Senate Set To Review 2021 Budget Within 3 Weeks

 

Barring any last-minute change, the Senate will today suspend plenary to allow its various committees commence the review of the 2020 budget implementation as well as enable ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) defend their 2021 budget proposal.

This is coming just as the two chambers of the National Assembly are expected to commence debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill forwarded to them recently by President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, made the disclosure shortly after the Senate passed the 2021 Appropriations Bill for Second Reading on Thursday last week.

Lawan, however, informed MDAs that the deadline for budget defence in the Red Chamber would not exceed the first week of November.

He, therefore, urged all ministers and heads of government agencies to avail themselves of the window provided for the defence of their respective budgets, particularly in line with President Buhari’s directive.

Lawan said, “On Tuesday next week, we will be taking the debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). This will be the last function that we would do in plenary.

“We will suspend plenary on Tuesday for the budget defence processes to start immediately”.

Also, the PIB which had scaled first reading last week will also be passed for second reading today after the debate.

 

LEADERSHIP gathered that debate on the PIB will last for just one day after which the Senate and the House of Representatives will suspend plenary for three weeks for budget defense exercise on the 2021 budget estimates by MDAs.

The proposed PIB law is expected to provide legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, development of the host communities and other related matters,

A copy of the 239 paged documents sighted by our correspondent is divided into five chapters with 319 sections and seven schedules.

Chapter one deals with governance instructions, establishment of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority which seeks to transform the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to a Limited Liability company with the federal government as the sole shareholder.