Senate to begin 2018 budget consideration next week

  

   The Senate will commence the consideration of the general principles of the 2018 Appropriation Bill next week, Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, said Thursday.

   Saraki who made the announcement in plenary said the consideration of the budget would begin on Wednesday, 22^nd November 2017 and end on Thursday, 23 November, 2017.  He asked senators wishing to contribute to the debate on the general principle of the money Bill to indicate by writing their names in the register.

     

  Throwing more light on the announcement, Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi said that copies of the budget as presented by President Muhammadu Buhari, are being produced for distribution to senators.  Abdullahi said that all senators should have been given copies of the fiscal document but for the voluminous nature of the budget. He said that the president presented two copies of the budget one for the Senate and the other for the House of Representatives.

    He assured that copies of the budget are already being mass produced and by next week debate would commence.  On the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF) which is yet to be approved by the, Abdullahi said it would be considered alongside the budget. President Buhari on November 7 presented a budget of N8.612 trillion to a joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives for the 2018 fiscal year. The National Assembly is expected to pass the budget before the end of 2017 to enable the Executive to begin its implementation on January 1^st, 2018.