Assembly.
“So, by the grace of God, on December 28, the Sen- ate and indeed the House of Representatives will all come back to receive and consider the budget report from our committees.
“Secondly, our committee on Finance, this morning, holding a public hearing on the Finance Bill 2022, and of course the Finance Bill is the basis on which the Ap- propriation Bill 2023 is built. We had arranged yesterday that the finance committee would present a report of the Finance Bill hearing at 2pm today. That, of course, would not be possible.
“This is the reason: We also receive two communi- cations yesterday – Supple- mentary Budget 2022 and of course, Ways and Means. So our committees on Ap- propriation, Finance, Water Resources, Agriculture and Works and Housing will be processing the Bills for to- day.
“In that respect, the Senate will adjourn immediately so that our committees start the action they are supposed to take and, therefore, those reports will also be available to us on December 28 when we will be here.”
At the House of Repre- sentatives on Thursday, the speaker, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, also con- firmed the inability of the National Assembly to pass the 2023 budget as earlier scheduled.
Gbajabiamila, speaking during plenary session, as sured that the budget would be passed next Wednesday in line with January-Decem- ber cycle.
While announcing a slight change in the plan, he urged members to adjourn for Christmas but to return on December 28 for the singu- lar assignment of passing the budget.
He said: “We just have to come back on Wednesday. We will come back for the one item of passing the bud- get; that’s all. Then, we can proceed on break fully,” he stated.
Also at the plenary, the House tasked authoriti- ties of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), alongside money deposit banks, on the need to activate mech- anisms to ensure prompt remittance of school fees of foreign-based Nigerian stu- dents to avoid deportation.
The resolution followed the consideration of a mo- tion moved at the plenary by Honourable Akande Sadipe.
