Joseph Bakare/Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Senate has passed the fiscal estimates of the 2017 Appropriation Bill for second reading.
While committing the document to the Appropriations Committee, the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, urged the standing committees to ensure a thorough review of the estimated revenues and expenditure for the year, so as to produce a realistic and implementable budget for the nation.
He said that the budget must be tailored towards pulling the country out of the menacing recession, investing in the people, and laying foundation for a diversified sustainable inclusive economic growth.
Saraki also stressed the need for the committees to ensure equitable distribution of projects among the various geographical areas represented by the Senators so as to give every one of them a sense of belonging, to avoid previous experience of murmurings about lopsided allocations.
The lawmaker further urged his colleagues to seriously take into cognizance, the various issues raised on the floor in the course of the budget debate and ensure that those concerns were adequately addressed in the final document.
He also noted that the Senate would hold public hearing on the Appropriation Bill on February 7th and 8th, where various interests will come and make input to make the budget more people- oriented.
He said, Distinguished colleagues, let me once again thank all of you for the contribution for the last three days of debating the general principles of the 2017 budget proposal.
As I commit this Appropriation bill to the Appropriations committee and the sub committees, we should objectively review the planned expenditure and review the revenues in line with the main objectives of the budget we have discussed, which include pulling us out of economic recession, investing in our people, laying foundation for a diversified sustainable inclusive growth and pushing our agenda for a made in Nigeria products.