The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of the 2017 budget and rallied his colleagues for a push with the executive branch.
According to him, the Senate would begin a review of the 2017 budget implementation from first week of October, noting that the move became imperative to know how the budget had affected the lives of Nigerians in terms of infrastructural development and other areas of life.
“Nigerians want to see a more significant improvement in the level of implementation of the budget this financial year. Let me use this opportunity to call on all our standing committees to begin the process of putting together their oversight plan for a close and proper review of the performance of the 2017 Budget.”
He said the ministers of of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Ndoma as well as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, have been invited to appear before the Senate plenary to explain the implementation process of the budget by the executive.
Saraki said the invitation extended to the three key managers of the economy was for them to explain the failure to release money to fund the budget.
The Senate president reminded his colleagues of the initiative they started to promote made in Nigeria products. Known as the Made in Nigeria initiative, Saraki said it is time to enter the next stage which is the “oversight of implementation to ensure that the policy yields expected gains.”
“I will therefore want to see the committees demonstrate readiness to engage government to ensure that at least a significant portion of our annual budget is fully dedicated to local procurement. All committees of the Senate must be involved in this and find better channels to engage our people and enable feedbacks,” he said.
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