By; IYOKPO J. EGBODO, Abuja.
THE House of Representatives has stated that the March 30th timeline for the passage of the 2017 budget as earlier set may not remain sacrosanct any more, as there are happenings that are slowing down the process.
Spokesman of the House, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas who dropped the hint Thursday, said there have been repeated approval of new projects which were not in the initial budget by the executive, while the House was using a new software for the budget processing.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, Namdas said “We are doing our best to meet the timeline, but in case we are not able to meet up, those are the reasons”.
He explained further that the House took steps of amending the Public Procure Act, with a view to making all public procurement processes more flexible, as well reducing time required for the process to be completed.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara who sought the permission of his colleagues to speak on the essence of the Bill for the benefit of their constituents later said “two landmark bills were passed this week in line with the nation’s efforts to sanitise its business environment, and improve the ease of doing business”.