The joint Committee of the National Assembly again failed yesterday to find common ground on the troubled 2008 Appropriation (Amendment) bill and shifted deliberation on the matter to 6 pm today.

The two chambers passed the amendment about two months ago but recorded internal difference forcing them to constitute harmonisation committee to reconcile over N2.3bn difference. In the Senate figure, a sum of N1, 326, 556, 591, 545 was passed as recurrent expenditure while the House of Representatives passed N1, 327, 709, 334, 850.

Daily Trust reports that the two chambers mainly differed on allocations to the Executive to which Senate appropriated N986, 915, 607, 621 against the N988, 068, 350, 922 appropriated by the House of Representatives. Also, they differed on money appropriated to Federal Executive Bodies with the Senate figure reading N23, 634, 650, 164 against the House of Representatives figure of N4, 090, 987, 962.

A Member of the Joint Committee told Daily Trust yesterday that, "We met today (yesterday) but we have not agreed on the internal difference in the bill. We have shifted deliberation on the budget to tomorrow 6 pm when we're going to consider all the differences. In his reaction, Chairman Senate Information and Media Committee, Senator Ayogu Eze (PDP, Enugu North) said the legislature expects the harmonisation committee to do a thorough job on the bill.