Budget crisis: NASS pitches Buhari against aides

There are indications that the face-off between the National Assembly and the executive arm of government over the 2018 budget may get worse following Senate’s decision to leave out Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), which failed to defend their budgetary allocations.

The Senate said after several invitations to the chief executives of those agencies, it would be left with no other choice than to restrict itself to what the President presented to it last year in respect of the MDAs.

This is coming just as the Federal Ministry of Finance disclosed that contrary to insinuations, the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has fully defended her 2018 budget proposal, including submitting all relevant documents demanded by appropriate committees.

Special Adviser to the Finance Minister on Media, Mr. Oluyinka Akintunde, told The Guardian that she has fully defended her budget before the two chambers of the National Assembly, stressing, “We are not responsible for the delay in the passage of the 2018 budget.”

But a key member of the Senate appropriation committee hinted that should the National Assembly simply adopts what the president presented to it as the national budget, it would amount to deferring the evil day.

Just last week, the Senate indicted the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, her Transportation counterpart, Chibuike Amaechi, alongside others  for allegedly frustrating early approval of the 2018 budget.