What the Senate discovered about "missing budget"

The Senate has said that the 2016 Appropriation Bill was never missing.

However, the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly is accusing President Buhari's Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang of doctoring the budget proposal.

See what Senate spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi said on the matter after Thursday's plenary.

“The report about a missing budget is not true. We don’t have a budget that is missing. But you recall that the Senate President did inform Nigerians that there is an issue that a committee was asked to investigate. The investigation by the committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, has been submitted in the executive session. It was a decision we took at the last executive session.

“Our findings are these: That Mr. President did lay the budget before the joint session of the National Assembly and thereafter, the Senate went on recess and upon resumption, copies of the document were produced by Senator Ita Enang, who is the SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) and the copies were submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives.

“What we found out is that the document submitted by Senator Ita Enang, upon our resumption, has some differences, discrepancies with what was originally laid by Mr. President in the joint sitting of the National Assembly.

“However, the Senate in defence of its own integrity, honour, will not work with what has not been laid on the floor of the National Assembly. We are constitutionally mandated and duty bound to consider only that budget that had been so laid by Mr President.

“Right now, for reproduction, we are awaiting the soft copy of the originally submitted budget so that the National Assembly can reproduce the copy itself. That is the only time we can have confidence in the document we want to work with.

“The budget submitted by the President is not missing; we already have copies of it but what we are saying is that for us to reproduce for our members, it is easier, based on the quantum of document that has to be produced, that we get the soft copy of that original version so that we can reproduce it.

‘“By next week, we want to go down to business, senators have picked dates to speak during the three days set aside for debate on the 2016 budget.

“The Senate leadership was mandated to speak with all those concerned with the document, that was why the Senate President was in touch with Mr President.”