SENATE President, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday, assured that the 2016 Appropriate Act will be ready for signing in a matter of days.
He gave the assurance after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari by the leadership of the National Assembly, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
In attendance at the meeting was Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, among others.
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According to Saraki, committees were already working to clean up the areas of disagreement which had caused the president to delay his assent to the fiscal document.
“We just finished a meeting with the president and vice-president. We came to let them know some of the solutions that we found in moving the budget process forward and we are happy to say that we have agreed on the way forward and we believe that this process will be completed in matter of days rather than weeks.
“So, it is good to Nigerians and all of us. We have found a way forward and in a matter of days, the budget will be ready for president’s assent,” he said.
He added that “we have committees that have been set up on our side and also on the executive side. We will engage over the next few days to just tidy up a few loose ends here and there and the outcome will be satisfactory to everybody.”
Asked whether the budget would be signed this week, he said “You heard what I have said, I said it is a matter of days and not weeks. So, you can start counting the days. Which means that between now and Monday or Tuesday, I’m hopeful that the budget will be signed.”
On his part, Minister of Budget Planning, Udoma Udoma, said “we have agreed to work together to resolve all issues in the next few days and we have also agreed on the modalities for doing so. So, it was a very good meeting, very positive and within the next few days, all issues will be resolved.
“We are working together, both the executive and the legislature, to sort those things out, within the next days, all matters will be resolved.”
Earlier in the day, President Buhari had met with Honourable Dogara over the impasse on the 2016 budget.
