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2013 Budget: Senate Says No Plans To Override Jonathan

The Senate on Tuesday said it had no plans to override President Goodluck Jonathan over the 2013 budget. Reacting to a statement credited to opposition … Continue reading 2013 Budget: Senate Says No Plans To Override Jonathan


The Senate on Tuesday said it had no plans to override President Goodluck Jonathan over the 2013 budget.

Reacting to a statement credited to opposition lawmaker, Senator Kabiru Gaya, who had told correspondents that the Senate would override President Jonathan if he failed to sign the 2013 budget, the Senate spokesman, Enyinaya Abaribe said there is no rift between the Senate and the executive.

Senator Abaribe  said both arms of government have resolved the  issues delaying the signing of the budget.

There is growing discontent over the inability of the presidency to obey section 58, subsections four and five of the 1999 Constitution which gives the President 30 days within which he must assent to a bill or signify that he withholds his assent.

The Constitution further states that where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each chamber of the legislature by two thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall no longer be required.

President Jonathan is said to be reluctant about assenting to the budget which was forwarded to him on January 14 following claims that the National Assembly increased the budget by moving allocations from Ministries, Departments and Agencies to fund constituency projects.

President Jonathan was alleged to have, based on the promptings of a senior minister, insisted that corrections on the budget be made in details before his assent.

Besides, the President had at a meeting with the National Assembly leadership raised the issue of the benchmark and the non- provision of funds for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on account of the retention of Arunma Oteh as Director-General. The National Assembly leadership had politely declined the request on Ms Oteh and the benchmark, saying that the two issues were non-negotiable but agreed to look again at the mistakes in the details of the budget.

Legislators from the opposition parties had given their intention to initiate moves to override a veto should the President refused to give his assent to the budget by February 13 which made it 30 days after the budget was forwarded to him.