2020 Budget: Senate’ll follow required procedures, confirms receipt of MTEF, FSP documents

The Senate declared on Friday, that required procedures would be strictly adhered to, in the consideration and passage of the 2020 budget proposals expected to be presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari in few weeks time.

 In doing that, it stressed that proposals made by the executive arm of government in the recently released 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), would first be considered and passed before receiving the 2020 Budget proposals from President Muhammadu Buhari .

Speaking to journalists at his Maitama residence on the issue and other plans the 9th Senate has in stock for Nigerians, the President of the Senate Ahmed Lawan said it was gratifying that the executive came up with the MTEF/FSP documents earlier than before in paving the way for passage of the 2020 budget before the Christmas break in December.

The Senate, he disclosed, would on resumption from its annual long recess on next Tuesday, give the MTEF document expeditious consideration by passing it to its committee on Finance for the required legislative inputs.

“I have been informed that the executive has sent the request for the MTF to the national Assembly and I am sure that would be the first that we would do by the grace of God. We hope to take the MTF within the first legislative week by passing it to the committee on Finance.

“The committee on finance would be saddled with that as its first major responsibility in ensuring that it works judiciously the MTF FSP requests and the Budget will come after that,” he said.

He added that the 2020  budget proposals  itself when presented, would be expeditiously  considered by both chambers of the National Assembly in ensuring that the budget cycle is returned back to January to December.

Some of the highlights of the 2020-2022 MTEF/FSP documents released by the executive last week, pegged the projected budget profile for the year at N8.7trillion, $55 oil price bench mark as against $60 used for the N8.9trillion 2019 budget, 2.1million barrel oil production per day as against 2.3 million barrels per day approved for the 2019 budget.

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