The two chambers of the National Assembly may
adjourn sitting as soon as it reconvenes on Tuesday in honour of the late member of
the House, Hon. Ja'afaru Ilyasu representing Magamu/Rijau federal constituency
in Niger State.
Ilyasu, a member of the House Committee on
Appropriation, died in his sleep on Monday morning at his Maitama, Abuja
residence.
As is the tradition of both the Senate and House of
Representatives, whenever any lawmaker dies, the plenary would have to be
adjourned till the next day as a mark of respect for the deceased legislator.
For today's plenary, once the presiding officers of
the two chambers say the opening prayers and read the executive communications,
if any, from the president, the leaders of the two Houses will formally move
for the adjournment of the plenary till Tuesday in deference to Ilyasu, who
died on Monday morning.
This development may affect the 2020 budget report
which is expected to be laid before the Senate plenary today by the Chairman of
Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Barau Jibrin.
Jibrin had last week sought the permission of the
upper chamber for a week grace for his committee to present the budget report
today.
The committee chairman had last Tuesday, while
explaining why the report was not ready for presentation at plenary, told his
colleagues that although the committee had received and collated all the
reports from the sub-committees, "but the whole report will not be ready
for presentation until weekend, and I plead with the Senate to give us till
next Tuesday to lay the report at plenary."
That means the budget report will now be presented
to Senate at plenary tomorrow by Senator Jibrin after which the Senate will
consider it before passage.
The Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, had also
last week hinted that the N10.33 trillion 2020 budget proposal presented
to the National Assembly by President
Muhammadu Buhari on October 8 may be
passed by the two chambers tomorrow.
Lawan, who spoke while receiving in audience a
delegation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), which
paid him a courtesy visit, said both chambers of the National Assembly may pass
the 2020 budget by tomorrow.
According to him, the Senate and House Committees
on Appropriation sought a one-week extension to enable them to conclude work on
the report of the 2020 Appropriations Bill to be laid on Tuesday.
He said: “We want to pass the 2020 budget before
the end of the year. Actually, today would have been the day for laying the
budget, but our committees on appropriations sought an extension by one week
only.
“By Tuesday next week, we expect the budget to be laid before the two
chambers of the National Assembly. It is our desire to pass the budget the
following day (Wednesday). So we are thinking that the budget would be laid on December 3, and by December 4, the Senate and the House of Representatives
should be able to pass the 2020 budget.”
Meanwhile, the Senate president has expressed sadness
over the sudden death of House member, Illiyasu.
Lawan in a statement by his Media Adviser, Ola
Awoniyi, commiserated with the family of the deceased lawmaker and the
government and people of Niger State, and prayed Almighty Allah to give them
the fortitude to bear the “irreparable loss.”
He also condoled with the leadership and members of
the House of Representatives on the death of their colleague, and prayed that
Allah will grant him the highest place in Jannah.
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