There
were reports earlier in the day that the document had been declared missing in
the National Assembly.
But
the House said such report was strange to its members.
The
House said as of Tuesday (yesterday), 400 copies of the budget had been
produced and ready for distribution to members on Wednesday (today).
The
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas,
told The PUNCH that the document was intact at the lower chamber.
He
said, “Our budget is intact. As a matter of fact, we have already produced 400
copies. They will be distributed to members tomorrow (Wednesday).
“So,
this talk about the budget missing is strange to us.”
Meanwhile,
the Presidency also on Tuesday said President Muhammadu Buhari had not
withdrawn the 2016 budget from the National Assembly.
The
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba
Shehu, said this in his reaction to enquiries made on the whereabouts of the
document.
Shehu
said the executive arm of government delivered copies of the budget in hundreds
to the two chambers of the National Assembly.
He
said since the document had ceased being the property of the executive the
moment Buhari presented it to the National Assembly, enquiries about its
whereabouts should be directed to appropriate quarters.
He
said, “Nobody, except the President, can withdraw the budget.
“As
far as we know, he hasn’t done that.
“The
copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the National
Assembly.
“By
tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property.
“Enquiries
as to where it is should be directed to the appropriate quarters.”
The
Presidency’s denial came after Senate President Bukola Saraki met behind closed
doors with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Saraki’s
visit came a few minutes after the news broke that the 2016 budget document had
been declared missing in the National Assembly.
Decked
in a white agbada, the Senate president emerged from the meeting, which lasted
about 30 minutes, into the waiting hands of State House correspondents, who had
already gathered in front of the President’s Office.
He
exchanged pleasantries with the Director-General of the Department of State
Services, Mr. Lawal Daura, who was also in the Presidential Villa to confer
with Buhari.
As
soon he was asked to comment on the report that the budget document was
missing, Saraki exclaimed, “Ha! ha! ha!”
He
quickly rushed into his waiting car without answering the question.
Buhari
had on December 22, 2015 presented a N6.08tn budget for the fiscal year 2016
before a joint session of the National Assembly.
It
was not clear whether the issue came up during Buhari’s meeting with Saraki.
It
was gathered that the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, reportedly told his colleagues
at a closed session in the Senate that both the soft and hard copies of the
2016 budget were missing from the upper chamber.
Ndume,
according to some senators, who spoke with our correspondent strictly on
condition of anonymity, lamented that the development would not allow the
Senate to go ahead with the necessary legislative process on the fiscal
document at its plenary on Tuesday.
Our
correspondent learnt that the senators expressed shock when the news of the
missing document was broken by Ndume.
This
was said to have led to a sharp disagreement between the members of the ruling
All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party members in the
chamber.
Ndume,
at the 90-minute closed session, was said to have lamented further that the
consideration of the federal fiscal document, which had passed first reading
before the senators went on break, would have to wait until the chamber was in
possession of new version of the budget proposal.
Some
members of the PDP in the red chamber allegedly accused the ruling APC Federal
Government of being the brains behind the mysterious disappearance of the
document.
It
was learnt that the lawmakers mandated Saraki to immediately liaise with
Buhari, with a view to obtaining fresh copies of the document so that the
federal legislators would start work on it in earnest.
Its
Committee on Appropriation, headed by Senator Danjuma Goje, was also directed
to contact the Presidency through the Senior Special Assistant to the President
on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, to facilitate fresh
copies of the document.
Repeated
calls put across to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity,
Senator Sabi Abdullahi, were not responded to while text messages sent to his
mobile telephone were not replied as of the time of filing this report.
Also,
calls to the mobile telephone of Goje did not connect.
But
Ndume later told journalists in Abuja on Tuesday that the document was neither
missing nor withdrawn from the National Assembly, a statement that only helped
to compound an already confusing scenario.
Ndume
said, “Budget cannot be missing. One copy can be laid, it is a symbolic copy.
The budget will be in the custody of both chambers; it cannot be stolen; it
cannot be missing. Once the budget is laid in the National Assembly, it has
become the property of the National Assembly.
“Saraki’s
visit to the Vila is for Senate to know the President’s priority; we want to
see how we can fast-track the passage of the budget before the end of February.
“What
is before the Senate is a proposal. Once the President signs it, it cannot be
amended; we can turn the budget upside down. If you can produce the budget
online, how can it be missing?’’
Source: The Punch
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