Baring the unforeseen, President Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow present the 2018 budget estimates to a joint session of the National Assembly.
Reports quoting Presidency sources said the Executive had completed arrangements for the presentation of the fiscal document to the National Assembly.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had, at its meeting presided over by President Buhari last week Thursday, approved the draft budget proposal.
Before then, the president had reportedly secured the nod of the National Assembly’s principal officers for the submission of the document.
“Yes, arrangements have been completed; the budget will be presented to the legislature this Thursday so that they can begin working on it in earnest,” said another source.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udoma, had last week told State House correspondents that the executive would fulfill its promise of getting the budget proposal ready in October.
“We are liaising with the National Assembly because they have to approve the date for the president to come and address them to submit the budget. Before now, we used to submit in December, but now, the budget is ready in October. So, there is a very big difference,” Udoma had stated while addressing journalists shortly after last week’s FEC meeting.
Meanwhile, President Buhari last night, at the new Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja, hosted principal officers of the National Assembly to a rescheduled dinner.
The dinner was called off last week following refusal by the lawmakers to be subjected to personal security screenings at the entrance to the Presidential Villa, an attempt they described as insulting.
As is customary, the President was expected to lobby the lawmakers, over meal, to be allowed to present the budget proposal.
All things being equal, Presiding officers of the two chambers of the N/Assembly may read the President’s letter on the budget presentation today.