N/Assembly to transmit 2022 budget Thursday – Lawan

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has said that the National Assembly will on Thursday transmit the 2022 budget passed by both chambers to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, Lawan explained that the timely signing of the 2022 appropriations bill into law would facilitate its implementation from January 2022.

According to him, businesses operating in the country as well as the economy stand to be impacted positively by the timely passage of the national budget.

“For the 2022 appropriation bill, we are expecting that the bill will be cleaned up between today (yesterday) and tomorrow (today) and we hope that by tomorrow (today), the bill will be sent to Mr. President for his assent.

“And we are very optimistic that Mr. President will assent to the bill, like he did 2020 and 2021 so that by January 2022, the implementation of the budget will commence by the grace of God.

“We have seen the benefits of passing and assenting to the budget in good time, especially when we had to fight COVID-19.”

Speaking further, Lawan noted that the desire of the government is to provide legislation for peace, order, and good governance.

He hinted that the chamber would consider the report of the committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution as soon as it is presented early next year.

“When we return, we have one major legislation that has not been attended to at all as a chamber, and that is the constitutional amendments.

“Our committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution has been doing its work. But as a chamber, we haven’t finished working on it.

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“We are expectant that our Committee on the review of the constitution will be presenting the report to this chamber as soon as we resume. The committee has done so much, and the report is almost ready.

“When we harmonise with our colleagues in the House, we should be able to vote on the issues that will particularly bring about peace, unity and good government in our country, before such bill will be sent to the State Houses of Assembly for concurrence.

“On the whole, we must thank Almighty God that almost all those major items we reflected in our legislative agenda as a chamber has been attended to.

“There’s nothing that has been left out, including the review or amendment to our standing orders on how our committees have better and more clearly defined jurisdictions and, of course, how we conduct ourselves here as a chamber.

The Senate President reminded his colleagues of the role of the Senate as an institution to stabilise the polity, particularly against the backdrop of issues likely to surface ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“Next year, by the grace of God, will be the last lap of our tenure. So, we have a lot to ensure that we finish all the things that we have penciled down for ourselves and, of course, there are many other issues that from time to time will be coming up in our polity.

“This Senate is supposed to play that role of stabilising the polity in Nigeria, and I daresay, that the members of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, is a stabilising institution in the polity of Nigeria,” he said.

He underscored the need for the National Assembly to work with the executive arm of government to provide the needed resources, as well as oversight the use of such funds in the fight against insecurity.