The House of Representatives resumed on Tuesday, January 10 leaving behind 2016, a year that would go down in history as one of the toughest for the eighth House.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara in his welcome address seemed to seek the goodwill of the public right from the beginning of the New Year. He said Nigerians have identified the 2017 budget as one of the tools through which the Federal Government can pull the country out of recession, hence the need to have it passed in a transparent and timely manner.
He stressed that members must be committed to ensuring that work on 2017 Appropriation Bill is carried out “professionally”.
“The 2017 budget remains the major tool to re-jig our economy. This is in addition to other fiscal and monetary policies.
“We must brace up and work assiduously and conscientiously to give Nigerians a budget that will not only lift us out of recession but kick-start the needed expeditious journey into Nigeria’s prosperity.
“ We pledge to reform the budget process. To this end therefore, we would ensure that the procedure and process of consideration and passage of the 2017 budget is transparent, inclusive and professionally handled.
“The details of the budget should be debated and passed in plenary to avoid those needless pitfalls that normally characterise the budget process,” he emphasised.
He maintained that the House must play an integral role to end the hardship of the preceding year, that left many Nigerians on the edge.
“The year 2016 presented us with its peculiar challenges especially in the area of security and the economy. It was the year in which our dear country eventually slipped into recession resulting in grievous social stress for the citizenry. It was also the year in which terrorism in the North East, militancy in the South South, the despicable phenomenon of kidnapping as well as the flash of agitations bared their murderous fangs – visiting death, pain and anguish on the populace.
Sun news
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