Again; Buhari returns Budget to national assembly

ABUJA —FOR the third time, the 2016
Appropriation Bill has been returned as
President Muhammadu Buhari was said to have
picked holes in the re-worked budget and
returned it to the National Assembly for
further legislative work.
It was reliably gathered that the re-worked
budget was sent to the President at about 1.15
am, yesterday, but was returned to the
National Assembly at about noon, yesterday.
It was also gathered that principal officers and
members of the review committee from both
legislative chambers met, yesterday, at about
3.20pm till about 5.30pm in the Senate wing to
reconsider the observations made by the
President on the budget.
Vanguard’s attempts to get some of the
principal officers and the review committee
members to confirm or deny the story proved
abortive as some of them switched off their
phones, while those whose phones were active
ignored calls and refused to respond to text
messages.
A source close to the committee confirmed that
the budget was actually submitted to the
President but that he refused to touch it due
to some issues he was not comfortable with.
He said: “The budget got to the State House
at about 1.10 am and Mr. President went
through it early this morning (yesterday) and
still had some issues with some of the figures.
"I cannot tell you exactly what it was but I
think the insertions made by the lawmakers
were not significantly altered.
“You know the lawmakers had moved some
allocations for key projects that are dear to the
President to other areas, especially to their
constituency projects.
"Of course, they have changed some but I
believe Mr. President is not satisfied with the
reconciliation they made. I think this is one of
the reasons it was returned.”
He also disclosed that the President would
assent to the budget today should the
lawmakers make all the corrections and transmit
the document to him tonight (last night).
He said: “I can assure you, Mr. President is
desirous to sign the budget because he is aware
and has acknowledged that Nigerians are going
through hardship. So, if the budget is cleaned
up this night and sent to him, he will sign it as
soon as possible. That I know very well.”
Further probe into the matter revealed that
the N500 million diversion of funds to
constituency projects is “what is giving the
president headache.”
A lawmaker, who is not a member of the review
committee but a member of the standing
committee on appropriation, told Vanguard in
confidence that the “President wants a
situation where the insertions should be reduced
to about N50 million before he will sign the
budget.”
The reviewed copy, which was sent yesterday
morning did not cut substantially from the N500
million.
At press time, the review committee meeting
was still ongoing as the members struggled to
ensure that all the observations of the
President are put in order before presentation.