Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President of Nigeria, on Tuesday turned down a request from the Senate Committee on Appropriations for a two-week extension to enable the Committee to submit its report on the supplementary budget requested by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Lawan directed the committee to submit its reports latest by Wednesday.
Supplementary Budget
President Buhari is requesting approval from the National Assembly for the sum of ₦895.8 billion to supplement the 2021 budget.
The proposed supplementary budget is intended to be used to equip the military, fund COVID-19 vaccination programs, and the management of HIV.
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Senator Barau Jibrin, Appropriations Committee Chairman on Tuesday, had explained that it was impossible for the panel to conclude work on the budget report at the stipulated deadline and asked for more time.
“We were given the mandate to submit the report today. We started work on the bill. And we discovered that we needed more time because we feel we must meet the minimum standard set out by the rules of this Senate in processing the bill,” he said.
“The expected time we feel we will be able to do this is this week and then get our report submitted on Tuesday next week.
“I appeal that this Distinguished Senate permit us to submit our report on Tuesday next week.”
But Senate President Lawan refused the request, stating that the bill was a straightforward one that does not need much time to consider.
“Chairman, you will not have more than today. This is a very straightforward supplementary budget request. So it doesn’t need two weeks working on it,” he said.
“And you remember, we have a line up of so many important bills to consider in this Senate.
“So you have today, you lay tomorrow, we receive tomorrow. Because I’m sure you had the entire weekend from Wednesday, almost six days. That should be enough. This is just two sectors.
“It is not a complicated thing. So you don’t need up to Tuesday next week. So you submit tomorrow please.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Tuesday also received a request for the consideration of the supplementary budget.
