MTEF, 2015 budget, PIB top agenda as Senate resumes today

The Senate will on resumption from its Christmas and New Year holidays today deliberate extensively on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper, the 2015 budget and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
This was contained in the notice paper obtained from the Senate Committee on Rules and Business in Abuja on Monday.
Also Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, on Monday, said the 2015 budget and the Constitution Amendment Bill would receive the utmost attention of the Senate on the resumption of plenary, Tuesday.
Ekweremadu stated this after a meeting with a delegation of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, USA, in Abuja.
His words: “Basically, we are resuming to take care of the issue of the 2015 budget. God willing, we will go through the second reading and send the Appropriation Bill to our committees for a thorough work.
“That means we may have to break off from the plenary and deal with the budget”.
The lawmaker, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution further assured that there would be expedited legislative actions on the Constitution Amendment Bill.”
According to him, “We received the report on the Constitution Amendment Bill from the state Assemblies shortly before the Christmas break. We are hopeful that this week, we are going to report formally to plenary on the returns from the states.
“We will let Nigerians know the specific clauses that have been successfully amended; that is, those that received the positive votes of two-thirds of the 36 state Assemblies. We are going to articulate it finally and send to the president for his assent”.