Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The final approval of the N20.51trn 2023 budget was suspended in both chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives chambers on Thursday.

The leadership of both chambers specifically blamed the setback on the alleged inherent problems created by the executive arm of government.

According to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, it has to do with the irreconcilable figures detected by the Appropriations committees of both Chambers in the fiscal document.

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Lawan said the problematic area was sorted out Wednesday (yesterday) with relevant government functionaries from the executive arm of government.

He said as a result of the long cleaning process the draft budget proposal underwent, Committees on Appropriations from both Chambers, could not meet up with the submission of the report for consideration and passage today.

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He said both Chambers had agreed to have a special session on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, for consideration and passage of the budget and other very important bills like the 2022 Finance bill, and N819.5bn 2022 supplementary budget among others.

He said, “Today was scheduled for us to receive and consider the report of our committee on Appropriation for the 2023 Appropriation Bill.

“However, due to some challenges, we are not able to receive the report of the committee, and the main reason is that the Appropriation Bill came to the National Assembly with some problems and when our committees on appropriation in the Senate and the House of Representatives started to reconcile the figures of what we have done and what was presented, the problems became very obvious and they were not easy to deal with, and therefore our committees had to start a process of cleaning up the Bill first.

“That process, of course, also engaged the executive arm because the problems came from there. It was concluded only yesterday, and our committee secretariats are not able to finish processing the budget for us to take today nor tomorrow, Saturday, or Sunday because these are periods that are for festivities, the Christmas period. Monday and Tuesday are public holidays.

“Consequently, we can only receive the report and consider it on Wednesday, the 28th of December, 2022.  That is the earliest, that’s next week.

“So far, this ninth National Assembly has done so much to pass the previous appropriation Bills since 2019, before the end of the year to date and I’m sure that this would remain one of the cherished legacies of the ninth National Assembly.

“So by the Grace of God, on the 28th of this month, the senate and indeed the House of Representatives will all come back to receive and consider the budget report from our committees.

“Secondly, our committee on Finance is this morning holding a public hearing on the Finance Bill 2022, and of course, the Finance Bill is the basis on which the Appropriation Bill 2023 is built.

“We had arranged yesterday that the Finance Committee will present a report of the Finance Bill Hearing at 2pm today (Thursday)

“That of course would not be possible. This is the reason: We also receive two communications yesterday (Wednesday) Supplementary Budget 2022 and of course, Ways and Means.

“So our committees on Appropriation, Finance, Water Resources, Agriculture, and Works and Housing will be processing the Bills for today.

“In that respect, the senate will adjourn immediately so that our committees start the action they are supposed to take, and therefore those reports will also be available to us on 28th December when we will be here.

“By the Grace of God, Wednesday the 28th of December, 2022 will be a very heavily loaded day for us, but I’m sure we will be able to deal with all the issues that Wednesday and our colleagues who would wish to travel back to continue the festivities with their families can still make it the following day.

“I want to thank all of you my distinguished colleagues for your support, cooperation, commitment, and dedication to all these things that we have been doing as a legislature.

“Let me advise the Executive. The Bills that have come to us, the Ways and Means, the Supplementary Appropriation, whoever is invited to come and explain, give information, or any details for the National Assembly to understand must do so because it’s not our work alone.

“We want to do our work thoroughly, we want to understand whatever we are going to deal with and to base our decisions on information, and time is of the essence.

“Just like we are going to sacrifice part of our festive period to be back here, nobody should tell us that they are in their places because it is Christmas. They should be available with every necessary information.”