2016 Budget: Panel To Conclude Work Today, Buhari Waiting

The storm is about to be over. The Presidency will get the fine tuned 2016 budget in a matter of hours. The 20-man committee working on the document have resolve the grey areas, to be cleaned up.

President Muhammadu Buhari was said to be 'anxiously awaiting' the budget to sign it and start work.

According to sources, the 20-man team from the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council will hold final round of consultations on the grey areas on Monday in Abuja.


The committee will shun the public holiday to consider the National Assembly’s review of the budget.

Members of the committee from the National Assembly are House of Reps Deputy Speaker Lasun Yusuf, Senate Leader Ali Ndume, Sen. Danjuma Goje (Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation), Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin (Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation) Sen. Biodun Olujimi,

From the Executive are the Minister of Budget and National Planning Udo Udoma; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola; Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige; Minister of Agriculture,  Audu Ogbeh; Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu; Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu; and Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole.

A source told The Nation the team is working round the clock to finish the job for the good of Nigerians.

The issues, which the committee will finalize discussions on are as follows:

*Need for National Assembly to concede to the retention of the bulk of the proposals from the presidency; 

*Restoration of priority projects, such as the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (N60billion voted); completion of Kano-Maiduguri Expressway(N16b voted but its liability is N20b); Lagos-Calabar rail project; 

EEven spread of turnkey projects across the six geopolitical zones to avoid hurting any zone; 

*Significant reduction or cancellation or spread of projects hitherto arbitrarily awarded by the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin; 

The Presidency is hopeful that once the budget issues are settled, they will hit the ground running.