Buhari forwards 2019 budget to NASS next week

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, President Muhammadu Buhari may forward the 2019 budget estimates to the National Assembly next week.

The president is expected to preside over a special session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) tomorrow, where the entire cabinet members would deliberate on the draft 2019 budget.

Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, who gave inkling to the meeting, said it will commence at 10a.m.

“On Friday, by 10:30a.m there is going to be a special session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The intention is to look at the budget, get the proposals approved by the FEC and then it will be transmitted to the National Assembly. So, that happens on Friday by 10a.m,” Adesina stated.

However, Udoma Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning, had last month announced that the Federal Government was considering a leaner 2019 budget of N8.6 trillion, which is lesser than the N9.1 trillion approved by lawmakers for 2018.

Addressing a consultative forum on the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) and fiscal strategy paper (FSP) 2019-2021, the minister said the decision was due to reduced government revenue projection for the year.

He also said government planned to cut down the level of borrowing from N1.6 trillion in 2018 to N1.5 trillion in 2019, while the deficit component would be reduced from N1.9 trillion in 2018 to N1.6 trillion.

It would be recalled that the presidency had taken up the National Assembly for doctoring the 2018 budget estimates, accusing the leadership of introducing projects not contained in the original documents.

He had also alleged that the lawmakers weeded essential projects and inserted non-essential ones.

Buhari had also noted that he was compelled to append his signature to the budget owing to the timeframe it took the National Assembly to pass it.