The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Friiday, reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s condemnation of lawmakers for altering some aspects of 2022 budget, saying the National Assembly did nothing wrong....CONTINUE READING
According to Lawan, the lawmakers carried out their assigned duties in their judgment over the changes they made to the 2022 Budget presented by Buhari.
Fielding questions from correspondents on Buhari’s reservation about the budget, Lawan maintained that the lawmakers were right in their judgment, Lawan said the president and the legislature’s views may not necessarily be the same on issues.
He added: “I think the most important thing is, the president is happy with majority of what the National Assembly has done and that is the most critical thing that we need to focus on.
“As for the observations the president raised, this is a natural and logical tendency between the executive and the legislature. Sometimes, our views on certain issues may not be necessarily the same kind of views that the executive will have and hold on any particular matter.
“So, I don’t think what the president did by raising some observations is something that we should worry about.
“I’m happy that the president signed the budget in the first place. And he said it’s going back to the National Assembly to seek for amendments or virement, and this is a natural, logical, legislative process. So, I’m happy that we have done our own part in our own way.
“This is based on judgments when we asked for more resources coming from the independent sources, especially from the government owned enterprises of about N400 billion to N500 billion.
“It is because we believe that this government owned enterprises should contribute even much more. In fact, I hold the opinion that they should have contributed about a trillion, at least and not N500 billion or so.
“So, I believe that the National Assembly was right in its judgment, but there is nothing wrong in the executive arm of government coming back to the National Assembly to see how we’re able to dialogue and go through the process and see where the misunderstanding is.
“But I don’t think that is supposed to be worrisome development for us.
