“National Assembly Will Pass Budget Within 3 Months Under My Leadership”

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan has said that from henceforth under his leadership, the National Assembly (NASS) will ensure the passage of the nation’s appropriation bill within three months of its submission by the Executive arm of government.

Lawan stated this when he fielded questions from State House correspondents after joining President Muhammadu Buhari to perform the weekly Friday’s Juma’at prayer at the Aso Rock Mosque, Abuja.

He expressed the hope that the executive would always ensure early submission of the budget to enable the assembly deliberate and pass it in good time.

“Well, this is a crucial thing that worries everyone, every Nigerian wants to see the National Assembly passes the budget in good time and what we have in mind we’ve campaigned with that and it’s something both of us in the National Assembly have bought into – that we’ll pass the budget within three months by the grace of God.

“But I want to say here that it takes two sides of government to pass the budget in good time.

“I am sure that the executive side of the government would like to present the budget before the National Assembly in good time – in September or early October.

“By the grace of God, we in the National Assembly will ensure that we carry out the budget defence and do the remaining parts of the processes and before we leave for Christmas break, the budget would have been passed and Mr President would have the budget before him to assent,’’ he said.

The senate president, therefore, called for sacrifice by both the assembly and the executive so as to create “a window for budget defence only, a dedicate period and timeframe- say a month of which only budget defence will be carried out in the national assembly.