2017 Budget: Senate Now To Grill Adeosun, Udo Udoma By Committees

Senate on Thursday changed its mind on plan to have the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the Minister of National Planning, Senator Udoma Udoma Senator Lawan appear before its plenary next Tuesday to explain reason behind the poor funding of the 2017 Budget

Adeosun and Udoma Udoma, as Senators resolved, will now meet with the Joint Committee of Finance and Appropriation rather face a full session of the Senate in Plenary.

The Senate took the decision in line with a point of Order, by the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan ( APC Yobe North), requesting Senators to limit the visit of the two Ministers earlier scheduled for the plenary on Tuesday next week, to the joint committees on Finance and Appropriation.

The Senate had last Tuesday through a resolution , summoned the two ministers to appear before it in plenary to give explanations on the state of the economy arising from poor funding of the N7.4trillion 2017 budget .

Lawan said the latter option would yield more positive results than the initially agreed resolve to have them make their briefings during plenary, since according to him, briefing the joint committee at committee level would afford members the opportunity of getting the nitty gritty of what caused the the poor implementation of the 2017 budget.

Senate, last Tuesday opted to summon Adeosun and Udoma after adopting a motion sponsored by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi representing Kebbi State tagged “Stabilizing and sustaining post recession growth of the economy” on the low performance of budget in the current fiscal year.

Yahya stressed that the level of harmony between the fiscal and monetary policies of government was still very low.

The motion which was unanimously supported by other Senators noted that $9 billion has been spent by government so far for the purpose of stabilising the naira.

Senate therefore urged the executive arm of government to do everything possible to avoid relapsing into another recession by asking the national economy managers to remain focused and ensure that the current weak growth of a mere 0.55% is built upon and increased substantially in the months and years to come.

It equally urged the fiscal and monetary authorities to come together and harmonize fiscal and monetary policies with a view to drastically reducing the high interest rate that has adversely affected borrowing for investment by the real sector of the economy.

However, in his remark, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki mandated the joint committee to carry out the assignment on behalf of the Senate and brief the Upper Chamber thereafter, adding that if the chamber is not satisfied with outcome of the briefing on the state of the economy, it would have no option than to ask the Ministers to come back and face the lawmakers at plenary.