Senate postpones debate on 2018 Budget till next week

Posted by Mayowa Okekale, Abuja | 21 November 2017 | 1,751 times

•Senate President Bukola Saraki

The Nigerian Senate has postponed its scheduled debate on the general principles of the 2018 appropriation Bill to Tuesday next week, November ‎28, 2017.

Explaining the reasons for the postponement, the President of the Senate Bukola Saraki, said it is to enable the upper chamber to first consider and pass the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

He further explained another reason necessitating the postponement of the debate is to allow for the votes and proceedings of the National Assembly joint session ‎in which the budget was laid by the president to be made available and approved.

‎The MTEF is annual, rolling three year-expenditure planning. It sets out the medium-term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints against which sector plans can be developed and refined. MTEF also contains outcome criteria for the purpose of performance monitoring.‎‎