Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has urged the President Buhari-led Federal Executive Council (FEC) to begin in earnest estimates for the 2021 budget and ensure it is presented to the National Assembly by the end of September this year.
Senate President Lawan stated this Tuesday in his remarks after President Muhammadu Buhari’s request on the 2021 – 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) was referred to the Senate Committees on Finance; and National Planning for further legislative input.
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Lawan, while charging both Committees to engage the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning on the MTEF/FSP request, stressed the need for the panel to lend its support to Revenue Generating Agencies, where necessary, towards meeting expected revenue targets.
The Committees were given four weeks to report back to the Senate.
“The request of Mr. President C-in-C is referred to the two committees, Senate Committees on Finance; Budget and National Planning, with Finance as the lead Committee.
“This Senate is giving the Committee four weeks within which to work very closely with the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, and particularly engagement with the revenue-generating agencies where we are expecting them to meet their targets.
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“We need to ensure that they have all the support that they require from the National Assembly, particularly the Senate to meet their targets.
“Meanwhile, the executive should continue to work on the preparations for the 2021 budget, and by this, we are also equally committed to ensuring that we receive the budget estimates at the end of September and that we are able to consider the budget and get it passed before the end of December to repeat what we did for budget 2020,” Lawan said.
By Tobiloba Kolawole
