• Goje, Jibrin blame budget impasse on colleagues

From Kemi Yesufu, Abuja

The House of Represen­tatives may present cor­rections on the grey areas listed by the executive in the 2016 budget to Presi­dent Muhammadu Buhari this week, Daily Sun learnt yesterday.

Despite assurances last Thursday, by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, that the National Assembly and the executive would fully resolve the contentious issues in the budget, the House has not forwarded any correction to the presi­dent as at yesterday, it was gathered.

Sources said although the adjustments by the House of representatives­Appropriations Commit­tee, as directed by speaker, has reached an advanced stage, submission of the fi­nal document was pushed to this week.

“The speaker has been giving the appropriations committee directives on corrections to be made and they have gone far with this. But, the presenta­tion of the final document has not taken place,” the source said yesterday.

Investigations also showed that Dogara, who had the mandate of the house to liaise with Bu­hari on Friday, left Abuja for Adamawa State, where he visited the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps on Saturday. The development put paid to the hope that the Speaker would meet with the presi­dent at the weekend.

Speaking to a delegation of All Progressives Con­gress (APC) elders and stakeholders from Kwan­de/Oshongo Federal Con­stituency of Benue State in the National Assembly, Dogara had pledged that all the issues arising from the budget would be fully dealt with last week.

He said: “As we speak to you, I know that the executive has sent its ob­servations on the budget, areas they termed ‘grey areas. We’ve taken deliv­ery of that document, we are looking into it and in collaboration with the Sen­ate, the entire National As­sembly, we have arrived at a decision, which I will not announce here because that one is for the ears of Mr. President only.

“It is in the overall na­tional interest, we know that we have to find a solu­tion and sooner than later, within this week, I believe that as leaders, having put on our thinking caps, we should be able to come up with a solution that will ad­dress this problem.”

Also, on Sunday, chair­men of the Senate and House of Representatives joint Committee on Appro­priation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Jibrin Abdu­munin blamed the budget impasse on the heads of the various standing com­mittees in both chambers.

They alleged that, as chairmen, they only summed up what were re­ceived.

Goje and Jibrin, in a joint press statement on Sunday evening, however, said they were ready to put the past behind and quickly move to work on the copy of the budget returned to the National Assembly by the president.

The duo also hinted that, at the right time, they would open up on the role they played in the alleged doctoring of the budget and the removal of vital aspects, like the Calabar- Lagos rail line project.

They urged their col­leagues to accede to the president’s request to have a second look at the details of the budget and make necessary adjust­ment, Goje and Jibrin said the new copy of the bud­get could be ready in one week.