Process of preparing and passage of the 2021 budget may assume a new energy as President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered ministers and other heads of Federal Government’s Ministry, Department and Agencies to appear before relevant committees of the National Assembly to defend their proposals.
There has been consistent conflict between the National Assembly, especially its committees, and heads of MDAs over the refusal of ministers and top officials of government to appear for the routine exercise.
Pres. Buhari, while presenting the 2021 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday, thanked the current 9th Assembly for maintaining a cordial relationship with the Executive.
The President, therefore, ordered heads of MDAs to be “personally available for budget defence.”
President Buhari presented an estimation of N13.8 trillion for appropriation next year. The National Assembly will in the weeks to come, consider in details, various projections made in the budget and pass the document.
