The National Assembly has denied rumours
making rounds that the 2016 budget has
disappeared from its premises.

News had gone viral on Tuesday, January 12,
2016 that the document presented to the
Assembly last year had gone missing , a
reason the Senate could not continue with its
plenary session.

Reports say the documents are intact.
The meeting between the Senate president,
Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu
Buhari after the widespread news also
triggered the initial speculation, while the
former Kwara state governor refused to make
any comment on the reason for the about 30-
minute discussion at the Presidential Villa.
But the National Assembly has now assured
that both chambers are planning to making
copies of the money Bill available for the 109
senators and 360 members of the House,
adding that they are determined to pass the
bill as soon as possible.

According to Leadership, the chairman of the
Senate committee on media and publicity,
Senator Abdullahi Sabi, laughed off the
speculations that the budget was missing,
while noting emphatically that the contents
of the 2016 budget were carefully drafted to
enhance and drive the change agenda of the
present administration.

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‘Missing Budget’ -Femi Adesina
“There is no such thing; it is laughable for
anybody to insinuate that the 2016 budget is
missing; it is the figment of the imagination of
those carrying such rumour.
“We, as a Senate, are presently concentrating
on making copies of the budget available to
every senator. We are getting ready to
commence deliberations on the budget and we
are enthusiastic and looking forward to a quick
passage so that the president would commence
implementation in such a way that the
electorate would begin to reap the dividends
and benefits of democracy.
“So it is not true that the budget is missing; it
is a rumour. We deal with facts here and the
fact is that no budget is missing,” he was
quoted to have said.

The leadership of the lower chamber of the
Assembly also denied story of 2016 budget
theft from the National Assembly, saying that
original copy of the Appropriation Bill as
presented to NASS was intact and with the
management of the Assembly.
Abdulrazak Namdas, who spoke on behalf of
the House, told Leadership through his
deputy, Jonathan Gaza Gbefwi, that the
rumour of budget theft or missing was
unthinkable.

He said: “The budget is intact and, in fact, they
even plan to begin to distribute copies to
members tomorrow (today) to begin to analyse;
so wherever that (rumour) is coming from, I
don’t know. So, it’s all a lie.”

SOURCE: https://www.naij.com/694114-nass-insists-2016-budget-not-missing-happened.html