Finally, Senate Passes N6.06 Trillion 2016 Budget

Finally, Senate Passes N6.06 Trillion 2016 Budget 

The Nigerian Senate  today  passed 2016 budget of N6.060 trillion, thus laying to rest the volume of controversies which trailed the presentation of the budget by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 22, 2015.

The budget was approved by the Senate as presented by the president months ago making it the first time in Nigeria's history that a budget would be passed without an addition or subtraction.

The budget was approved after its harmonization by both the Senate and House of Representatives.

The senators described the process as tedious and tough as Jibrin recalled situations when committee members had to shout at one another while others staged a walk-out during some meetings.

In his presentation before the budget was passed, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje,‎ said the service wide votes would cater for the workers of the omitted agencies.

Senate President Bukola Saraki had on Tuesday hinted that the budget would be passed this week after it was laid.

The process leading to the passage of the budget had been long, rough and controversial as there were several cases of padding and inflation of figures which forced the National Assembly to postpone its passage twice.
There was also the allegation of budget withdrawal until Buhari eventually sent a letter to the National Assembly, announcing that he corrected errors in the budget and asked the lawmakers to discard the initial budget he presented in December.