NASS rejects Federal Government's plan to withdraw 2016 budget

Senators and members of the House of Representatives have rejected FG plan to withdraw the troubled National Budget from their custody. The budget had run into troubled waters shortly after it was presented by the President on December 22, 2015, with stories of doctoring, padding and injection of foreign contents. A source at the National Assembly said last week that President Buhari who has ordered a probe into the budget padding and doctoring had plan to withdraw the budget such that a cleaner copy can be submitted to National Assembly. It was gathered that the idea of withdrawing the budget was made to the top echelon of the National Assembly which immediately rejected the idea. Committee Chairmen in the Senate and the House of Representatives told the presiding officers that the budget, once submitted can no longer be withdrawn and that it is the business of the National Assembly to give the nation an acceptable budget. TCMN gathered that the Committee chairmen had insisted at different meetings with their presiding officers that the constitution only demands that the President shall cause budget estimates to be laid before the National Assembly and that it is the business of the National Assembly to produce a budget for the federation. A member of the House of the Representatives, Hon Mutiu Shadimu told TCMN reporter on phone that it is no longer possible for the lawmakers to return the budget to the government.