Ministerial List: Budget Will Not Suffer Delay, Says Lawan

The President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, is confident that subsequent budget will not suffer delay as a result of the delay in the submission of the ministerial list.

He stated this on Wednesday shortly after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Senator Lawan believes the budget cycle of January to December is possible should the Executive forward the proposal to the National Assembly early enough.

He said, “I think there is nothing to worry as deeply; the budget itself is normally prepared by civil servants. The permanent secretaries superintend and the directors do the work most of the time.

“I believe that we are still on course and I believe that both the Executive and the Legislature are on the same page on this.

“We all desire and are prepared and determined to ensure that we pass the budget by the first or second week of December, by the grace of God, provided it is presented to us in September, end of September.”

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The Senate President also spoke about the confirmation of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Mohammed, adding that there would be more confirmations of directors of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

On the security in the country, he gave assurance that the two arms of government would collaborate to ensure a better approach was employed to address the issue.

“We are going to collaborate and cooperate with the executive arm of government, work together to ensure that we find better approaches, improved paradigm to ensure that the current situation is addressed properly,” the lawmaker said.