The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Danjuma Goje, laid the report before the Senate in plenary after several promises by the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives to pass the budget on April 24 and the first week in May.
The Senate had accused Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of not keeping to appointments with the various standing committees to defend their budgets.
It would be recalled that late submission and passage have been a permanent feature of the nation’s fiscal policy since debut of the democratic rule in 1999.
Subsequently, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, on April 12, mandated the Appropriation Committee to tidy up reports on the budget latest by April 13.
With this development, the budget cycle will start when it is eventually assented by President Muhammadu Buhari .
Buhari had on Nov. 7, 2017 presented a budget of N8.6 trillion before a joint session of the National Assembly.
The president who announced the 2018 budget as “Budget of Consolidation”, said the projected expenditure would drive rapid economic recovery.
He said at the session that with a benchmark of 45 dollars per barrel at an exchange rate of N305 to a dollar in 2018, the budget would consolidate on the achievements of previous budgets to aggressively steer the economy to the path of steady growth.
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