The National Assembly may not pass the 2017 budget before the end of this month as planned, it was learnt yesterday.

The National Assembly had originally scheduled the second week of March to pass the budget.

It became obvious that the deadline would not be met when it was discovered that many Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) failed to honour the invitation to defend their budgets.

Due to what was described as the recalcitrance of MDAs to defend their budget proposals, the Senate leadership re-scheduled the deadline to pass the budget to March ending.

The lawmakers claimed that the affected MDAs were frustrating their effort to pass the budget as scheduled and warned that affected MDAs might receive zero allocation.


 
On March 14, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, read out a list of 44 sub-committees which was yet to defend their 2017 budget proposal before the Appropriation Committee.

The sub-committees were said to have been hindered from defending their budget before the Appropriation Committee because MDAs under them failed to defend their budgets.

The listed sub-committees included Air Force, Army, Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Capital Market, Communications, Co-operation and Integration in Africa and NEPAD, Culture and Tourism, Defence, Downstream Petroleum sector, Ecology and Climate Change, Environment, Federal Capital Territory, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, and Finance.

Others included Foreign Affairs, Gas, Health, Housing, ICT& Cyber Crimes, Independent National Electoral Commission, Information and National Orientation, Industry, Land Transport, National Identity and National Population, National Planning, National Security and Intelligence, Navy, Niger Delta, Police Affairs, Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare, Public Accounts, Primary Health Care and Communicable Diseases, Science and Technology, Sustainable Development Goals, Solid Minerals, Special Duties, Sports and Youth Development, State and Local Governments, Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Water Resources, Women Affairs and Works.

The sub-committees listed are contained in the Senate Votes and Proceedings of this month.

The sub- committees were given March 15 deadline to submit their 2017 appropriation report to the Senate Appropriation committee for collation and necessary harmonisation.

Finding yesterday showed that although some of the sub-committees had defended their budgets last “many are still outstanding because MDAs under have not turned up to defend their budgets.”

A source said in line with what Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki said, the National Assembly may be forced to give zero allocation to MDAs that failed to defend their budget proposals.