By; SUNDAY ODE, Abuja
Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawal, has given the assurance that the Upper Chamber would pass the N7.2 trillion 2017 budget and present same to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent by next week.
Lawal, who briefed State House Correspondents after a closed door meeting with the President, said the trauma suffered by the Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman,Danjuma Goje, after the raid of his house by the Police, slowed down the process of the budget passage.
There have been apprehensions over the report that the recent raid on Goje’s house has led to the loss of certain critical documents in a laptop taken away by the security officials.
Asked when the nation’s budget would be ready, he said “There is nothing to worry about. The Nass had intended to pass the budget in March but because some of the parameters that we had little or no control over, we couldn’t pass it in March.
“It was our desire and design to pass it within this month of April but somehow something happened and all of you here know what happened.
“One of our colleagues, the chairman Senate Committee on a Appropriations, Senator Danjuma Goje, was raided by the police after a whistle blower gave information and when part of those documents that were taken, it was reported part of the budget papers were also included.
“And other things that happened, essentially the trauma that the chairman had to go through, affected the process of budgeting that we had been trying to do.”
He continued “When we went on Easter break, our members on Senate committee on Appropriation, including that of the House, did not go on recess.
“They stayed back because that was the arrangement. By the time we returned, that was Tuesday, they should lay down the report on the budget but unfortunately that wasn’t possible because of what happened but the good news is that we are doing everything possible to ensure that we catch up the lost time.
I am thinking that by next week by the grace of God we should be able to finish our own work and pass the budget to Mr president to sign.”
