Reps to lay report on 2016 appropriations bills Tuesday

Barring any last minute changes, the House Committee on Appropriations will today, Tuesday lay the report on the 2016 budget before the House of Representatives, BusinessDay investigation revealed.

One of the aides to Speaker Yakubu Dogara also confirmed that the report would be laid at the Tuesday plenary, just as he dismissed insinuations that the budget would not be laid this week.

The information was further confirmed by staff and legislative aides close to the Clerk of the House and Appropriations Committee who confided in our correspondent but failed to disclosed details on the total budget for the 2016 fiscal year.

According to them, Abdulmumin Jibrin, chairman of House Committee on Appropriations, kept the details of the harmonised 2016 budget to chest in order to avoid media hype ahead of the presentation.

“The budget report will be laid tomorrow at plenary because the House will be proceeding on two weeks break for the Easter and as it is nobody will toil with the laying of the report.

“I can’t speak for the Senate but I can confirm that the House Committee on Appropriations will lay the report tomorrow and subsequently be considered and passed by members before proceeding on the Easter break,” one of the sources said yesterday evening.

BusinessDay had in its report dated Tuesday, March 15, said oil benchmark was pegged at $36 per barrel against $38 per barrel recommended by the Executive in the budge proposal laid before the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives last year.

Recall that Abdulrasak Namdas, chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs and his Senate counterpart, Abdullahi Sabi had appealed for the understanding of Nigerians following the inability of the National Assembly to lay the report on Thursday, March 17.

The lawmakers also denied reports that 25 fresh errors amounting to over N37 billion were discovered by the Appropriations Committee.

However, when contacted on the possibility of laying the report at today’s plenary, Namdas did not pick his calls, nor did he respond to text messages as at the time of filing this report.