Leon Usigbe and Tordue Salem
8 September 2008
MEMBERS of the House of Representatives are confident that the amendment to the 2008 Budget which has attracted controversies due to differences in the amounts agreed upon by the two chambers of the National Assembly would be passed this week.
The House had stayed back for about two weeks before proceeding on recess to enable members consider and pass the amendment sent in by President Umaru Yar'Adua while their counterparts in the Senate were already on break.
However, when the Senators later suspended their break to consider the budget, they passed a version that was at variance with the provisions the House had earlier approved.
The differences in the document have led to delay in its final passage while both chambers blamed each other for the situation.
The House now says a conference committee has been raised by both chambers to harmonise the budget so that it could be passed by Wednesday, a day after the expected resumption of the House of Representatives for plenary.
According to Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Mr Ita Enang, the House planned to consider the conference report working in consultation with its Senate counterpart with a view to passing the amendment Bill by Wednesday.
"You will recall that the House stayed back for two weeks to consider the budget amendment. When Senate returned to pass the Bill, we did not anticipate the difference. But by Wednesday, the House conference committee will give its report and we will pass the Bill. Whatever the intrigues on the floor of both chambers, we are sure that there will be an agreement on the Bill," he said.
Rep. Enang who spoke with journalists in Abuja, weekend, said the National Assembly was expected to get the 2009 Budget from President Yar'Adua between October and November this year and the House was already working towards devoting enough time to its consideration by adjusting its time table to accommodate the appropriation procedures.
He added that the President was also expected to present a supplementary budget for 2008 which he said was expected to address key sectors including the power sector. "That is why we are giving expedited actions to matters pending now so that members can devote most of their time to the budget," he said.
The committee chairman debunked insinuations of proposal before the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) for a hundred percent increase in the salaries of lawmakers, noting that while those who could propose such increase had not done so, the lawmakers were not in a position to fix their own wages.
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