Barring last minute changes, President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to lay the 2019 budget proposal before the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Femi Gbajabiamila, majority leader, House of Representatives, who spoke on behalf of the Principal Officers of the House, explained that all issues relating to the workers’ protest had been taken care of.
“This is an APC government, yes, the President will present it tomorrow (Wednesday),” Gbajabiamila said.
While giving update on the intervention of the House towards resolving the crisis, the Lagos lawmaker who spoke with Legislative Correspondents argued, “It is not possible to shut down the legislature as the entire country would be shut down as there will be nobody to make the laws.
“Last night, both legislative chambers’ leadership met on the issue of unpaid salaries, though we operate separate accounts and we are on top of it. Our intervention is already yielding results and we hope to get results soon,” he said.
Also at plenary, the House after the adoption of a motion sponsored by Gbajabiamila, resolved to suspend all legislative activities for Wednesday, with the view to welcome President Buhari and his cabinet members into the chamber.
With less than 50 lawmakers on the floor, the House-in-session observed that the budget proposal presentation was critical to the nation and industrial action by the workers should not be allowed to truncate it.
In his remarks, Yussuff Lasun, deputy speaker, who presided over plenary assured that all the grievances of the striking workers were being looked into as work on a bill to address the issue comprehensively had been concluded and sent to the Senate for concurrence.
The management of the National Assembly locked out members of the union while plenary resumed at the two chambers, though only vehicles belonging to lawmakers and senior staff of the National Assembly were allowed into the complex
