2023 budget: Senate Appropriation committee warns all committees to adhere to timetable

The Senate Committee on Appropriations adjourned its maiden meeting on Friday to Monday due to none appearance of sub committees to submit their reports.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Barau Jibrin said the sub committees have been given another chance to appear from Monday with a subtle warning that failure to comply will force the main committee to do the job for them.

Barau who directed the Clerk of the committee to write all those concerned again emphasised the need to adhere strictly to the time table to ensure that the budget will be passed in December.

“I want to say again that we shall not fail to go on with our commitment, making sure we do everything humanly possible to get this budget passed before the end of this year. It has been the practice in this 9th National Assembly and we shall not derail this laudable practice that everybody is happy with.

“We must adhere strictly to the time table. Those who have not appeared today, we give them another chance to appear on Monday. If they refuse to appear on Monday, and I hope they will not. We are optimistic they will appear on Monday.

“If you don’t appear, of course we have our way of dealing with that kind of problem because the Appropriation Committee will then take charge of what they are supposed to do, not really taking into consideration what they are supposed to bring ab initio.

Normally the sub committee will liaise with the ministry, department and agencies (MDAs) under its purview, interact with them, scrutinise the budget and bring the report to us.

Adjourning the meeting, Barau said “Former Senate Leader, Distinguished members, I have no other option than to adjourn the sitting of this committee till Monday as contained in the time table. Let’s give them another chance”.

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