In spite of the controversy over the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar
coastal rail project, the Nigerian Senate has vowed not to revisit the
2016 budget.
The Senate, on Tuesday, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to draft a detailed supplementary budget capturing the project and submit it for consideration.
This decision was arrived at, during a closed-door session of the Senate, during plenary.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Chairman, Senate
Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdullahi Sabi, said the Senate
resolved that the President should assent to the budget as passed and
subsequently include things left out in the main budget in a
supplementary budget.
He maintained that the project was not included in the budget sent to
the National Assembly while stating that the matter was far from
controversial.
“I know very well that the last one week has been full of the language you guys have already crafted ‘controversy’, even though for us, there is no controversy.”
“Like you will recall, I issued a press statement yesterday (Monday), on behalf of the Senate to make our position very clear with respect to the issue of the budget. And let me make it very clear that we issued that statement simply to clarify the situation and not to confront any authority or threaten anybody.”
“We are a democratic institution and whatever we do, we remain guided by the ground norm of the country which is the constitution.”
“Today, we have resumed plenary, having come back from our recess and, of course, we went into executive session, which is the normal practice, to welcome one another and discuss issues that we believe pertain to the burning issues on ground, in this case, the issue of the 2016 budget and the smooth workings of the Senate and the National Assembly.”
“Now, what we issued yesterday (Monday) remained our position. Today, all we did was to confirm what exactly are the true pictures of these situations and in my capacity as spokesman of the Senate, I did not go to press with falsehood. “I have to verify my facts. I have to get my facts and to speak on this facts; and I think we have made that point very clear and we would definitely remain guided by the tenets of the Nigerian Constitution as we did whatever we were supposed to do.”
“Now, one thing that is obvious is that yes, we have passed the budget, Nigerians are asking what next for us? What is important now is for the budget to be signed.”
“The constitution has taken note of this kind of scenario where you may have omissions or shortfalls of allocations and Section 81 of the Constitution is very clear on what you need to do, which is to sign the budget and then submit a supplementary appropriation.”
“I want to assure you that the Senate is not unmindful of the cries of Nigerians. That we said, for example, that the Lagos-Calabar rail project was not in the budget does not in any way undermine the fact that it is a very, very important project for this nation to embark on.”
“So, the National Assembly, the Senate is open if the executive brings a supplementary appropriation with respect to these and any other issue that they feel very strongly about. We are ready and willing to consider such. “But the most important point to note is that we want to remain guided by the provisions of the constitution.”
“I think if we do that, all these raging controversies will be off our back and we can all concentrate and begin the process of implementing the 2016 budget so that those dividends of democracy – youth unemployment issue, the empowerment of women, the social intervention programme, the infrastructure programmes, the agricultural programmes – are treated.”
“The rains are already here and all the other projects that we know will kick-start the Nigerian economy can begin to be implemented.”
“So we want to appeal to Nigerians that the Senate is committed to doing its work diligently. It is committed to listening to the yearning of Nigerians and to do what is right.”
The Senate, on Tuesday, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to draft a detailed supplementary budget capturing the project and submit it for consideration.
This decision was arrived at, during a closed-door session of the Senate, during plenary.
“I know very well that the last one week has been full of the language you guys have already crafted ‘controversy’, even though for us, there is no controversy.”
“Like you will recall, I issued a press statement yesterday (Monday), on behalf of the Senate to make our position very clear with respect to the issue of the budget. And let me make it very clear that we issued that statement simply to clarify the situation and not to confront any authority or threaten anybody.”
“We are a democratic institution and whatever we do, we remain guided by the ground norm of the country which is the constitution.”
“Today, we have resumed plenary, having come back from our recess and, of course, we went into executive session, which is the normal practice, to welcome one another and discuss issues that we believe pertain to the burning issues on ground, in this case, the issue of the 2016 budget and the smooth workings of the Senate and the National Assembly.”
“Now, what we issued yesterday (Monday) remained our position. Today, all we did was to confirm what exactly are the true pictures of these situations and in my capacity as spokesman of the Senate, I did not go to press with falsehood. “I have to verify my facts. I have to get my facts and to speak on this facts; and I think we have made that point very clear and we would definitely remain guided by the tenets of the Nigerian Constitution as we did whatever we were supposed to do.”
“Now, one thing that is obvious is that yes, we have passed the budget, Nigerians are asking what next for us? What is important now is for the budget to be signed.”
“The constitution has taken note of this kind of scenario where you may have omissions or shortfalls of allocations and Section 81 of the Constitution is very clear on what you need to do, which is to sign the budget and then submit a supplementary appropriation.”
“I want to assure you that the Senate is not unmindful of the cries of Nigerians. That we said, for example, that the Lagos-Calabar rail project was not in the budget does not in any way undermine the fact that it is a very, very important project for this nation to embark on.”
“So, the National Assembly, the Senate is open if the executive brings a supplementary appropriation with respect to these and any other issue that they feel very strongly about. We are ready and willing to consider such. “But the most important point to note is that we want to remain guided by the provisions of the constitution.”
“I think if we do that, all these raging controversies will be off our back and we can all concentrate and begin the process of implementing the 2016 budget so that those dividends of democracy – youth unemployment issue, the empowerment of women, the social intervention programme, the infrastructure programmes, the agricultural programmes – are treated.”
“The rains are already here and all the other projects that we know will kick-start the Nigerian economy can begin to be implemented.”
“So we want to appeal to Nigerians that the Senate is committed to doing its work diligently. It is committed to listening to the yearning of Nigerians and to do what is right.”
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