By Ahmed Rahma
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Mr Jubril Barau, has assured that any omission identified in the 2021 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari a few weeks ago would be looked into.
The lawmaker gave this assurance on Wednesday when the issue cropped up, noting that there was no cause for alarm as the parliament has its experts who will identify and fix any problem.
“So, you have several expenditures; so, there is room for an omission. This is why we are here. We tell our own committee to go and scrutinise the budget of ministries and report back to us.
“Whatever you see in the budget, whether is an omission, our work is to get the report and engage our own expert here.
“We have accountants, we have economists, [the issues] will be addressed. If there is a need for correction, if there is an omission, we will fill those gaps. So, there is no cause for alarm,” he stated.
Mr Barau further disclosed that the harmonised 2021 budget proposal would be ready for laying before the Senate on December 3, 2020.
“Some chairmen of the committees have submitted their budget reports on agencies of government, which are quite satisfactory.
“We have our timetable; we want to submit by December 3, 2020. We are going to submit the harmonised version of the 2021 budget by the grace of God,” the lawmaker said.
He told journalists that his committee’s report would be accorded speedy consideration at plenary.
“The budget proposal is a very wide process, talking about estimates of expenditures that are going to be undertaken by the federal government,” he stated.