The Senate has moved up the deadline for passing the 2022 budget to Tuesday, December 21.
This was declared by Senate President Ahmad Lawan during the plenary on Wednesday.
The upper chamber had promised to pass the 2022 budget on Wednesday, but it appears that the failure of the senate to pass the budget yesterday was due to a delay in capturing the financial needs of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Population Commission (NPC) in the 2022 budget.
Senator Jibrin Barau, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, told journalists that the committee had met with officials from INEC and the National Planning Commission to discuss the matter of insufficient funding in government agencies’ budgets.
“We had a very robust and frank interaction with INEC and the National Population Commission in respect to the complaints we have had in different quarters about the inefficiency of funds that have been provided for them in the 2022 appropriation bill,” Senator Barau said.
“Because of the stance of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that these two institutions need to be properly catered for in terms of their funding, we all know the importance of election in this country and indeed the entire world, it is the foundation of every democracy.
“I can’t tell you whether it will be passed this week or not because we are still working on it, you can make your calculations.”
