Thursday morning, following intense critism from Nigerians, the Buhari led Federal Government published the 2016 Budget on the Budget Office website.
The Budget published this morning differs from the one that was published earlier by BudgetIT, a civil advocacy group.
RELATED: FG Publishes Buhari’s 2016 Budget And It’s Different From The One You’ve Seen [DOWNLOAD]
Now, Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has taken to micro-blogging website to admit that there are now two versions of the 2016 Budget before the House and as a result the Nigerian Senate would only accept the one submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari.
We came to a resolution that Since we have 2 versions of the #2016Budget we will only accept the one presented by @NGRPresident
— Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki (@bukolasaraki) January 14, 2016
The budget was never missing. While the President submitted one, the Special Adviser presented another one. Hence reason for investigation
— Bukola Saraki (@bukolasaraki) January 14, 2016
SP @bukolasaraki however announces that the Senate will only accept the version of the #Budget that was earlier submitted by the President.
— The Nigerian Senate (@NGRSenate) January 14, 2016
But this declaration leaves some questions unanswered.
How come Buhari presented one budget and his special advisor presented a different one? When were these budgets presented to the House of Assembly? On December 22, 2015 or when? Where both submitted on the same day?
It may do the Nigerian Senate well to publish the budget that it says it has.
