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Both leaderships of the Senate and House of Representatives are finalising discussions on the 2018 budget, BusinessDay gathered authoritatively on Wednesday.
This comes as there are strong indications that the National Assembly may jerk up the oil benchmark price from the initial $45 per barrel proposed by the Executive to $55.
Sources privy to the activities of the Senate and House Joint Committees on Appropriation told one of our correspondents that all legislative work on the 2018 budget has been concluded and transmitted to the leadership of the National Assembly for final approval before laying to both legislative chambers next week.
Information gathered from the office of Femi Gbajabiamila, House Leader showed that the budget will be laid next week.
A member of the House Committee on Appropriation, noted that the final parameters on the budget including the oil benchmark which may be jerked up to $55 from the initial $45 as proposed by the Executive, will be determined by the leadership of both chambers.
This, he attributed, to the high price of crude oil in the international market.
Brent crude oil, against which Nigeria’s crude oil is priced, rose above $75.50 per barrel on May 2 to peak at $75.58, the highest in almost 4 years.
The lawmaker who spoke on grounds of anonymity, added that the discussions between the Executive and Legislature after the submission of the 2018 budget estimates will also be put into consideration in the final report.
Confirming the development, another member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, assured that the N8.612trillion 2018 budget estimates would be laid by next week.
He disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
Abdullahi who doubles as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, pointed out that the work of the committee is almost concluded.
“The budget is almost concluded. All things being equal, the report from the appropriation committee would be laid next week,” he said.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had submitted the money bill 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 blamed the late approval of the proposal to failure of heads of ministries, departments and agencies to defend the budget before their respective committees.
Recall that in March, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had announced that the National Assembly would pass the 2018 budget on April 24.
The Speaker added that the joint Committees on Appropriations would lay the report on the budget in the two chambers on April 19 in readiness for the approval.
“The consideration and passage of the budget will be on April 24. The committees will submit their report on April 19 . This will be a harmonised report,” Dogara announced.
However, neither the presentation nor consideration of the Appropriation Committee’s report took place on the two dates.
Later, the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Mustapha Dawaki, assured that the budget would be passed before the end of May 2018.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA & OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
