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Ministerial list’s delay won’t affect 2020 budget passage, says Senate president

By Terhemba Daka (Abuja) and Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan)
18 July 2019   |   4:11 am
Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday said that notwithstanding the delay in appointing ministers, the development would not stop the passage of the 2020 Appropriation Bill.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan. Photo/Twitter/nassnigeria

Reps will invoke relevant laws if Obaseki fails on proclamation, Gbajabiamila warns
Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday said that notwithstanding the delay in appointing ministers, the development would not stop the passage of the 2020 Appropriation Bill.

The two National Assembly leaders gave the assurance when they met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, barely after the Senate chamber confirmed Mohammed Tanko as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

Lawan, who pledged to speed up screening of other nominations by the President, said that civil servants did the bulk of the work on budget preparation before presenting it to the National Assembly for passage. He said the absence of new ministers in Buhari’s cabinet would not adversely affect the 2020 budget if the Executive presents the proposal by September.

Lawan said that just as Tanko’s nomination was confirmed by the Senate without any issue, similar other nominations from the President would be treated with dispatch.

Besides, Gbajabiamila said that Section 11 of the Nigerian Constitution would be invoked by the House of Representatives to take over the functions of the Edo State House of Assembly within the next one week if the state Governor, Godwin Obaseki, did not issue a fresh proclamation for inauguration to resolve the lingering crisis in the state assembly.

Meanwhile, a lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan (UI), Dr. Alarudeen Aminu, has urged Buhari to constitute the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to save the economy from sliding. Aminu, who spoke with journalists in Ibadan yesterday, said that the appointment of ministers would put the economy on the right path.

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