With only four days left in March and after three months on the floor of the National Assembly, it appears the promise to pass the 2017 budget by the end of the month will not be fulfilled. Apparently, the Nigerian senate which is currently locked in a battle for supremacy on many sides with the Executive does not have the budget as one of its priorities; thereby stalling development on many fronts.

The 2017 budget was presented to the National Assembly in December 2016 with the president remarking that the purpose of an early presentation was to ensure early passage of the budget to fast-track the development projects already initiated through the 2016 budget and to ensure smooth operation of the government. After the presentation of the bill, however, the trail went cold. While we believed the house was doing background checks on the items on the document, it was not until February that the senate organised a public hearing and defence by each government agency represented in the budget. The public hearing excluded the National Assembly budget which is still shrouded in secrecy. The fact that the budget is still lying on the floor of the house as of today, 27th March, all but means the hope of getting the budget assented to by the president before the end of the month is dashed.

The senate president had, earlier in March after meeting with the president and the speaker of the lower chamber, promised that the budget would be returned to the presidency for assent by the end of March.

The inability of the Senate to pass the budget is not unconnected from the number of battles that have ensued between the executive and the legislative since the turn of the year. After the much talked about public hearing, the Senate has since been spending precious time on needless issues like the uniform of the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, the seized 30 containers of rice, Saraki’s 223 million naira seized car and, lately, Dino Melaye’s school results.

The delay in the budget passage has disrupted the date for the orientation of 2017 Batch A prospective corps members as the timetable released by the National Youth Service Corp has no designated date for the opening of the NYSC camps. In the same vein, stakeholders in the building sector say the delay in passing the 2017 budget is making uncertain the amount of money to be spent in the industry and may negatively impact housing delivery this year. The delay is resulting in the loss of billions of naira in investments as there is no template for planning. While the extent of the damage the delay is doing cannot be ascertained, it is certain further delay will cause even more damage.

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