Reps pass 2016 budget amidst increased criticisms

-Budget is incomplete – Leo Ogo

-Presidency fulfilled constitutional requirement – Gbajabiamila

-Calls for oversight on ministries for proper implementation

The House of Representatives on Tuesday, January 26, passed for the second time the 2016 appropriation bill amidst increased criticisms from lawmakers.

Speaker, House of Reresentatives, Yakubu Dogara

While describing the debate as “illuminating,” speaker Yakubu Dogara urged members to put the interest of Nigerians above personal gains.

Criticizing the 2016 appropriation bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari, the minority leader, Leo Ogor said the document fell short of the Fiscal Responsibility Act maintaining that it failed to attach the vote for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other independent agencies.

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Ogor while insisting that the document was “incomplete,” even as he queried “the where about of the other monies are if the revised budget sum is N6.077 trillion.”

Reiterating Ogor’s claims, Lovette Ndisi noted that only three provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act had been breached while describing the deliberations as “a mirage.”

In a swift reaction, the majority leader, Femi Gbajabiamila noted that the president fulfilled the constitutional requirements by laying the budget at the end of the year.

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In his submission, the chairman House committee on appropriation, Jibrin Abdulmunin urged various agencies in the ministry of finance to put in place actions that would assist in funding the budget.

He called on the various committees in the House to take oversight of the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDA ) seriously to ensure full implementation of the budget.

The House read the 2016 appropriation bill for the second time after it was put to a voice vote by the speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

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