By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has said that the federal government will meet the 2020 budget proposal deadline set by the ninth National Assembly at the end of September.
The Minister disclosed this at a meeting on national donor coordination held in Abuja on Wednesday, September 4, 2019.
“The 2020 budget preparation process is well underway, and we intend to finalise and submit the 2020 appropriation bill to the national assembly by the end of this month,” she said.
In August, Senate President, Mr Ahmad Lawan, made it known the legislative arm of government was expecting the 2020 budget proposal to be submitted by September.
He said its timely submission will ensure that the budget is passed before the end of December.
“The process would return Nigeria to the annual budget of between January and December and guarantee fiscal discipline,” he said.
Contributing, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige, also urged ministers to work to ensure that the budget is ready for submission to the Senate in September.
“We have been warned that we must bring back the January/December budget circle. Therefore, the president of the senate and officers of the national assembly have, in one voice, requested from us that the budget should come in September and once they get it in September, they will give it to us in December,” he said.
Dipo Olowookere