President
Muhammadu Buhari has returned the controversy-ridden 2016 budget to the
National Assembly, pointing out areas of concern in the document and demanding
adjustment.
The spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Abdurazaq
Namdas, (APC-Adamawa State) confirmed this to journalists on Thursday.
“I can confirm to you that we are in possession of the letter
from the president identifying grey areas,” Mr. Namdas said.
He said the leadership of the House and that of the Senate as
well as their respective relevant committees would meet on the development.
He, however, refused to mention the “grey areas” saying they
would be made known to Nigerians in “due course”.
The National Assembly passed the budget on March 23 and later
transmitted it to Mr. Buhari for assent.
Apparently with the omission of certain projects and addition of
others not proposed by the Executive, Mr. Buhari has since withheld his assent.
One of such projects is the Lagos-Calabar rail project counted
as a critical infrastrucural focus of the administration.
It was not
captured in the original budget but was brought as a supplementary proposal of
the Transport Ministry by its Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and was approved,
Chairman Senate Committee on Land Transport, Gbenga Ashafa, said.
However, the Appropriations Committees of the Senate and House
of Representatives respectively chaired by Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin,
removed the project from the final draft, saying Mr. Amaechi lacked the powers
to make budgetary proposal.
Last week, while the Senate said Mr. Buhari should sign the
budget and, later, send a supplementary proposal to capture the Lagos-Calabar
rail project, the House said it had resolved to receive the budget to capture
the project before assent.
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