Indications emerged on Monday that the emergency sitting of the National Assembly to consider the N242 billion 2019 elections budget may not hold.
Although there is no official communication from the Senate leadership on the matter, lawmakers contacted for comments on the issue simply claimed they have not received invitation for any special session.
Last week, both chambers of the National Assembly had indicated that it may reconvene plenary either Tuesday or Wednesday this week to consider the 2019 election budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This followed a meeting of the National Assembly leadership with top management of the Commission last week.
Findings by BusinessDay revealed that the special sitting was aborted because many lawmakers have travelled for Hajj in addition to the fact that other lawmakers have travelled out of the country for the holiday.
Sources said that it was the view of the Senate leadership that considering and approving the request by President, would certainly take the National Assembly close to a month.
“The request by President Muhammadu Buhari is not just a single line item that would just require a one day sitting. It will involve a variety of committees that would work on the budget including the Appropriations, Finance, INEC and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).This is different from a situation whereby the President is asking for an increase in the size of the budget through a change of benchmark. The assignment required in respect of that letter from the President is not something that can be done in one day,” a source revealed.
According to him, the National Assembly cannot achieve anything even if it was reconvened for a sitting this week because the request has to be passed to the Committees and the Committees have to meet with MDAs.
“Besides, there is another issue that has to do with the constituency projects. The letter is requesting the lawmakers to remove funds from their constituency projects and use the same to fund INEC. Remember that the Constituency projects are not one line items in the budget.
You can’t imagine how long it would take the Appropriations Committees to sort out that issue with the MDAs,” another source said.
Also confirming the development, another lawmaker further said: “Reconvening the National Assembly will not really work. It would mean that you want to keep the lawmakers around for the next one month, which defeats the idea of the annual recess.
The letter by the President is not just requesting for an increase in benchmark, which can be handled in one day through Senate or House resolution. Treating the letter by the President will take two to three weeks,” he said.
Sources close to the National Assembly further stated that the logistics of securing a quorum of either the Senate or the House was becoming more difficult as the recess lasts longer.
“Many of our colleagues have travelled for Hajj. Many are in their constituencies battling the challenges of re-election. If you check even with the APC right now, they can’t get up to 30 Senators and next week is Sallah, Arafat is on Monday and you will have holidays. A number of people have travelled. It is not practicable to reconvene now,” the source added.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
