Buhari to present 2019 budget Wednesday

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari will next Wednesday present the 2019 budget proposal before the Senate and House of Representatives.

“May I crave the kind indulgence of the House of Representatives to grant me the slot of 11 hours on Wednesday, 19th December, 2018 to formally present the 2019 appropriation bill in a joint session and lay before the NASS the 2019 budget proposal,” the president wrote in a letter read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara on Thursday.

The letter was read less than 24hrs after the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said the president was yet to get a date from the National Assembly for the presentation of the appropriation bill.

Udoma, who made the disclosure on Wednesday in Abuja, explained that sequel to the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) approval at a special session last Friday, the president was ready to present the fiscal document to a joint session of the parliament.

He said Buhari had last week transmitted the budget proposals to the legislature, but the minister noted that the delay was due to the inability of the federal lawmakers to give their green light for the presentation.