Senate Shelves Debate On 2018 Budget

Contrary to its earlier plan to commence debate on the general principles of the 2018 budget, the Senate has announced the deferment of the exercise till next week.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who made the announcement at the commencement of Tuesday’s legislative business, told his colleagues that the deferment was done so as to enable the Red Chamber pass the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), this week.
He said another reason for the deferment of the 2018 budget was to allow the National Assembly’s bureaucracy distribute copies of the budget proposal to lawmakers.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the Senate informing the legislative chamber that he would not assent to two bills passed by the National Assembly.
They are the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management (Establishment) Bill 2017 and the Federal University of Wukari (Establishment) Bill 2017.
The separate letters conveying his reservations on the bills were addressed to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and dated November 8, 2017.
Buhari however based his reservations on technicalities in the drafting of the bills.
On the proposed institute, the President said, “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision, on 25 October 2017, to withhold assent to the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management (Establishment, Etc.) Bill, 2017.
“The rationale for withholding assent is regarding the scope of, and phrases utilised in the bill. For instance, the phrase ‘treasury management’ is not defined in the bill; and greater clarity may be required regarding the impact of the bill on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s regulation of treasury managers in banks, and the relationship between the proposed institute and other existing professional institutes that regulate treasury managers in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the university, Buhari said, “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision, on 25 October 2017, to withhold assent to the Federal University of Wukari (Establishment, Etc.) Bill, 2017.
“The rationale for withholding assent is regarding certain words and phrases utilised in the bill. For instance, the word ‘Statute’ should replace ‘Regulation’ throughout the bill for consistency;
“Paragraph 9(1) of the First Schedule should refer to ‘the President’ and not ‘the Visitor,’ and Paragraph 5 of the Third Schedule should refer to sub-paragraph 2 and not sub-paragraph 3.”
The President, however, presented three executive bills in separate letters to the Senate dated October 31, 2017. While two sought to establish two organisations, one sought to amend an existing act of the parliament.