Fred Itua, Abuja
Ahead of the presentation of the 2020 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) to the parliament.
Consequently, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has promised that the upper legislative chamber will consider the MTEF/FSP before delving into the budget as soon as they resume from their eight-week break on Thursday.
Speaking to the Senate Press Corps yesterday at his residence in Abuja, he said it will be the first legilative assignment they would embark on.
“We hope to take the MTF within the first legislative day. The committee on Finance would be saddled with that as its first major responsibility in ensuring that it works to deliver on the MTF and FSP requests and the budget will come after that.”
On the budget, he expressed the hope and optimism of receiving the 2020 appropriation bill from the president in the next two weeks.
“I am aware that the executive arm of government is working assiduously to ensure that the 2020 appropriation is submitted to the National Assembly before the end of this month.The National Assembly is working so hard to ensure that we are able to pass the budget 2020 before we go on the Christmas break.’