Senate to Hold Public Hearing on 2017 Budget Tomorrow

The Nigerian Senate said it would hold a public hearing on President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2017 Appropriation Bill submitted to the legislature.

According to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the public hearing is aimed at allowing stakeholders and members of the public to make contributions to the proposed legislation before passage by the National Assembly.

The Senate, according to Abdullahi, has suspended regular plenary sessions with a view  to giving  all committees an opportunity to conduct adequate oversight and for ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government to defend the allocations included in the estimates submitted to the legislature by President Buhari.

He said the joint public hearing, will push the budget defence a step further by allowing members of the public to weigh-in constructively on ways to improve the appropriations bill.

Abdullahi said: “This will be the first time something like this is happening. “It’s a testament to the leadership and foresight of the Senate President, and the commitment of the 8th Senate as a whole to ensure that the budget is passed transparently – with adequate feedback from the general public.”