OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
The Senate has received the long-awaited report on the 2018 Appropriations Bill from its Committee on Appropriations.
The report was laid on Tuesday in plenary by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Danjuma Goje, six months after President Muhammadu Buhari presented the N8.612 trillion budget estimates to a joint session of the National Assembly.
It would be recalled that President Buhari had submitted the proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 7, 2017, with a call on the legislature to quickly pass the budget and return to January to December budget cycle.
However, Senate President Bukola Saraki attributed the delay in approving the document to failure of heads of ministries, departments and agencies to defend the budget before their respective committees.
The 2018 budget is the most delayed since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, with May 15, 2018 marking 190 days from November 7, 2017 when President Buhari presented it.
The budget is expected to be passed by Wednesday or Thursday this week.
