SAN FRANCISCO, September 26, (THEWILL) – The Senate has invited the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, to brief it on the implementation of the 2017 Appropriation Act which it described as poor.
This was contained in a motion moved by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos-East), entitled, ‘Inadequate Releases in the 2017 Budget and the Need to Expedite Releases in Order to Stimulate the Economy,’ which was adopted by the lawmakers.
The Senate, at the plenary on Tuesday, scored the Executive low on implementation of the national budget, especially for what it called the inadequate releases for capital projects and unanimously adopted the motion by Ashafa.
The motion read in part: “to request that the Honourable Minister of Finance and the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning appear before the Senate in plenary immediately to brief the Senate on the cause of the inadequate releases and steps being taken to expedite release of funds for the capital component of the 2017 Appropriation Act.”
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his remarks on the motion, asked the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, to immediately write Adeosun and Udoma.
The Senate also urged the fiscal and monetary authorities to come together and harmonise fiscal and monetary policies, with a view to drastically reducing the high interest rates that have adversely affected borrowing for investment by the real sector of the economy.
