Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has said the failure of the Federal Government to implement over 50 per cent of the 2017 budget may jerk the 2018 budget up to about N10 trillion.
He stated this yesterday during debate on the implementation of the 2017 budget on the floor of the Senate.
Saraki said: “If the implementation of the 2017 budget is going to be 50 per cent, it means we should expect to have a budget of N10 trillion in 2018. I hope the executive takes note of that.”
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had, during an interactive session with senators earlier in the week, disclosed that 60 percent of the 2017 budget would be rolled over to 2018 budget.
Saraki also refuted a statement by Mrs. Adeosun during Tuesday session that the Senate has refused to approve a request from the President for a loan to fund the budget.
According to him, all loan requests from President Muhammadu Buhari were approved before the National Assembly embarked on its annual recess in July 2017.
“There is no request before us about borrowing that we have not approved. We approved all the requests before we went on break.
“I needed to make this explanation because of what the Minister of Finance said that the National Assembly is holding on to borrowing requests sent by the executive.”
Mrs Adeosun had claimed that the Federal Government would not be able to fund capital projects because the National Assembly was yet to approve loan requests from the President.
At the plenary, the Senate accused some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of failing to remit revenues into the Federation Account.
The accusation was contained in a report, presented by the chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje, on the extent of implementation of the 2017 budget.
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