Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday turned down a request from the Senate Committee on Appropriations for an extension of two weeks to enable it submit its report on the supplementary budget requested by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Senate President directed the committee to submit its reports latest by Wednesday.
President Buhari is requesting approval from the National Assembly for the sum of N895.8 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. Appropriations Committee chairman, Senator Barau Jibrin, 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 straight forward 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 lineup 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.
