President Muhammadu Buhari and leaders of the
two chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday night rose from a 10-minute
meeting, saying all grey areas in the 2016 Budget had been resolved.
The meeting which was held inside the the
First Lady’s Conference Room started at about 9.20pm and ended around 9.30pm.
Those who attended the meeting included
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Deputy President of the Senate,
Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun;
Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio; House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila; and
other leaders of the National Assembly.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Abba
Kyari; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma; the Senior Special
Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang; and the Senior
Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives),
Samaila Kawu, also attended.
At the end of the meeting, Saraki told State
House correspondents that the lawmakers came to inform the President and his
team of the solutions they had found to the budget impasse.
Tuesday night’s meeting followed an earlier
meeting between Buhari and Dogara at the Presidential Villa.
Saraki explained that both sides agreed on
the way forward and assured Nigerians that the process would be completed in a
matter of days.
He said, “We just finished a meeting with the
President and the Vice-President. We came to let them know some of the
solutions that we found in moving the budget process forward and we are
happy to say that we have agreed on the way forward.
“We believe that this process will be
completed in matter of days rather than weeks.
“So it is good to Nigerians and all of us, we
have found a way forward and in a matter of days, the budget will be ready for
the President’s assent.”
When asked to be specific on the way forward
that they arrived at, Saraki said, “We have committees that have been set up on
our side and also on the Executive side.
“We will engage over the next few days to
just tidy up a few loose ends and here and there and the outcome will be
satisfactory to everybody.”
When also asked to be specific of the budget
would be signed this week, he said, “You heard what I have said. I said it is a
matter of days and not weeks. So, you can start counting the days which means
that between now and Monday or Tuesday, I’m hopeful that the budget will be signed.”
Udoma also confirmed to reporters that the
Executive had agreed with the Legislature to resolve all grey areas and the
modalities of doing so in the next few days.
The minister said, “We have agreed to work
together to resolve all issues in the next few days and we have also agreed on
the modalities of or doing so.
“It was a very good meeting, very positive
and within the next few days all issues will be resolved.
“We are working together, both the Executive
and the Legislature, to sort those things out. Within the next days, all
matters will be resolved.”
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