National Assembly may pass 2016 budget by mid March – Rep. Jibrin

There are indications that the 2016 Appropriation bill may be passed by the second week of next month.

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, made the disclosure Monday while receiving report of the House Committee on Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on the defense of the budget of the Commission.

Jibrin, who restated the need for extension of time for the consideration of the budget proposal, also disclosed that relevant Ministers, whose jobs are related to the Budget would be invited to throw light on identified grey areas.

“I can confirm to you clearly that the extension of time is to allow appropriation committee to do a necessary cleaning up. Taking this into consideration, the budget will be passed by the second week of March.

“The passage of the budget has not been suspended indefinitely. What we say is that due to the errors discovered, we will need additional time to take a second look at the budget and to also take on the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Budget and National Planning,” he said.

Jibrin also gave Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) of government that are yet to present and defend their budget proposals till Thursday to make their presentation or risk zero allocation.