Saraki, Dogara, Principal Officers To Meet Tuesday, May Recall From Recess

…To meet with INEC chair too

The leadership of the National Assembly will on Tuesday meet to deliberate on the 2019 N242 billion election budget proposal for the conduct of the 2019 elections presented before it in July by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The meeting billed for 12 noon in Senate Room 301 will be presided over by the Chairman of the National Assembly and Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, in attendance.

The meeting is also expected to be attended by all the principal officers of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, including Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yusuf; the Minority Leader of the Senate who in the last few days is said to be planning to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Chairmen of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The meeting will be followed by another meeting by 1p.m between the National Assembly leadership and the management team of INEC led by its Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmud.

President Buhari had on July 17 written to the two chambers of the National Assembly, seeking the approval of a budget totaling N242 billion for the purpose of 2019 general election, while also seeking the virement of some projects already inserted into the 2018 budget.

According to the president’s letter, which was sent to the legislature barely a week to the scheduled annual recess, the National Assembly was being requested to approve the virement of the sum of N164 billion from the 2018 budget.

The president indicated that the sum of N228 billion should be deducted from the N578 billion projects introduced into the budget by the National  Assembly which the presidency claimed were inserted into the 2018 budget by the National Assembly.

The letter titled: ‘Request For Virement and Supplementary 2018 Budget read: “As you are aware, the 2019 general election is scheduled to be conducted early in 2019. To ensure that adequate arrangements are made for free and fair elections, it has become necessary to appropriate funds to enable the relevant agencies to commence preparations. INEC and the security agencies have accordingly recently submitted their requests. These have been subjected to the usual budget evaluation. The aggregate cost of the elections is estimated at N242,445,322,600.00.

“However, in the light of prevailing fiscal constraints, I am proposing that the sum of N164,104,792,065.00 be provided for through virement or supplementation of the 2018 budget. I propose that the balance of N78,340,530.535.00 mostly related to personnel allowances, fuelling and other costs not required until the election proper, be provided in their 2019 budget.

“The proposal for the 2019 general election are summarised below: ‘You will also recall that when I signed the 2018 Appropriation Act, I indicated the need to request for the reinstatement of certain cuts made to certain critical projects provided in the original Executive Bill. I am therefore submitting for your consideration the reinstatement of the most critical of such cuts totaling N64,749,216,150, which are summarised in page 1.

“The total amount required to be provided for in the 2018 budget for the 2019 general election and to restore the identified critical projects to the amount earlier proposed is therefore N228,854, 008, 215. Implementing a budget of N9.12 trillion for 2018 will be extremely challenging and therefore, I do not consider it expedient to propose a further increase to the size of the 2018 Expenditure Framework to fund these very important and critical expenditure items.

“Accordingly, I invite the distinguished Senate to consider, in the national interest, reallocating some of the funds appropriated for the new projects which were inserted into the 2018 budget proposal totaling N578,319,951,904 to cover the sum of N228,854,008,215 required as noted above. A schedule setting out a comprehensive list of these inserted projects is attached to this letter for ease of your consideration.

“Further to the above, kindly find the attached Supplementary Budget and Virement proposal for your consideration.

“While hoping that this request will receive the expeditious consideration of the distinguished Senate, please accept Mr. Senate President the assurances of my highest consideration.”