The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang has disclosed that the Presidency has no plans to reject the 2017 Appropriation Bill recently passed by the National Assembly, contrary to calls from some senior lawyers including Femi Falana (SAN).
Senator Enang made the disclosure in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja. According to him, “There is no such plan by it to reject the 2017 budget passed by the National Assembly as alleged in some reports.
The presidency can only assent to the budget or withhold assent as the case maybe. However, should there be areas needing input, the presidency would engage the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives. As such, any report suggesting a rejection of the 2017 Budget by the presidency is incorrect’’
He further disclosed that the delay in assenting to the budget was normal. He stressed that the Presidency was only scrutinizing what was passed by the National Assembly to ensure that figures appropriated to ministries, department and agencies were done so in good fate.
“When the budget was presented to both chambers of the National Assembly for consideration last year by President Muhammadu Buhari, both chambers subjected the document to legislative processes, using internal systems at their disposal. This, exactly, is what the presidency is actually doing at the moment to ensure that the budget, when assented to, sufficiently addresses the nation’s present realities." he added.
