The two chambers of the National Assembly are set to postpone plenary to give room for its various committees to commence the review of the 2020 budget implementation.
As well as enable ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) defend their 2021 budget proposal. This is according to a disclosure by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
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The disclosure is the sequel to the passing of the 2021 Appropriation Bill for second reading last week. In addition, the National Assembly is expected to commence debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which was recently forwarded to the house by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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What they are saying
Commenting on both bills, Mr. Lawan said: “On Tuesday, we will be taking the debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). This will be the last function that we would do in the plenary.”
He remarked further: “We will suspend plenary on Tuesday for the budget defense processes to start immediately”.
On an optimistic note, Mr. Lawan stated that the PIB which had scaled the first reading last week will also be passed for second reading today after the debate.
(READ MORE:U.S. budget suffers a deficit of $3.1 trillion in 2020, as pandemic slams the economy)
What you should know
The National Assembly has fixed the deadline for the 2021 budget defense in the red chamber by MDAs to be the first week of November 2020.
In lieu of this fact, Mr. Lawan urged all ministers and heads of government agencies to ensure they comply with the directives within the stipulated timeframe.
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Why this matters
The recent development is a big boost in returning the country’s budget cycle back to the January-December timeframe which will expedite effective implementation of the budget provisions as funds will be released on time to concerned ministries, enabling them to execute capital projects and meet their recurrent needs.
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