2016 Budget Was Never Missing - NASS

The National Assembly has denied rumours that the 2016 budget has disappeared from its premises.

News had gone viral on Tuesday, January 12, 2016 that the document presented to the Assembly last year had gone missing; the reason the Senate could not continue with its plenary session.

But the National Assembly has now claimed that both chambers are planning to making copies of the money bill available for the 109 senators and 360 members of the House, adding that they are determined to pass the bill as soon as possible.

According to Leadership, the chairman of the Senate committee on media and publicity, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, laughed off the speculation that the budget was missing, while noting emphatically that the contents of the 2016 budget were carefully drafted to enhance and drive the change agenda of the present administration.

“There is no such thing; it is laughable for anybody to insinuate that the 2016 budget is missing; it is the figment of the imagination of those carrying such rumour.

“We, as a Senate, are presently concentrating on making copies of the budget available to every senator. We are getting ready to commence deliberations on the budget and we are enthusiastic and looking forward to a quick passage so that the president would commence implementation in such a way that the electorate would begin to reap the dividends and benefits of democracy.

“So it is not true that the budget is missing; it is a rumour. We deal with facts here and the fact is that no budget is missing,” he was quoted to have said.

The leadership of the lower chamber of the Assembly also denied the story of the 2016 budget theft from the National Assembly, saying that original copy of the Appropriation Bill as presented to NASS was intact and with the management of the Assembly.